January Jottings...

January is my favorite month of the year. Occasionally it is my second most favorite month but definitely in the top two! The very first day of the month my household gets to celebrate by eating pork and sauerkraut. Winter is full on in January (hey, that’s a good thing), college football bowl games are played and it turns out everybody who is anybody was born in January. If you are a gardener, January is time to settle in with seed catalogs and dream about Spring. The liturgies for Sundays in January bring Christmas to a close with Epiphany but we are not yet in the intensity that is Lent and Easter.

I am not big on New Year’s resolutions. I get the newness thing and the start of a year can be a time to change habits. I just think the success rate is better other times of the year. That said, I see some positive changes ahead for we at Cole Memorial UMC:

à a healthier financial situation as we give sacrificially and hopefully pay off the debt soon

à a chance for me to focus more on people and not focusing on just getting up to speed

à the opportunity to think through the right opportunities to touch lives beyond our four walls

I continue to be impressed with the “work ethic” of folks at Cole as they have stepped up to get done what has been needed done. I see lots of evidence too of a “faith ethic” where what we do and how we do it and why we do it flows out of our love for Jesus Christ. That love for Christ can grow as we study and pray in our own households, as we come together to worship and as we engage in risk-taking service.

I don’t yet have any clear sense of all the specific things we might do, but from a leader’s perspective I can see intercessory prayer, healing, and the Holy Spirit as being key elements that I need to nurture in myself and assist others on as well. I am not worried about that too much yet. I still have the month of January to figure more of it out!