"The Work of Christmas Goes On"
Dear Friends,
I hope you and your loved ones had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year’s celebration!
If you are at all like me, you might be saying to yourself: A new year already? Where did 2018 go? It does seem to me that the years are going by much too quickly!
As we begin 2019 with all its challenges and opportunities, I hope we will enter a new year with hope and a renewed sense of purpose, as we continue to do the work of ministry in our community. After all, didn’t we just celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ: Emmanuel – God with us! Shouldn’t our lives and our priorities be different because of Christmas?!
The Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman addressed those questions in his poem – a real favorite of mine: The Work of Christmas:
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are back home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.
As a new year begins, let us continue the work of Christmas!
Grace, Peace, and Love,
Pastor Bill
