It’s our pleasure to welcome you to worship on this first Sunday of 2019. We trust that today will be the first of a year of Sundays filled with praise, encouragement, and enthusiastic worship!
I like the notion of fresh starts and new beginnings, don’t you? Did your fall semester end on a low note? The spring semester that starts this week provides a fresh start.
Is an important relationship – a friendship or perhaps your marriage – in trouble? Are you worried about the behavior or peers of a child? Maybe this is the time to see with fresh eyes and speak with perceptive words.
A sense of brokenness is often the mandatory first step toward renewal. This may be hard to fathom but you – and I – can be wrong. Honesty is not only the best policy, it’s the most difficult policy.
As we suggested last Sunday, I’m not suggesting long lists of New Year’s resolutions. In fact, I’d advise against it. Long lists are intimidating and frustrating. Perhaps there is a better way.
Remember the counsel Jesus gave about taking care of life one day at a time? In that context He said, “Strive above all else for the reign of God in your life, and the things you’ve been worrying about will resolve.”
God’s reign requires a conscious surrender. Not of the entire year today, but of today. Not of the other person, but of my attitude. Not of yesterday’s failure, but of today’s opportunity.
2019 is God’s fresh mercy to you and to me. I can’t wait to see what He has in store for us!
