With God's Hope~Our Journey Continues...

Staying On Track

Perhaps it’s just because I tend to be a traveler at heart, but I love the Epiphany story of the wise men and their journey to visit the baby Jesus. Matthew’s gospel is pretty short on details when it comes to the voyage itself.

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking,
"Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?
For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage."
(Matthew 2:1)

Can you imagine what a voyage like that might have entailed? No doubt there were twists and turns, perhaps even some false starts and mistaken paths until they finally arrived at the house where the child was. By keeping their eyes on the light which guided them, they managed to stay on track until they finally saw for themselves the hope to which God was calling them. There, “overwhelmed with joy”, they gratefully offered the gifts they had brought.

As a congregation, we are on a journey toward the hope to which God is calling us. Like the wise men, ours is a journey that may involve some twists and turns, some false starts, even some mistaken paths. Sometimes it may feel like we don’t know where we’re really headed – just read Pastor Del’s article (next posting) to see some of the challenges we’ve already faced along the way! In order to stay on track, we must keep our eyes focused on the light which guides us – a vision of Christ’s people in this place more fully living in God’s love and reaching out with hope.

We’ve said it many times, but it bears saying again: as a congregation, we exist for the sake of ministry and mission, because of the call to be Christ’s people in the world. If we lose sight of that, we don’t need an old building let alone a new one. We certainly don’t need a staff, and benevolence becomes self-serving!

As we discern our congregational path in this new year, may we stay on track by following the light that guides us towards a place where, overwhelmed with joy, we gratefully offer the gifts we bring!

Pastor Jim