Pastor’s Message

Reaching Out from

Grand Lake Community Chapel

Wednesday, December 9, 2020 

Greetings in Christ!

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!  We’re now 16 days away from the birth of our Savior, and we still have time to make our final preparations for his arrival; praise God for these extra days!

The first two Advent candles burn brightly on the Advent wreath, the candles of Hope and Peace.  This coming Sunday, we’ll light the candle of Joy; what could be more appropriate, as we approach the manger, than expressing joy?  As challenging as these COVID-19 dominated days can be, they are not joyless; joy is an expression of God’s goodness.  Joy is not happiness, although they’re irrefutably linked concepts; joy is a deep-rooted feeling that is resilient, while happiness comes and goes.  But how do we find joy, in the midst of a pandemic, with restrictions being reimposed on our activities, and economic dislocations causing unknown damage to our lives?  Evangelist Jefferson Bethke once wrote that “Thankfulness is the quickest path to joy,” and in his words we can see a way to that sometimes-elusive sense of joy.  Let us be thankful.  Let us give thanks to God for the good people who have given freely of themselves to care for others; let us give thanks to God for family and friends who check up on us, let us give thanks to God for the roll-out of vaccines around the world, and let us give thanks to God for the birth of his Son!

This will be a most unusual Christmas; that is undeniable.  But Christmas is coming, and there’s no stopping it; if we approach the day with thankful hearts, we will know the joy of the Lord.  Not only on Christmas Day, but every day for the rest of our lives.

With our love,

Karen and Greg

And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord.Psalm 35:9