This is my first chance to write something to the whole community in 2025 and I feel a bit like we have lived a lot of life in a short period of time in 2025 so far. The news is filled with disruption: change of government leaders in Canada, tumultuous change on the horizon down south, devastating fires in California. That is a lot.
At Highlands, we are entering a significant year, with the imminent building of a Thrift Store, and with the possibility of a major fund campaign. Your Leadership Board is juggling a lot.
And yet, in our worship life and our sacred story, we begin more gently. Last week we began with Epiphany and imagined ourselves as glimmers of light arranged as a constellation of God, created to shed God’s light in the world, led by the star-child Jesus. And this week we hear of his baptism by wild-man John and the Spirit descending on him like a dove with words of tender love and blessing. Such a gentle beginning.
This is the contrast we live with every day as people of God and followers of Jesus. God’s powerful, tender love is at the heart of who we are, what we believe about life and the world, and therefore how we choose to move in the world. We have both a belief in and an experience of this profound love. And it is that belief and experience that we carry with us and in us through the wildness of life.
Yes, there is a lot going on. Yes, some of it is scary and daunting. Yes, we get thrown off our game and our light can dim at times. But beneath it all, in the midst of it all, the Spirit is there, the voice speaks, the blessing is repeated and remembered. This is what we bring into 2025.
See you Sunday,
Will