This month we will continue to celebrate the season of Epiphany as the Scriptures shed new light on who Jesus is each week. On February 7^th we will explore Jesus’ dedication in the temple in Luke 2:22-40. On February 13th, we’ll read the story of Jesus calling his first disciples. The last two weeks of the season we’ll struggle with how Jesus calls us to live. We’ll end the month with Transfiguration Sunday where Jesus will be transformed into light. Plan to join us each week as God surprises us time and time again and we see how these passages relate to us in these challenging days.

          We will also hold our first two Town Hall meetings this month.  Please continue to pray for the transition team, our congregation, and the pastor that God is preparing to call to live and serve at Suffolk Christian Church. Please participate in the meetings, your voice and your story matters! 

          Finally, you are invited to join me in West Memorial on Wednesday January 26^th from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. for a presentation by the Lilly Endowment entitled: Exploring the Pandemic's Impact on Congregations: What Do We Know and What Do We Still Need to Learn? This workshop will report new findings from two recent surveys (from August and December 2021) of 4000 churches about how they and their clergy are faring and the challenges and possibilities facing faith communities. It will provide an overview of an extensive Lilly Endowment-funded research project led by Hartford Institute for Religion Research to track what the next five years will look like for faith communities, their leaders and members. Finally, it will explore ways that congregations can participate and be informed by this ongoing research and take advantage of the resources produced.

On the journey with you,
Tracy