It is that time of year again! New Year's! It's a funny sort of time. In one sense it is a bit random and arbitrary. There's nothing particularly meaningful, or magical, or even natural about the changing of the calendar from one year to the next. It's not tied to the solar or lunar seasons. Once upon a time someone somewhere decided that this is the system we would used to mark the passage of time. There have been and continue to be other people who used different systems which result in their “new year” beginning at some other time. And yet, in another sense, it offers us the opportunity to experience something powerful and significant in our lives. It provides us with a reminder to pause and reflect upon our lives and the meaning to be found there. We look back and ponder the experiences which have led us to this moment - some of them joyful, some of them painful, some of them absolutely life-changing. We look ahead and dream of what might be coming in the days and weeks and months which stretch out ahead of us. We allow ourselves to hope and we make plans that might help us to bring those hopes and dreams to fruition.
We could, of course, engage in this sort of remembering and dreaming at any time along the way. There is nothing that says such things can only occur at the ending of the old year and the beginning of the new year. But in reality it is helpful to have particular occasions to remind us, because otherwise we get busy and we forget. And so, at the beginning of this new year, I invite you to spend a bit of time looking back and looking ahead. What are you grateful for and what do you regret? What do you want to continue and what would you like to let go of? Where have you experienced God's presence and where might God be calling you to venture in the year ahead?
For me, I am grateful for the opportunities during this past year to learn and grow and share life with you as your pastor. I am grateful for the privilege of watching you step up and become the church in ways which were both familiar to you and new to you. And I look forward to the year ahead in which I am confident that God will continue to move among us - inviting and inspiring and challenging and empowering us to share God's love and compassion with each other, with our community, and with the world. I do not yet know all of the forms which that will take, and I am certain that together, with God's help, it will be an amazing journey.
Thank you for the privilege of being your Pastor in 2018. I look forward to what comes next.
- Pastor Roger
(keeping my feet firmly planted in the flow)
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