From the Study...

Dear Friends,

Last year, as we transitioned from 2020 into 2021, we were being lifted along by a real feeling of hope. The pandemic, which had shut everything down ten months before, was about to be confronted by the vaccine we had all been waiting for and the pre-election fighting had turned into post-election fighting, which was more of a change in purpose than behavior but, nevertheless, a change. Prayers were about getting back to whatever normal would now look like. And up in the western sky there was a convergence of Saturn and Jupiter which looked like that star over 2,000 years before which the Wise Men followed as they made their way to Bethlehem.

Here we are a year later, and we do have more vaccines and other tools in the COVID battle. But the pandemic is still with us, we are still loudly politically polarized, and “normal” continues to allude us. Yet, our hope remains strong because it is supported by our faith. Hope supported by faith is so much more than a mere wish. Jeremiah wrote to the children of Israel in a time when they were deeply in need of hope and said, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews spoke to the early Christians describing the faith that sustains us as “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Both of these words speak to us in our day.

Let that hope and certainty be what carries you into the year ahead. God always gives a hope and a future. We don’t know the details right now, but that’s OK. We’ll find out as we live into it. By the way, there’s a comet in the western sky this Christmas. It is named Comet Leonard for the astronomer who discovered it last year. But it is also being called the Christmas Comet. It reminds me of a star in the sky over 2,000 years ago which the wise men followed as they made their way to Bethlehem and a manger and a savior. I can’t wait to see what I write this time next year.

Grace and peace,

Mike