Dear Friends,
I have always been fascinated by calendars, especially new ones. They contain so many unknown wonders along with so many familiar landmarks. Some of the dates are set and shared by us all: February 14, July 4, and December 25. Some are movable each year and I quickly check to see where Easter falls and what the dates are for Memorial Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving. And there are the personal sacred dates along the way: March 2, April 27, May 7, May 23, June 17 and December 18. This year I am switching back to an old fashioned paper and ink calendar to keep my life on track, with the electronic stuff serving as a back up, so I am flipping from page to page, and noting the key dates and the dates that I am already committed to. However my eyes keep drifting to the white spaces, and my heart wonders what surprises God will have for me in those slots of time.
For us, as a Congregation, it is the number at the top of the page that is significant. It is 2009, 175 years since God called the people of Clover Hill together to be a faith community, 175 years during which God has shaped, directed, comforted and challenged us, 175 years of being the Body of Christ in this corner of the world, teaching, serving, struggling, and worshiping. 175 years of preparation for this year and the ones that will follow.
You will be hearing much more about this as the year goes on, but here is a foundational truth of our existence: God created each of us, God called each of us to be this Church, at this moment, in our history. You and I may think that we are Clover Hill for other reasons, and by our own choice, but it has been God’s doing, working through people and circumstances. Our choice is simply this: do we accept the invitation or not? Will we be the full Clover Hill Church that God envisioned in the 1830’s or will we withhold our gifts from the God who gave them to us?
On Tuesday, January 6, from 7:30 to 9:00 pm I will be leading a discussion “Living Reformed in Clover Hill”. It will be designed for folks who fall into the following categories: those who have been worshiping with us and are interested in formally joining the Church, those who have joined in recent years and have questions about our tradition, those who have been part of us for years and just need a little refresher course. In other words, all are welcome!
Lurking in the white spaces of our calendars will be opportunities for continuity and for change as we spend this year remembering who we have been, experiencing who we are and anticipating who we will be, following the same God who called people together in 1834 and continues to do the same thing in 2009.
Peace,
Jack
