January 2, 2024
Dear Friends,
It’s the 9th day of Christmas – let’s keep the festival going!
On Sunday we heard about the greening of the world as Jesus, the living water, flowed into our sin-darkened, desert land and brought growth in places you’d never expect: among shepherds sitting in the field, to the stranger Simeon in the temple, and to the widow Anna. They all received new life.
Unlike the New Year, which for many is a new lease on life or a chance to start some things over with new resolve, Christmas is not just a matter of outlook. It is new life all together. New Year’s resolutions are helpful, but they don’t make you any younger. They don’t turn back time. They don’t undo sin, sorrow, and death.
Christmas, on the other hand, does. It renews your youth like the eagle’s. Weak hands are strengthened, feeble knees are made firm, the eyes of the blind are opened, the ears of the deaf are unstopped, the lame man leaps like a deer, the tongue of the mute sings for joy, and anxious hearts are comforted: “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you” (Is. 35:4).
He will come, and he has come. And that is why we keep the festival going. We’ve been spared a bitter winter so far, but that is little consolation in a world with plenty of bitterness to go around. Let Christ make your days resound with joy! He is here, just as the angel said he would be. He is here, the sun of righteousness with healing in his wings.
God bless and keep you,
Pr. Buchs
COMING EVENTS:
Wednesday, January 3
9:30am – Matins
10:00am – Wednesday Morning Bible Study
7:00pm – Midweek Vespers
Sunday, January 7
9:00am – Divine Service (installation of officers)
10:30am – Sunday School/Bible Study
Tuesday, January 9
9am-12pm – Pastor at Joint Circuit Meeting
7pm – LWML Meeting
Thursday, January 11
6 & 7pm – Elders’ & Council Meetings