Friends,
As we step into the new year, there is a natural opportunity to take inventory of where we have come from, where we are at, and where we are headed — both as individuals and as a congregation.
If you’re anything like me, then you probably get a bit overwhelmed when you look back over your photos from 2024. So much has happened, so much has changed. Some of what happened this past year feels like yesterday while other things feel like they were years and years ago.
Marking and celebrating the turning of the calendar year brings us face to face with the constant changing of life. All around us and within us, change is happening everyday. Sometimes this is exciting, but more often than not, even when it is exciting, change can be disorienting. Change is hard, it’s mysterious, it’s confusing. It can be anxiety inducing. And yet, it is a constant part of life.
At the turning of the new year, we get to knowingly sit in the midst of change. We get to look back at the previous year and look ahead to the coming years in ways we don’t always have margin to. This moment of reflection, of being present to change, is an opportunity for us to meditate on the good news we heard this part Sunday.
God is not a static fact, but a dynamic force. God’s posture toward you is and always will be love, but God’s love moves. In Christmastide, we celebrate that in Jesus we bear witness to the love of God moving toward us. God put on flesh to offer us the gifts of grace and truth. These gifts are not only for our own personal salvation, but they are also imparted to us through God’s Spirit so that we can live into the way of love — grace and truth — in the here and now.
So, yes, change is constant and it is often scary, but you are not on your own in it. Your Creator’s love for you is unchanging and true. God’s love for you is so true, that it cannot be stopped from sailing on the winds of change and finding its way to you. Not only does it come to you through change, but it also empowers you to navigate life and change yourself.
Beloved, you are not alone. God’s love has come to you and will not stop moving toward you, and through the power of God’s Spirit you are and you have enough.
May you be present to God’s never-ending, never-stopping love for you as you reflect on the changing of the year. And may the God of love grant you peace, joy, and rest today. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Spencer+
