Thoughts from Our Bridge Pastor
Rev. Barbara K. Peronteau
Thoughts from the Pastor…
It’s that time of year when we nestle all snug in our beds, while visions of sugar-plums dance in our heads as we settle in for a long winter's nap. There is something exciting about this time of year that still remains with me from my childhood. I am reminded of the lights and colors and music of the season, and all the bling that comes with it. As the expectations, demands, and various stressors also dance in my head, I am excited about the excitement and totally otherness this time of year brings with it.
Not everything about the season is happy-flappy though. Along with the laughter comes the raised voices and the anger. The sadness and disappointments. The unmet expectations. The tragedies, loss, and grief. All the emotions across the spectrum are on heightened alert. The bling and sting both make an appearance.
Even as the day looks like it’s 3 o’clock in the afternoon all day, and even as the Earth spins and turns and wobbles to its appointed spot at the Topic of Capricorn, creation brings us new hope and new possibilities when the Sun bounces back, like a Pacman on the edge of the screen, toward a time with more light and longer days.
It seems that just as the world reaches that place where the lights are about to go out, creation says, nope, not today. It’s ironic that just as the light is at its dimmest is also that same moment when the light begins to shine brightest. We don’t get the end we get a new beginning.
My time with you grows short. As of this writing I have eight more days as your Bridge Pastor. Soon, I will be sitting in the same pews with you. A new beginning. Soon there will be a new Pastor among you. A new beginning.
Just when things are at their dimmest the Angels of heaven cry out to us, “Do not be afraid. I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people; to you born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”
We don’t get the end, we get Jesus.
A new beginning awaits!
Praise be to God!
~ Pr. Barbara