Beloved of God,

What will this new year, 2012, hold?  When the calendar turns I begin imagining and hoping what the year will bring;  the places I’d like to go, the people to see, the goals to reach, the crises to avoid, the habits (healthy ones!) to cultivate.  How about you?  How far will you allow your imagination to carry you this year?

There are some voices out there that have identified 2012 as the year in which humankind will see “the end of the world as we know it.”  Despite the many examples of false “end time” predictions through the centuries, some interpreters of the so-called “Mayan calendar” suggest the end of the world will take place on or near the winter solstice of 2012.  Hollywood is already cashing in on the theme.  This is not a new phenomenon but an old, familiar one.  Only time will tell.

In the meantime, we as a congregation have some work to do!  There are significant decisions ahead for us this month as we consider the shape our VISION and MISSION PLAN will take in the next 5-10 years, and as we decide what level of commitment we will bring to the table as we prioritize and fund our congregational ministries.  There’s a lot to be excited about, and I hope each of you will be full participants in the process.  These decisions belong to all of us acting together—not just a few.

In his gospel, Matthew packs a whole bunch of short, pithy parables of Jesus into the 13th chapter.  Jesus is at his best as a teacher here—using common images from everyday life as new metaphors for understanding what God is up to in the world:  “The kingdom of heaven is like… a mustard seed…yeast in a batch of dough…treasure hidden in a field… a merchant searching for fine pearls.” Who would ever have thought that the reign of God would be so accessible and at the same time so subtly hidden in ordinary things?  Jesus invites us inside each image and gives us permission to activate our own imaginations to consider how and where God is at work in our everyday lives turning sorrow to joy, dead ends to new beginnings, and small gestures to grand movements of grace.  When we can see God anew in ordinary places of our lives there’s no end to the myriad ways we can experience “God-with-us.”

This week I presided at a memorial service for a woman I never met, but who has touched the lives of students and colleagues over a period of decades.  Her name is Marcelyn Shadow, and she once was a member at Peace.  By all accounts, Marcy left a deep and powerful legacy of learning and caring in the lives of hundreds of her middle school students.  Her zeal for teaching and her unorthodox classroom style ignited a desire for learning that led a number of her former students into teaching careers of their own.  When it came to working with these kids, Marcy was “all in.” Teaching was her true vocation, the place where “the world’s deep hunger” and her “deep gladness” converged.^[1] Where is that place for you?  That’s a question worth asking as the rhythm of the new year begins.

Blessings on the Way,

Pastor Erik

[1] Frederick Buechner