 I began to write a little piece about the new year and resolutions. As I wrote some initial lines, I thought to myself, “This seems familiar.” In fact, I was following the path I navigated last year. Sometimes a thought bears repeating. So, here is an article shared on January 4, 2024…
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 The first Christmas wasn’t the kind of holiday we often picture today.
It wasn’t filled with storybook charm or the familiar warmth of a Midwestern gathering. It was something more powerful and transformative. It was the Christmas Mary sang about — the kind that still resonates through the ages. This kind of Christmas centers completely on God.  The 322nd school shooting of the year took place this past week. The nations of the world are rattling nuclear sabers in what seems like escalating violence and conflict. Governments that we thought were stable bastions of democracy are falling apart. Health care is a mess. I could go on… I won’t. We always look for a bit of joy in the holiday season. This year, maybe more than ever.
 Silence can be unsettling at first. It confronts us with voices we’d rather avoid—the noisy and persistent echoes of jealousy, anger, resentment, or the lingering pain of loss and rejection. When we enter into stillness and silence, these voices can seem overwhelming, even deafening, tempting us to escape into distraction or entertainment. It is so easy to take out the phone and avoid the silence.
 As we prepare our tables, our travel, and our time off for another celebration of Thanksgiving Day, I find myself thinking that giving thanks is harder than it seems. I say “thank you” to people dozens of times a day. I say thanks for giving me my coffee, thanks for bagging my groceries, thanks for doing that thing I asked you to do. I do it so naturally and habitually that I wonder if I even know what I’m saying! Saying thanks is a habit.
 The 2024 Election is over. Winners and losers have been decided. For some, the outcome is a victory to celebrate. For others, it is a moment of dread and despair. It is tempting (or a little delusional) to think that the conclusion of the election means we have settled our differences, embraced a unifying vision, and can move on. The election is over but our struggle for unity, peace, common ground, and a hopeful future is clearly not over. The election, it seems to me, didn’t settle anything. If anything, I come away more confused and uncertain than ever.
 Lots of the attention to learning and growth in the church is centered on children and youth. Flowing from the promises parents make in baptism, the church helps with the shaping of young people as disciples. This is good and necessary. Yet, in our culture, we also think that once we “graduate” from school, finish the educational process in our youth, we are done, finished products with nothing left to learn. Read more at Grace Notes: https://bit.ly/htlc-gracenotes  I’m back. After a graciously granted sabbatical, I have resumed my regular duties at Holy Trinity. I want to say, once again, “Thank you!” The foresight and care that the congregation shows in having a sabbatical policy in place is more than appreciated. It is essential.
 In a perfect garden, created by God for the sake of humanity, evil entered in the form of deception and lies. Christians refer to this story, found in the biblical book of Genesis, as the fall of humanity. This foray into human sin began when Adam and Eve, the first humans created in the image of God, were deceived.
 Jacob Astley found himself entangled in the turmoil of the English Civil Wars (1642-51). A Royalist, he served as the King’s Major-General of Infantry and, just before the Battle of Edgehill on October 23, 1642, he offered a heartfelt prayer in the presence of his troops.
O Lord! thou knowest how busy I must be this day: if I forget thee, do not thou forget me. ~Amen |
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