January 2025
Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. - Isaiah 60
Did you make a New Year’s Resolution this year?
Recently, the Study Buddy Bible Study (which meets on Tuesday mornings at 10am) has been moving through Paul’s letter to the Romans. One of the big themes in Romans is just how hard it is to follow all the laws of the Bible. In Chapter 7:18, Paul finally says: “I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.”
When we read that, we talked about whether or not we were going to each make New Year’s resolutions this year. Everyone laughed as we shared resolutions that had been over-ambitious or a good idea that just didn’t quite happen. Some of us had stories about real, positive changes that started with a new resolution. At the end of the conversation, it seemed to me that everyone agreed that it was important to set hopeful goals for ourselves - even if we aren’t always able to achieve them.
The whole month of January in the church calendar is full of hopeful readings and themes that all play on the theme of ‘Epiphany.’ This first week of January, we’ll talk about God showing up and pointing the way for the nations to come and encounter the baby Jesus through the appearance of a star. The Magi come to visit the baby in Bethlehem and bring their gifts, it’s true, and the Visit of the Magi is just one of the ways that we’ll hear about God fulfilling the promises of Isaiah 60: “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”
Throughout this month of Epiphany themes, God’s presence and power keeps peeking through in everyday settings like a baptism and a wedding, in Jesus’ reading a lesson at his home synagogue and through the call and invitation of the disciples. God’s hope and promise begins by shining through in these unassuming settings. And week by week, throughout this season, we get to hear again how God brings hope, promise and possibility into a world in need through the introduction of Jesus and his ministry.
What resolutions, what hopes do you have for ministry and mission in our First Lutheran community for 2025? Where do you hope that God will show up and guide us this year
Throughout the month of January, we’ll be preparing for the year ahead in our own congregation. To prepare for the annual meeting, we’ll be talking more about our shared priorities and some of the changes we anticipate in 2025.
Early this New Year, we’ll be setting a course for a series of discussions among our fellow Wildfire collaborators. What are the hopes we have for ministry and mission in our neighborhoods, in our shared community, in the Robbinsdale School District?
This New Year, we’ll be looking up in hope and expectation to see what new things God has in store for us in 2025. I’m so thankful we’ll be doing it together.
Pastor Colin
