“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”

-2 Corinthians 5:17

Happy New Year! I hope that this letter finds you still reveling in the Joy of the Christmas season as we welcome 2018. I’m sure I am not alone in that in the closing days of 2017 I enjoy looking back at the year that was. I think it is human nature to look back, remember and see what has been accomplished, as well as the growth that has taken place in our and our loved ones lives. I just happened to be flipping through my camera roll the other day, listening to some Christmas music, when a song you may be familiar with came on; John Lennon’s Happy X-Mas.

I’ve heard it plenty of times before (I can thank my Dad, who is a Beatles fan for that) but as I listened to it, the words struck me:

“So this is Christmas

And what have you done

Another year over

And a new one just begun”

These lyrics stood out to me because I think they speak a very important truth: “What have I (you) done?” That is a question that each of us would have to ask and reflect on personally to really come to an answer. But I think it is an important one as we enter this new year.

It can be easy to become beholden to the expected order of things, doing what our calendar tells us to do, day in and day out. Before we know it, Easter is here, then the 4th of July, then it’s Thanksgiving, then Christmas and, look at that, another New Year is coming.  We find ourselves with another year over and a new one just begun wondering what have we done.

I do know that we just celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I cannot think of a better time to sit down and reflect and pray about the year to come. What does 2018 look like for us as individuals, as families and as a Church? How can we continue to move forward with the mission that Jesus gave us to “go and make disciples?” How can we intentionally live into God’s call for our lives? Personally, I am excited to see what God has in store for us as a Church and I hope and pray that our efforts this year will bring honor and glory to God’s Kingdom.

Later in Lennon’s song, he continues:

“A very Merry Christmas

And a happy new year

Let’s hope it’s a good one

Without any fear”

I wish those same sentiments for each and every one of us, let us go and make it a good one, unafraid of what the future holds.

God Bless,

Pastor Devin

Click here to read the rest of the January 2018  newsletter.