Happy New Year Gracious People of God,
For the society and our culture, January marks the beginning of the New Year. But we are ahead, leading the way because we have already started our new church year with Advent on December 1st and move into our third season of the church year with Advent, Christmas and now the season of Epiphany. As we follow Jesus, these seasons shape and form us and help us to explore the many dimensions our relationship with God.
The season of Advent helps to prepare us for the coming of God into our world and into our lives. The season of Christmas marks 12 days of the celebration of God’s incarnation – God has come to us in Jesus. The season of Epiphany allows us to take a look at ourselves in light of God’s revelation in Jesus.
This month, on Sundays we explore the magi’s visit to Jesus (Matthew 2), Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 3) John’s declaration that Jesus is the Lamb of God (John 1) and Jesus’ call to repent and calling fishermen to learn how to fish for people (Matthew 4). These scriptures shape and form us to be God’s people who point others to Jesus. We are children of God who are called to be witnesses and disciples to our community.
I think about how John the Baptist was called to prepare the way for Jesus as a prophet and then called to be a disciple who had to figure out what it means to follow Jesus. Remember John did that from a prison cell. How do we live into this dual role of pointing to Jesus and following Jesus? How do we keep our eyes focused and learning as disciples and sharing what we know as witnesses to what God is up to in this world? It is good that we have a head start on the new year!
Trust that the Holy Spirit is with us and continues to help us to see God’s coming to us now. Just as Jesus expands on the skills that the fisherman have, the Holy Spirit helps us to use the gifts we have, the work we are engaged in to learn more about God and to share what we know with the people we live with claiming our dual call of being disciples and witnesses of what God is revealing to our world. This is challenging work, work that we are ready for because the Holy Spirit is with us and we have each other. Share your encounters with one another, tell what you think God might be doing. When we tell each other, we enter into discerning the Holy Spirit’s work among us. It is dangerous to do this discerning alone. We follow Jesus’ lead, covered with the Holy Spirit, Jesus called others to join him in the ministry. Develop your relationships with one another. Challenge yourself to get to know someone from CTK better. Join a study group that is already meeting or create a new one. You are a child of God and God has work for you to do both as a witness and a disciple.
Believing It Boldly Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
