Greetings from Pastor Pat

A New Year

​It was Christmas Eve 1967, and I received a gift from Santa, my first wristwatch.  It was a Bulova and it was one of those watches that had the date window over the number “3”.  I am not sure why I remember this gift, but I do.  It was a family tradition that we opened our gifts on Christmas Eve.  We would go to church for the Christmas Eve service, come home and open our presents.   
I remember going to bed that night excited about my new watch, anticipating when the “24” became a “25” in the window.  In my mind’s eye I imagined that the “25” would have decorations, perhaps it would be surrounded by holly or some other form of Christmas adornment.  Needless to say, I was very disappointed when “25” was just “25”, nothing special; at all. 
That experience has always been in the back of my mind when I hear people talk about the coming of a New Year, words like, “I’ll be glad when 2020 is over and we get into a New Year.  The fact of the matter is when December 31 becomes January 1, nothing magic happens, but you already knew 
that.  What ever we leave behind in 2020 will be waiting for us in 2021. 
There is a saying that goes “Time heals all wounds.”  Perhaps time does heal all wounds, the problem is it may take more time to heal for some then it does for others.  There is another saying that goes, “It isn’t time that heals all wounds it is faith.”   I like this saying much better.  In this New Year, I will cling to my faith as I have done for most of 2020.  I know that the God that I worship is a God of hope and healing.  I invite you, my St. Luke’s Church family to walk with me, boldly into the New Year, trusting in God with a faith that cannot be shaken. 
Blessing, 
Pastor Pat