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Pastor's Corner

Rev. Jon Siemsglusz

TWO THINGS I KNOW ABOUT 2012!

You would think, when we read the Christmas story, that Mary and Joseph could look forward to a charmed life. After all, their son was the Messiah. Their life should be easy. Their child was in God’s care.
 
Little did they know what lay ahead…that they would have to take flight to Egypt to keep their new-born from being killed by a deranged king…that an aged man named Simeon would prophecy that Mary’s soul would also be pierced too. What did he mean? Like Jesus’?
         
Life can be very cruel even to the best of people. Why should you and I think that God will build a wall around us to protect us from life’s slings and arrows? Mary lost the two most important people in her world much too early, but it is always too early. None of us knows what tomorrow may bring. That’s the first thing I know about 2012!

The second thing is that both we and those we love are in God’s hands. That doesn’t mean life will always be a smooth road for us. Everyone encounters bumps along the way. We get discouraged, sometimes even bitter, but we do not give up, for we trust that an Unseen Hand is leading us.       We trust that when there is just one set of “footprints” that means that we are being carried by our Good Shepherd.   

If you ever doubt that as you move through this new year, just look in your rearview mirror…look back at Christmas. Whether it’s a week or two or twenty or fifty-two…Christmas was the beginning of God’s great story of love for us. He sent His own Son into our world. He took on our own flesh. He suffered a cruel death on a cross to pay for our sins and redeem us. Then He rose again on the third day to assure us of victory over the grave too…and guarantee an eternal life for us as well.

Mary and Joseph went on with their lives following Christmas, and so shall we. They faced life’s many challenges, but they did it with love and with faith in God. It was not easy, but they knew God was with them, just as God is with us.

 

Rev. Jon Siemsglusz, Pastor