A Christmas Meditation
Rev. John Shaver
Sunday, December 29, 2019 at 9:00am and 10:30am
Dear SDUMC Family,
As I write the final E-News of 2019, I want to thank you for the many ways you have lived out the vows we take as UMC members (prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness)! It has been another exciting year at our church, and please know that I am immensely grateful to God for our faith community.
As I thought about the Christmastide season, I remembered a blessing for the New Year by Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman, and I hope in these coming days, you’ll find some time to meditate on his thoughts…
Grant that I may pass through the coming year with a faithful heart. There will be much to test me and make weak my strength before the year ends. In my confusion I shall often say the word that is not true and do the thing of which I am ashamed. There will be errors in the mind and great inaccuracies of judgment…In seeking the light, I shall again and again find myself walking in the darkness. I shall mistake my light for Your light and I shall drink from the responsibility of the choice I make. Nevertheless, grant that I may pass through the coming year with a faithful heart. May I never give the approval of my heart to error, to falseness, to vanity, to sin. Though my days be marked with failures, stumblings, fallings, let my spirit be free so that You may take it and redeem my moments in all the ways my needs reveal. Give me the quiet assurance of Your Love and Presence. Grant that I may pass through the coming year with a faithful heart. Howard Thurman (Through The Coming Year may be found in Meditations of the Heart by Thurman)
I look forward to a joyous Sunday with you this week! We’ll have:
8 AM Worship and 9 AM Worship (half-hour worship with Communion in the Chapel)
10 AM Combined Worship Hour that will be a family-friendly service – singing Carols and then sharing in the great gift of Communion in the Sanctuary. (Remember to come casual this Sunday).
Thank you for a wonder-filled and excellent 2019, and I look forward to an exciting year as the journey continues in 2020!
Grace, Peace, and Thanks, John
P.S. I also hope you’ll join me at the Youth Group Pancake Breakfast starting from 8:30 AM to 10 AM and 11 AM to Noon. The breakfast is one of the main fundraisers for the SDUMC Youth missional endeavors!