Dear Blooming Glen Friends, 

“Joy is not necessarily the absence of suffering; it is the presence of God.”
Dr. Sam Storms, pastor emeritus, Bridgeway Church, Oklahoma City, OK 

The end of our calendars can create in us a season of despondency.  The new year’s resolution we abandoned last February now stare back at us with eager, hungry eyes.  We feel guilty and full of “try, try, try again” remorse.  As we begin to hang the 2024 calendars, another birthday is staring at us, and that isn’t always a happy thing.  Maybe joy ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. 

Or maybe joy is predicated on how the everyday is full of surprises.  You wake up, go outside, and that cold Canadian air stings, but also, to your surprise and delight, it refreshes. Joy is the product of remembering God is always, always present.  God doesn’t show up when we speak the proper magical incantation.  God is always here.  God is everywhere.  In our anxieties, God offers us peace of mind.  In our exuberance, God offers us a steady compass heading for life.   

The early life of Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 2.1-23, is full of the stories of suffering and hope.  Persian religious leaders sought out the auspicious birth omens of Jesus (hope) and pronounced an upcoming change of government (leading to suffering).  The family of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus escaped Herod  (hope) and became Jewish immigrants in Egypt (likely not very easy).  Herod murdered a generation of boys in Bethlehem (a massacre leading to generations of suffering), and after Herod died, the Holy Family returned to their homeland in the northern hills of Galilee (a life of hope).  Joy is not predicated on the actions of religious signs, or political atrocities.  Joy is not simply a matter of residence in a strange new land, or back in the familiar confines of a childhood home.  Joy is the assurance that whatever the circumstances, God is present and will not, ever, abandon us. 

An old year is passing away, and a new year is dawning.  In the about to be completed lap around the sun, we have all encountered the stinging, bracing winds of change.  I pray we experience those winds not as gales of destruction, but as breezes full of the possibility of joy.  You joy depends on your acknowledgement that Jesus is present right now in your life as it is.  Whatever isn’t seeming right, whatever isn’t working well – these are not excuses to abandon ship.  They are opportunities to listen in fresh ways to Jesus speak hope to us in the middle of turmoil. 

May 2024 be a year of rediscovering the intimacy of Jesus alongside of us, no matter what. 

Pastor Jeff
jeff@bgmc.net

 PS - I’ll be at the Broad Street Grind to listen to how Jesus is present in your life on Friday, December 29 and January 5, at 3:30 to 4:45 pm.  I’ll be at the A&N Diner to listen on Monday, January 8, at 7:30 to 8:45 am.  Debbie and I will be in California, January 9-26 (I’ll be working remotely for Blooming Glen and Mosaic Conference).  I’ll be back at the A&N Diner on Monday morning, January 29.