Mid-week News 12-19-12

Dear Family of Faith, I just finished my annual Christmas concert on the piano. I’m never quite pleased with my performance, but what did please me was that 80 people came to listen (which is more than were in worship on the first day I began as pastor of the church 4 years ago!). Someone asked me before the concert whether I had stage fright. I always do, but I continue to play for others anyway because I believe that we are called to share whatever talents God gives us. I really appreciate the person who donated the piano in the sanctuary many years ago so that I could have the privilege of using it! Ever since the mass shooting in Connecticut there has been a pall over our Christmas celebrations. Especially for my own family, which lost three children to violence on a single night 20 years ago, the faces of those innocent kids bring back a host of frightful memories. And yet, to slide into despair when such things happen, is to surrender to the enemy of death—something Jesus came to overcome. We need to go on in our lives. Violence and death will not have the last word; rather love and life will win in the end. Some ask “Where was God when this horrible thing happened?” My answer: “With the kids.” Unfortunately, our President, like many others, spoke of God “taking the children.” I balk at such a thought. If I thought God was in the business of taking away our children, our pride and joy in life; then I would have little reason to give such a god glory and praise. But the God I know doesn’t ever take our children from us, either through violent means or disease. The God I know receives our children into an eternal realm when the events of this world destroy their fragile earthly lives. So it is that we need to go on in joy after the sadness of life so that we can be “more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.” Last Sunday’s worship service was something that helped us go on in life. The children’s Christmas Pageant was spectacular—the littlest children were so cute, the older ones so competent, the Junior Choir so strong, and the puppets so colorful. Everything from the young acolyte to the baptism of 7-year-old Emma Chenoweth, to Ryan Netrval’s piano solo, to the pageant was so uplifting! As Meredith Suld put it after the service, “It was redemptive.” Indeed, all the children bringing the message of Jesus in so many different ways seemed to vindicate the CT schoolchildren. Youth and childhood will go on! A big thanks to all the teachers and helpers in the Sunday School who helped to make this first pageant in decades such a smashing success! Anyone who experienced it can tell you that something beautiful happened to those who were in worship. Our hope was truly reborn in that hour. In this holy season when the Light of Christ breaks up the darkness of the world, may your words be encouraging, your thoughts pleasing to God, and your deeds full of compassion, generosity, and love. See you on the other side of ‘the end of the world.’ With affection, Pastor Carlan