The Moderator's Column
Merry Christmas District Faith Family!
Your church just finished decorating for Christmas and if you had to describe your sanctuary with one word, it might be "Festive"! You are now ready for the Advent Season - bring on the crowds!
There you are standing at the front door of the church offering warm and inviting hugs and handshakes. The little girls are twirling around in their velvet dresses, while the tiny guys sport their reindeer neckties - all of which bring a grin to your face. You turn to offer a handshake to the next person coming through the door. A young teenage couple stands before you looking anything but festive. Their clothes are dingy, their hair mussed, not exactly “Festive” looking. She’s soon expecting, yet no wedding rings appear on their fingers. As they walk through the church foyer your fellow parishioners resemble the Red Sea after it had been parted by Moses. Each person is giving the couple a wide birth as they look for a seat in the back of the church. Now you know how Joseph and Mary may have felt as they entered Bethlehem on the eve before Jesus's birth, discarded and in need!
This year’s Conference theme is taken from I Corinthians 12:27, "You are the Family of Christ, and each one of you has a part in it." Christ’s Church is at a crucial place in time in which it is on the verge of being no more. Why? Because we don’t know what to do with young couples like Joseph and Mary, whose baby isn’t wrapped up in red and green velveteen. Instead it wears thrift store seconds.
The Church Family - what does yours look like? In the coming year we are going to explore together who we are now as the Family of God, as well as who God wants us to become. Some of these notes that I write might be a bit disturbing and challenging, but then so is the Christmas Story!
Love ya'll and oh, by the way, Merry Christmas,
Moderator Rick
Your church just finished decorating for Christmas and if you had to describe your sanctuary with one word, it might be "Festive"! You are now ready for the Advent Season - bring on the crowds!
There you are standing at the front door of the church offering warm and inviting hugs and handshakes. The little girls are twirling around in their velvet dresses, while the tiny guys sport their reindeer neckties - all of which bring a grin to your face. You turn to offer a handshake to the next person coming through the door. A young teenage couple stands before you looking anything but festive. Their clothes are dingy, their hair mussed, not exactly “Festive” looking. She’s soon expecting, yet no wedding rings appear on their fingers. As they walk through the church foyer your fellow parishioners resemble the Red Sea after it had been parted by Moses. Each person is giving the couple a wide birth as they look for a seat in the back of the church. Now you know how Joseph and Mary may have felt as they entered Bethlehem on the eve before Jesus's birth, discarded and in need!
This year’s Conference theme is taken from I Corinthians 12:27, "You are the Family of Christ, and each one of you has a part in it." Christ’s Church is at a crucial place in time in which it is on the verge of being no more. Why? Because we don’t know what to do with young couples like Joseph and Mary, whose baby isn’t wrapped up in red and green velveteen. Instead it wears thrift store seconds.
The Church Family - what does yours look like? In the coming year we are going to explore together who we are now as the Family of God, as well as who God wants us to become. Some of these notes that I write might be a bit disturbing and challenging, but then so is the Christmas Story!
Love ya'll and oh, by the way, Merry Christmas,
Moderator Rick
<< Home