January 2006
Thoughts from the Pastor
Beginnings
I didn’t stay up to welcome in 2006.
It was an unusual decision: I always stay up. I’ve always watched Dick
Clark Rock in the New Year. I’ve always looked at the incomprehensibly
large crowd in Times Square, thankful that I was not there, and yet appreciating
their presence. It is a ritual, watching the ball drop, feeling the
anticipation,
counting down…
But I was already asleep. It’s not just because I’m getting old/er. We had
church the next morning. While a colleague may have been able to lead worship on
two and half hours of sleep, I knew I wouldn’t be able to function.
And so, we gathered together, the people of God who are St. Mark Lutheran
Church, on New Year’s Day. There were not that many of us. But there were
enough.
For me, it was the right way to start the new year. Here, amongst the
people of God. Here where we could sing and pray together. Here where we
received in bread and wine the living Christ.
Yes, it was the right way to begin a new year. What made the beginning
truly perfect was that we also celebrated ‘The Name of Jesus’ on Sunday. It was
the ultimate way to begin: in the name of Jesus. In fact, the liturgical year
only continues in effectively grounding us. Next Sunday, we celebrate “The
Baptism of our Lord”.
So we begin in Jesus’ name, remembering Jesus’ (and our) baptism.
And the following week, we will gather to welcome the Westhoven’s twins
into the family of faith through their baptisms.
If this doesn’t get you recentered and refocused in your faith after
holiday sloth…well, trust me: it will.
We’re brought again and again to Jesus. We’ve celebrated his birth with
energy and joy. But then there are family gatherings, and several opportunities
to eat too much, and bowl games with their effects….
It can all lead us pretty quickly away from the manger, away from
living in the gift of God’s grace made flesh.
But as we gather, we are brought back, not only to look again upon Jesus,
but to realize our connection to Jesus. That connection
makes each day a new beginning.
So shake off the sloth. Come and hear, come and see, come and be
and begin this new year right.
In Christ,
Pastor Julianne Smeck
