Trinity Lutheran Church

So, how is 2012 already?

Pastor Paula

Dear Friends!

So, how is 2012 already? It is my first day back to the office and to keeping my time and saying goodbye to sleepy days of holidays.

I am glad to see this congregation and community every week of the year, including after the holidays, but now the snow has come and, actually, I think my dog, Greta, is out of shape. She is bulging at her sweater and I am sure I have walked her every day, but something about laying around is getting to her. She will give me incentive to walk her more.

I have set up my classic Nordic Track, but there is something yet to be repaired on it, yet I am figuring that out. I called a friend and we will swim together in the New Year. My resolutions to be more active myself are also motivated by what my daughters used to call my "pizza dough" (underarm flab) which now resembles chicken skin.

The light that helps with the "Cleveland Dulls" (what others have now recognized as Seasonal Affective Disorder) is lit every morning where I am now drinking my coffee and watching the morning news.

It is day 3 of the year. What about you? How are you doing in the winter and after holiday blues time? It may be the best time to reexamine your energy levels, your need for exercise and your need for community. Come to church! Check up with one another and let your light shine for those for whom the time is not so shiny.

Janice Snyder, a communicator of the Lutheran Home at Concord Reserve, reminded me of a story from the Philippines. See this at http://wimp.com/lightenup. Such a simple solution to bring light to poor homesÖand this is in a country where it is usually sunny. The light and heat of the outside make these simple homes hot and yet they are not able to see due to being so crowded home upon home. With a simple plastic bottle and hand hewn corrugated tin, a roof is cut and a simple solution is made to bring light inside.

Let's look for simplicity in our lives to make resolutions doable. Prayer, connection with church friends and others, a phone call or tweet evenÖthis is what connects us today.

Come to worship! Meet people with likeminded faith and concern for the neighborhood and the world. Open the "roof" of your life with light that comes in our shining star, Jesus. In the plastic bottle in the Philippines water and bleach is inserted. Hmmm..something about baptism and cleansing ourselves connects here.

Each of us needs a cleanse once in a while...another reason to come to Church. Meet the One who loves us wherever and in whatever situation we are. That One loves us through and beyond any darkness or nasty ways and gets into us to make us just like Him. Come! Know the One, the Light, the Man, Jesus and learn with one another to share Him with all you meet.

Pastor Paula

2012-01-04