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United Church of Christ | Saxonville, Massachusetts

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Reflections and Transformations

January 5, 2021 by Rev. Dr. Karen Nell Smith

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of God never ceases, God’s mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:19-23 

Dear friends,

January is sort of a quiet month. It’s often cold and snowy, grey and dark. The excitement and anticipation of Christmas is behind us, and we turn to the business of the new year in front of us. For some, this may mean a time for renewed resolutions after receiving our credit card bill or stepping on the scale! For others, it feels strangely familiar, a page turned on the calendar and a process that has repeated year after year throughout our lives. 

As a congregation, this time of year is both an ending and a beginning. We’re winding up our church year, busy writing annual reports that celebrate and record what’s happened in the year just past…and what a year it’s been! 

This year, perhaps like no other, we are invited into a time of reflection about what we’ve learned. What do we want to take with us going forward from the extraordinary experience of 2020, and what are we ready to put down as we move ahead? If we truly look not only with our heads, but also with our hearts, we open ourselves to the Spirit’s moving within and among us here at Edwards Church.Author Joyce Rupp offers us this prayer as we turn the page on a new year… 

“Loving God, it is time to turn again to you. It is time to realize anew that we are not totally self-reliant. This is a moment full of grace that invites us to lift up our spirits to you, the one who gives freshness, the one who moves across our hearts like a new snowfall and erases all the drab, brown memories of a year gone by. Come to meet us, God of life, reach into the mysteries of our selves. Take us into the heart of this year and give us the confidence to journey freely, lovingly, with risk, wonder and laughter.” *

I so rarely get to see your children face-to-face, and when I do I am always astounded by how much they have grown over the past year. We have all grown, we have changed, each one of us. God has been at work in and among us, even as we’ve been apart. I look forward to exploring the transformations!

Happy New Year,
Karen Nell

* Adapted from “Prayer for a New Year,” Fresh Bread and Other Gifts of Spiritual Nourishment, Joyce Rupp.

Filed Under: Associate Pastor, Steeple Tagged With: Steeple January 2021

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