Merry Christmas friends!

Merry Christmas friends! I hope you and yours had an amazing advent and Christmas Day. We are now living the Christmas season in anticipation of Epiphany.

I don't know about you but after Christmas, I always feel a renewed sense of passion and a drive to be better, serve more, be more of who God has called me to be. You know, New Years Resolutions and all.

I hope that you will join me as I try to live out Howard Thurman's words, below. Thurman was an author, theologian and leader/mentor of the Civil Rights Movement.

“Now the Work of Christmas Begins” by Howard Thurman

When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the people,
to make music in the heart.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years my friends. May God bless you all abundantly in 2017!

Rev. Michelle

Above all - Give Thanks!

We just finished Thanksgiving - a time of gathering with loved ones and consuming (way too much) delicious food. It is also the time that we set aside to give thanks. This year at our family dinner my six (and 3/4 she will tell you) year old daughter wanted to go around and say what we are thankful for. Although some of the twenty-somethings groaned, everyone joined in. There were laughs when my three year old said "Santa" and when my cousin went on and on and on... but above all the answers reminded us of why the holiday is great. One cousin said he is thankful for our family who has been close for generations, and another for family that is there for you in the good and hard times.

I don't know about you, but I can get caught up in the here and now. I can run from one task to the next, consistently thinking of the on-going to do list. However, on Thanksgiving night, we all took a moment to stop. To look at each other. To be grateful. In those moments, when we take a deep breath and exhale, we revel in the blessings we have been given. It doesn't remove the hard stuff but we can look to God with gratefulness for just how abundantly He has showered us with His love. It is how we can live into God's command to give thanks always - even when times are tough. We know that no matter what, at the end of the day, this home is not our own. This place is not the end. This time will pass and one day we will feast together at the Heavenly banquet. And as Julian of Norwich tells us all shall be well, in all manner of things, all shall be well.

May God bless you abundantly as you seek His face!

Rev. Michelle