Dear Glen Mar friends,
We think of Christmas as a “one-day-only” event but in actuality, it’s a season that’s 12 days long. The “Twelve Days of Christmas” song is based on this—with the “First Day of Christmas” being December 25. It ends on January 6, which is Epiphany. I’m sure you are not accumulating those gifts from your true love, or if you are, I hope you have a lot of money and a lot of storage in your home! They figured out that all the gifts in the song, given once, would be about $46,000 in 2022 dollars. (There is a rumor circulating that the days and their gifts are references to Christian doctrine—Partridge—Jesus, 2 turtle doves—Old and New Testaments, etc. This was not in the mind of the writers of the song, scholars think, for reasons too long for a pondering. Still, as a derivative idea, it’s cute).
Our facility is closed this week for a bit of a break leading into the new year, and I like this time very much—not because there is less work to do, exactly, but because it allows for a bit of quiet time with God, to give thanks for the blessings of the past year and to lift up the hurts and wounds to God. As you bring 2023 to a close, what would you lift up as a gift given? What hurts and struggles would you name and lift up to God? What did you learn about God? Yourself? Your purpose?
I don’t know how you feel about New Year’s Resolutions but I do know I consider it a gift to have Sunday fall on New Year’s Eve. I hope you’ll join us for worship as we start a new worship series about brokenness, healing and hope. The series refers to a Japanese practice called “kintsugi”, in which broken ceramics are repaired using gold, so that the brokenness isn’t hidden, but lifted up as part of what it means to be a whole person with God. We’ll start this Sunday looking at Genesis and an ancient story describing our need for healing, our tendency towards brokenness… and we’ll have time to pray for the year gone by and set intentions for the year to come.
See you in Church,
Pastor Mandy
PS. Shirley Burbank passed away this week. Shirley has been homebound for several years but continued to worship with us online and faithfully supported our church and its activities. In pastoral visits with her, we would go through the Messenger and the bulletin together, and she would ask about her friends. She was a proud Kansan and a civil rights pioneer in the 60’s and a gifted poet and a faithful child of God. Her service will be at Glen Mar on Saturday February 10 at 11:00 am. Please pray for her family as they grieve.