Gratitude and Hope
by General Presbyter Melana Scruggs
Advent is a time of preparation, waiting, and hope for the promises of God in Jesus Christ. Worship provides an opportunity for us to slow down our busy lives, our focus on holiday preparations and parties, and focus our attention on the true gift of Christmas, the Christ Child. Many of our congregations are having special musical presentations to share the message of the birth of the One who brings life and light. Some will have services offering a time to grieve loss during a season when others look past it. Most congregations are participating in some mission that will provide joy to children in this season. Such opportunities also bring joy to those who take the time to share. Whatever ways you focus your life and worship on the Christ Child, I pray it will bring you a greater understanding of the immensity of God’s love shown to us through the child who was laid in a manger because there was no room anywhere else. Let us open our hearts to make room.
This is also a time of gratitude, not only for God’s grace and love, but for our families and communities which sustain us. Too often we take one another for granted and fail to show the appreciation we actually feel. This season I invite you to take time to thank those who share your lives with you, who support you, and encourage you. Pastors work especially hard during the Advent and Christmas season with extra services and planning to facilitate spiritual growth and learning. You might consider how you and your church can show appreciation for your pastor at this time of the year. A little appreciation can go a long way.
In that vein, thank you for your gifts to support the presbytery, financial and time gifts. The presbytery exists to facilitate and support the work of individual congregations and their ministries. We cannot do that work without your giving to Presbytery ministry operations and your presence and work in committees and presbytery meetings. Thank you!
As we approach the end of the year, I want to thank those committee members who will rotating off. Your commitment to the life of the presbytery is vital and appreciated. A special thank you to Carson Brown for serving as moderator this year. By the end of the year he will have visited every congregation in the presbytery for worship or an event. That is tremendous commitment and strong support of our member churches. Max Gould has served as moderator of the Finance Committee for an extra year during a time of transition for several congregations after Hurricane Ian. Linda Getzen is rotating off COM after six years of serving as secretary and then co-moderator, neither easy tasks. Thank you to all those who have served and who will continue to serve. We are only the presbytery because we work together.
Finally, thank you for allowing me to share in the work of your congregations, in worship, in mission, in times of difficulty and in times of celebration. It is an honor to walk with you.
In faith,
Melana
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