Pastor's Notebook: Introducing Our Winter Worship Series, Glimpses of the Kin-dom

Today is the twelfth day of Christmas and the day before the Epiphany (January 6). In the Eastern Christian tradition (and all Christianity traces its roots to the ancient Near East), Epiphany Day is known as Theophany Day. A theophany is God's self-revelation. The burning bush that spoke to Moses was a theophany. So was the pillar of cloud and fire that led the Israelites out of Egypt, and the sheer silence that spoke to Elijah. We believe that Holy Scripture is a theophany, as are the myriad small ways that God makes Himself known to us throughout our lives. But the greatest theophany, the one we hold in special esteem at the end of the Christmas season, is the Incarnation: God taking on human flesh in Jesus Christ. At the Epiphany, we pause to remember this miracle and give thanks for the light that shines in our darkness.

Tomorrow my family will gather for one last Christmas celebration. On Saturday, I will put away my Christmas decorations, reserving a single candle to keep lighting against the dark winter nights. And then I will turn my heart to the ordinary days ahead. Before we know it, Lent will be upon us. But until then we are called to bear the light of Christ in every dark place we encounter. This Sunday we kick off our winter worship series, Glimpses of the Kin-dom, by observing the Baptism of the Lord. On this day we commemorate Jesus' baptism in the Jordan. If we have been baptized, we commemorate our own baptisms, too, and recommit ourselves to the discipline of following Jesus. If you have not been baptized, this Sunday is an opportunity to hear and receive God's invitation to baptism.

As we count the weeks after Epiphany, we are seeking glimpses of what life as the people of God is supposed to be like. Join us in worship on Sundays at 10 am (in-person and online at cdaumc.org/worship) as we consider some of the most famous passages of Scripture that help us shape a vision of the life we are called to live—an ordinary life that is extra-ordinary. Because we believe that followers of Christ who live their faith day by day are anything but ordinary. They stand out; they become models and mentors; they are examples of what life is all about. That is our hope and our belief: that our lives represent the kin-dom of God. We are the evidence that our faith is true and our God is at work in the world. In other words, we are now the epiphany, the light shining forth for the world to see!

In Christ,

Pastor Amanda