Dear Family of Our Redeemer’s
When you receive this issue of The Spirit, we will be in the twelve days of Christmas. We are invited to “keep Christmas” rather than to “spend Christmas”. During those twelve days we are encouraged to rejoice, worship, adore, enjoy THE GIFT, praise God with the angels, sing, dance, and celebrate the SAVIOR in any way that our imagination can come up with. What an opportunity we lose if we go back to normal and return to business as usual. The world is not the same since the Savior is born! We are not the same since the Savior is born! God has entered our broken world in a very real way and nothing can be the same as before. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called ‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace'”.
When a new life enters our homes, everything is changed. When The Savior enters our homes, our world is changed. He brings all the gifts that His names describe. Instead of bringing gifts to the baby Jesus, He brings gifts to us. The names of this Child that often stand out, Savior and Prince of Peace, are descriptive of important areas in our lives that God comes to us. Savior: “He will save His people from their sins”, and Prince of Peace: “He will bring peace to His people”–these much needed gifts do indeed change everything.
Are you ready to enter the new year with a new vision? New expectations? New attitudes? New hopes? New faith? New love? Our future will be shaped by our perspective. “What you see is what you get!” Our church faith statement, “We walk by faith and not by sight”, is a positive affirmation instead of a negative resignation. When we speak as if the future is out of our control and we don’t know what is coming, it can be an attempt to prepare ourselves for the worst. We resign ourselves to a bumpy, hard road ahead. This is not what God had in mind for us when He sent Jesus into our world and opens the door to a new year. We can never hear it too often: “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope”. (Jeremiah 29:11)
As we step across the threshold into 2022, it will be helpful to use the above Bible verse as our creed. Our faith and our attitude do indeed shape our lives. It can awaken a sense of excitement if our vision is created by God’s Word. “God is great! God is good! and God is able to give you a future and a hope”.
Blessings on your journey into God’s open future,
Interim Supply Pastor, Fred Mai
