Pastor’s Pen—January 2021

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Friends of First Lutheran Church,

I suspect very few of us will be sorry to see the calendar change from the year 2020 to 2021. I heard one person say, “I’m staying up until midnight on December 31st, not to welcome in the New Year, but to make sure 2020 leaves!”

It’s been a difficult and challenging year, to say the least. The turmoil of 2020 has been mind-boggling. Of course, the biggest disruptor has been the pandemic, but we’ve also endured a summer of civil unrest and probably the most contentious election season in history. All of these things have served as vehicles for polarization, and we have become a “house divided” (Luke 11:17) more than at any time since the Civil War. In the midst of all the trouble that has marked this as a year we’d like to forget, what we really need to remember is our desire for… a Savior.

Those in politics essentially told us the same thing during the presidential campaign, didn’t they? One side said they would save us from socialism, while the other side claimed they would save us from losing our democracy. Though far apart in many ways, at least they agreed on one thing: we need a savior to rescue us from our distress.

Well, guess what! A Savior has come to us! Only his name isn’t Joe or Don, but Jesus.

He entered into our shared human experience not with press conferences and victory parades, but with the gentleness of a baby’s breath. He offers us salvation from problems that are not just temporary but eternal. He wasn’t on the ballot on Election Day, but he invites us to follow him every day so he can guide us into the kind of life that is abundant and eternal.

While we eagerly await a new year and the promise it holds for overcoming the pandemic, let’s not overlook the hope that Christmas provides. Perhaps now more than ever, we need this annual reminder that God comes to us in our distress. Jesus is our Emmanuel, God with us (Matt. 1:23; Isa. 7:14). And God is at work in this very moment to uphold and sustain His people. To paraphrase Zephaniah 3:17, “The Lord our God is with us, he is mighty to save.”

As we move into January, remember that God has already acted through Christ to save us from our greatest threat, and his care for us remains undiminished. “Some take pride in chariots and some in horses, but our pride is in the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7).

Have a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year,

Pastor Steve