Beloved in Christ,
By the grace of God, we’ve come to the New Year 2022! I think pretty much all of us wonder what a new calendar year will bring every year; this year I’m sure we’re all praying and hoping that the COVID-19 pandemic will finally end, or at least become endemic, like the flu. And when it does, what will that mean for the community of faith here at Good Shepherd? What will be different? What we can know with certainty is that we are God’s children, beloved and precious, and that God IS WITH US!
I’m looking forward to gathering with the Congregation Council in retreat on Saturday, January 8 to discern for THIS time what Good Shepherd’s mission is, create an updated mission statement for ministry in this place, and brainstorm direction for the future. Please keep us in prayer; we will gather that day from 9:00 a.m. – no later than 3:00 p.m.
In these early days of January, the Season of Christmas comes to an end with the Day of Epiphany on January 6th when the church celebrates Christ revealed to the Gentiles with the visitation and adoration by the Magi. As we celebrated the Nativity of our Lord with the creche front and center before the altar, with the angels, the beasts of the stall, and the shepherds surrounding the Holy Family, we placed the Magi, their gifts, and their camel at a distance. On the Second Sunday of Christmas (January 2), they will have moved much closer. Exactly when they arrived and paid homage to Jesus is widely disputed; it may have been up to two years after his birth. What matters is they followed the star, they arrived, and they worshipped Jesus.
Here in 2022, the revelation of Christ, and exactly who he is, will take place over eight Sundays, almost the longest the season might be. It’s another season of Ordinary Time in the Church Year, but as we worship, in-person or virtually, I’m sure you’ll agree that the stories of revelation we get to hear are extraordinary.
On Sunday, January 9 I will have the joy of reinstating Janice Wunsch as our congregation’s Synod Parish Deacon (SPD), a position in which she serves as an extension of my pastoral office and answers only to me as Pastor of Good Shepherd. She is not another pastor. In the Florida-Bahamas Synod, the Synod Parish Deacon serves their own congregation as a volunteer. Your help is needed in caring for our membership. I’m asking each individual to complete a GSLC Emergency Form which will provide us with your full legal name and other emergency contact information so the church can serve you better, if need be. Copies will be available at the church, through a forthcoming Constant Contact link, or by mail, if requested.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Kim Trabold
But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary
power belongs to God and does not come from us.
2 Corinthians 4:7
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