January 5, 2024
I pray that the Lord richly blessed your Christmas and New Year's holidays - whether that looked like a restful time around a fireplace in the comfort of your own home or a less-than-restful time traveling to see family, I pray the peace of God and the joy of the Lord has been your strength day by day the past weeks. For many, the holidays can be painful reminders of the (better) way things used to be, or of the loneliness brought about by death, divorce, or other relational fracture. Even when moments of discouragement and despair roll over us like a wave, when God feels far away, we can say to our souls with the sons of Korah in Psalm 42, "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God." The Lord is with us, even/especially at our lowest moments, for He has promised never to leave us nor abandon us (Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5).
That promise of the presence of the Lord is much needed by our brothers and sisters who have lost loved ones recently. Please keep praying for the comfort of the Joey Smith family (in the death of his father) and Cindy Neiswinger and her family (in the death of her husband Mike), as well as Peggy Buras (in the death of her brother) and Marie Johnson and Joshua Richardson (in the death of Marie's sister). The turning over of the calendar is already a reminder of the brevity of our lives - "As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years, yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for soon it is gone and we fly away" (Psalm 90:10) - and the death of a loved one drives home that reality all the more. How we need to keep the hope of the resurrection fresh on our heart!
Our final sermon in the life of Elisha this Lord's day will keep both death and resurrection before us, so please be praying that the Lord would use His word to meet us where we are (or one day will be) and bring us the life-giving hope of the gospel. For the rest of January and the first week of February, leading up to our annual Missions Festival February 4-11, we are going to think about the theme of stewardship: of our time, our relationships, our financial resources, and our gifts. That last sermon will coincide with a joint service in the gym for the ordination and installation of our new officers, so that together we might celebrate the Lord's gifts to us both individually and corporately. I look forward to meditating with you upon what it means to be wise and faithful recipients and conduits of the abundant provisions the Lord has graciously chosen to provide to us!
Speaking of new officers, we've announced in the bulletin the past two Sundays that our annual congregational meeting is set for January 28 during the Sunday School hour. Please make every effort to be present. Not only will we be electing new ruling elders and deacons and presenting the 2024 church budgets, but we will have two other important recommendations from the Session to consider. Be on the lookout for more information about these in the mail next week.
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If anyone is interested in attending, I'm leading a community book discussion at the RTS Bookstore (4268 I-55 North) on Friday, January 26, from 5:30-6:30. The book is Impeccable, by William Swan Plumer, a short volume (less than 100 pages) that considers the question of whether Jesus was able to sin or not. Spoiler alert: Plumer's answer is that Jesus was not only sinless, but He was not able to sin. Come and hear more about how that is possible and why it matters. You can pick up a copy of the book at the RTS Bookstore, or just show up if you'd like to listen in on the discussion.