January 2025
I’m sitting in my office on this last day of the year, looking back with joy at all we’ve done together. I can still hear the echoes of the 105 voices we had singing Christmas carols on Christmas Eve (we haven’t had over 100 people in our sanctuary for Christmas Eve since 2019!) and feel the joy of the Christmas Tea shenanigans (never before have I worn a nun’s habit), delicious treats, and good fellowship in early December.
Our Fresh Expressions folk started two Walk & Talk excursions on Tuesdays and Saturdays during the summer and hosted a Bingo in the Park event in July. And though my ongoing office hours at the coffee shop have had to move south to Forest Lake, I still enjoy being out in the community and seeing people almost every Wednesday.
Our 150th Anniversary Team organized celebrations in August and during our Fall Dinner in October, and we saw friends (former pastors, pastors’ families, former members) from long ago come and help us celebrate.
Our Fall Dinner was well organized by Cathy W. and Val V., and the community came out in greater numbers than they did last year, sharing the joy of good food and good fellowship in our building.
This November we celebrated Michelle and her eleven years of serving as our church secretary and expressed the hope that we will have at least eleven more years of working with her!
These are just a few of the highlights we experienced this last year.
I’m also looking forward with anticipation towards all we have planned for 2025. The coming year is bound to bring something new, while we will continue to faithfully serve one another through events like Stagecoach Day, the Fall Dinner, and New Pathways hosting. We will continue to bless those in need through our support of the Food Shelf, backpack food for our elementary school kids, Reading Buddies, and Lakes Center for Youth and Families.
God is not through with us yet. And as we look forward to the coming year, let’s pray that God will use us in ways that bring glory to God while bringing hope to God’s people. As we face this new year with hope, we pray this prayer of John Wesley:
A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition
I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you,
Praised for you or criticized for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service.
And now, O wonderful and holy God,
Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer,
you are mine, and I am yours, so be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it also be made in heaven.
Amen.
– Pastor Holly