Christmastide 2008    
Dear Friends:

I imagine a lot of us are more than ready to see 2008 disappear in the rearview mirror as we drive down the road into 2009.  While it was a year of history-making proportions in the political field, it was also a devastating year economically for just about every one of us, in some way.

Given the great uncertainty that seems to hang as a shadowy fog over many of us, how do we look forward to the coming year? 

One suggestion I would offer is to recall those familiar words we read from the prophet Isaiah on Christmas Eve, ‘the people who walked in great darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness, on them light has shined.’  That is the great truth of the Birth we have just celebrated – Jesus came to be the Light, to be the Love, to be the Life which we search for (and long for) in the darkest moments. 

I would also offer a prayer.  It is one which I use at the beginning of each year, and really should use at the start of each day!  It is a prayer by one of those lesser known people we call saints (remember, these are folks who struggle with faith just like we do) named Charles de Foucauld, and is known as the Prayer of Abandonment (which for me is a prayer of trust):
                                    Father,
                                    I abandon myself into your hands;
                                    do with me what you will.
                                    Whatever you may do, I thank you:
                                    I am ready for all, I accept all.
                                    Let only your will be done in me,
                                    and in all your creatures—
                                    I wish no more than this, O Lord.

                                    Into your hands I commend my soul:
                                    I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
                                    for I love you, Lord,
                                    and so need to give myself,
                                    to surrender myself into your hands,
                                    without reserve,
                                    and with boundless confidence.
                                    For you are my Father.  Amen.

And lastly, an invitation.  In times of struggle, of shadows, of learning to live in different ways, of seeking to discern what God is doing and asking of us, the church is the place to gather.  Whether it is in worship or the coffee hour, whether it is in study or service, whether it is in the choir or helping in the kitchen, when we come together as God’s people, individuals on a common journey, we find support and encouragement, prayer
and peace, friendship and fellowship.  So, join us in all the opportunities here at church!

                                                Wednesday’s Word

All of us, and each of us, could learn more about God’s Word, and what it has to say to us, and for us.  And so, in that spirit and hope, you are invited to participate in a weekly Bible study called Wednesday’s Word, which will begin on January 7, 2009, at 7:00 p.m.  We will begin with perhaps the most misunderstood book in Scripture, as well as the one which most of us have a lot of questions about – the last book in the Bible: Revelation.  One of the things I have discovered over the years about Revelation is that it is like an artichoke.  You have to peel away a lot, in order to get to the heart of the book.  And for me, the heart has to do with hope, with grace, with God’s great love and promises to and for us.  I hope you will join us for a time of discovery and discussion on Wednesday nights.  Thom