Friends in Christ,
Very soon our Christmas season will come to an end. Now some are a little eager to get all the wrappings and décor put into boxes and the tree stored for next year, but hold on. The Christmas season doesn’t end until January 6th. We still have 12 days to celebrate Christmas!
So depending on when you read this you could be celebrating with, “Seven swans a swimming” or “Eight maids a milking!” Unless of course the mail is really slow due to our overworked postal folks (God bless them, what a busy time they just went through). In that case you might be celebrating with, “Ten lords a leaping or eleven pipers piping!”
But soon we begin a New Year and a new season within the Church, “Epiphany!” Epiphany means “manifestation” or “revelation.” We remember the story of the “Wise Men” bringing gifts to baby Jesus and we are reminded again of the “Light” God has brought into our world. The season of Epiphany calls us to take the revelation of Christ, and let that soak into our lives and shine forth in everything we do and in everything we are about.
One of my favorite scriptures is Colossians 3:17 where Paul says, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Jesus’ people are people who seek to live as Jesus lived. We are people who hope to treat others as Jesus did. And the only way this is possible is to come to the Epiphany of “who” Jesus is: The very Son of God who has come into our world to set us free from ourselves, set us free from sin and death, to bring us into relationship with God the Father, and to show us the way on how we are to treat and care for each other in this journey we call life.
On January 13th I plan to begin a three week preaching series on, “Wesley’s Three Simple Rules.” I think this will be a good way to begin the New Year. And a great way of coming to the epiphany of who Jesus is and truly putting into practice Paul’s words in Colossians 3:17. I hope you can be at church as we look at these three topics of John Wesley’s Three Simple Rules: Do No Harm, Do Good, and Stay in Love With God!
Blessings in the New Year!
Pastor Andy