GREETINGS GENERATIVE PEOPLE OF GOD,

From generation to generation we see God in each other. In this season of Advent, of being awake and preparing for God’s coming to us, we have met many characters like the prophet Isaiah, Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Zechariah as well as Matthew's genealogy.

Which of these characters is God meeting you in or you bear some family resemblance? What do these characters pass on or contribute to you and your journey of faith? Which of these characters meet you in your times of wilderness exploration?

Who is that Joseph character now, who is in right relationship with God, has a good ear to listen, and can even change their mind once they have made a decision because they are influenced by God and just ambivalent?

Or who is that character who flings open the door in your times of great joy, wondering confusion and offers expansive welcome to explore and compare notes? Elizabeth, whose life is thrown into joyous chaos in her very unexpected pregnancy, opens the door to Mary as she is trying to make sense of her own unexpected pregnancy. She opens the door with welcome and great joy. Who are those people in your life? And when are you that person for someone else?

How will they influence you today and shape and form you? And what will you pass on to the people you have the most influence with in your life now? There are many characters to choose from. Sit with God, trust the Holy Spirit’s whisperings of life and grace to move in your life. God wants this for you. There is room for your story that makes up the whole story of our community of faith. Embrace the fear, embrace the excuses and entrust it into God’s hands finding the courage that comes from knowing that God is with us, and we can choose a better way.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack