A word from the Pastor...

"Dry Run's Over"

Already!? Yes, that's how fast. We've spent thirty one days of 2012 already – so let the year
begin! I want to think of January as a month of dry-runs, a month of looking back and
looking ahead, that's what the month was named after all – Janus, a bust with two faces
looking the opposite direction. Writing and rewriting what has been already laid out and
strategized needs to see action — let's just get down to it. And in the process of realizing
these charted course, may we be reminded of one thing necessary for its success: Love.

This month's emphasis is on LOVE. Of course, we are not getting into mythologies or what
the world is up to – but the calendar is a good strategic element in forwarding and
advancing our goals, of heralding God's love to all. And for the world to distinguish the
real essence of love is for the world to see it patterned in our own lives – to be patterned
after the One who is Love, which in John's words say, So we have come to know and to
believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in
God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16 ESV)

John's maxim tells us that love demands personal engagement at every level of the human
psyche. It is emotional, it is intellectual, it is physical and it is spiritual. Love is
summarized in the Shema: We are to Love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul,
strength and mind…and our neighbor as ourselves. (Deuteronomy 6:4,5).

Pastor Fred & Agnes