Grace's Blog 2025
January 9, 2025
Epiphany
Happy New Year! And Happy Epiphany-tide! The church is currently in the season of Epiphany. A season that begins with Epiphanies feast day on January 6th and ends Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten Season. Epiphany is my favorite feast day of the whole year and is usually forgotten or missed in the chaos and let down of Christmas and New Years.
The feast day marks the arrival of the kings to baby king Jesus. A king who we know will not be an earthly kind of king but a different king all together! The season of Epiphany then marks the revealing of who Jesus is! Epiphany literally meaning to appear. This year, Epiphany is long! We have many weeks to gather together to wonder about who this Jesus is. And what that means for us in our lives of faith.
In staff meeting this week, we read a devotion from one of my favorite books, Emily Carson’s “Holy Everything.” This devotion was titled “Unboxing” and begged us to think again about how we describe Jesus. The question shouldn’t be “do we put Jesus in a box”, but rather “what box have we put Jesus in?” Emily reminded us that Jesus is Savior, healer, storyteller and comforter, but also rebel and antagonist, disrupter of social and religious norms of his day, who often taught using questions and not certainties. This is the Jesus we get to discover again, who is revealed each year during the season of Epiphany. In worship we read stories from the Gospels. This year we will be focusing in on Luke’s Gospel.
Emily’s devotion didn’t stop at Jesus though, she invited us to think of others we have put into boxes- how might we extend the same grace and understanding to them? How might our neighbors or loved ones be revealed to us anew in this season of life? Do we allow them to grow and even surprise us? Do we allow them to be bearers of Christ’s image for us?
Blessings,
Pastor Maria Markman
January 2, 2025
New Years Blessings and Other News
Happy New Year people of Grace. Together we enter 2025. For some of you this calendar change is the welcome reset after a hard year, for others this year holds new possibilities and excitement. I know in our household, we have a child graduating from high school, which makes for a memorable year.
I will be away the on a trip to Greece and Turkey following the footsteps of Paul with other pastors and their spouses from January 6th-16th. Pastor Maria will be holding down the fort along with the rest of the Grace staff. This is a trip that has been several years in the making and changed from a trip to Israel and the Holy Land after the war broke out in Gaza. I ask for your prayers for our travel. This is a trip that hopefully we can share together one day. Designed to help pastors prepare to take with their congregation members. I look forward to sharing some of my learnings with you all when I return.
In this new year, I pray that your eyes would stay open to seeing God’s presence within and around you, that you would slow down and recognize the steady rhythm of the world beating all around us every day. I pray that you might hear messages of love and belonging and share them with others. I pray you will forgive abundantly and receive with open arms. I pray you will allow your true self to shine through bringing you connection and compassion. May God’s love fill you and bless you in this new year.
Blessings,
Pastor Joanna Mitchell
