Happy New Year

Happy New Year. As we enter into a New Church Year, it is a great time for us to pause and look at how we are living the gift of our faith. God loves you more than you can ever imagine, and he has blessed you with everyone that you love and everything that you have. He wants you to enjoy all the wonderful gifts that he has given and continues to give you daily. He wants you to worship and praise him; to remember who has given you everything and has put you on earth. He has blessed you and given you all the gifts you need to live a happy and successful life. He is still with you, and he will not ever leave you. He wants nothing more than for you to enjoy and appreciate them.

With that in mind - it is right and a good thing to use the gifts God gave us for the purpose that he has for them. We are to live faithfully and worship and praise the author of all life. We are to show him that we appreciate everything that he has done and continues to do in our life. As we continue to live our Faith Journey, we grow in our appreciation of these gifts
and we are to grow in our understanding of and Worship of this wonderful God.

This is where it gets good and interesting. Us living our faith is a gift from this wonderful God, it is the greatest way that we can worship and praise the creator of the world. It is the best gift that we can give God to show him that we know him and love him. We are not just praising a wonderful person who has gone before us or a great leader from times past. No, we are worshipping and praising this God who has created everything. We get to go to church every Sunday and worship and praise Him. We gather with other faith filled people as we journey together throughout this life and into the next life. Sunday worship then works as our family meal. We come together as a family and eat a meal together while sharing our stories
and growing together. We, with one mind and heart (the mind and heart of Christ), all praise God, and honor and respect one another. We all try to live a life that reflects the love that Christ has put into our hearts. We live a life that builds up the body of Christ here on earth. Advent is the season that, as Christians, we look forward to the coming of Christ. It is that time that we anticipate the greatest gift that has been given to us -Brand new, every year at Christmas, - Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Born new in our lives. Born new into the world here and now. Born into all the chaos and mayhem that is going on right now in our world. No matter where we have been or what we have done up to this point- we get a chance to start
over. Jesus Christ wants to come into your life once again. To live in our heart and life. What an awesome and amazing God that we have. To call us and set us apart to live in this world, to walk with him through everything that we go through, and to walk with him when we do not understand the world and what is going on. To truly know that we have God with us, and He is always looking out for our best interest.

Going to church is important today because it allows us the opportunity to stay connected to this God. To set aside a day to worship and Honor Him. To keep Holy the Sabbath. To encounter this God. The best thing we do here on earth is to worship and praise this wonderful God. Let’s have a wonderful new year in which we come together with one mind and heart to praise and worship this awesome God of ours. See you in church!!

Rev. Stephen W. Barch