PASTOR'S PEN
Looking Forward to God’s New Blessings
“The steadfast love
of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never
come to an end;
they are new every
morning;
great is your
faithfulness.”
- Lamentations 3:22-23
|
Happy New Year!! I hope this first 2009 issue of
the Visiting Pastor (affectionately known as the ‘VP’), our newsletter, finds
you well.
For many, this time of year is when they look
back at what’s happened last year, and look forward to (and make resolutions
toward) the coming year, and all that it brings. Well, I have been doing the
same and realized that it is my fifth time celebrating the new year with
the CUPC community! Did I mention how quickly time flies?!
It’s amazing how it feels like I’ve been at CUPC
long enough to ‘feel at home’, but at the same time feel like things are still
‘new’. I know the people (well, most of them, anyway ?), the routine of things,
how things ‘work’. I hopefully have an overall sense of what is important to
this community of faith, the legacy that it has left and is continuing to
leave.
And yet, there is still a ‘newness’ about all the
‘work’ that I’m called to at CUPC. In every worship service that I help plan,
every event that we do from year to year, every meeting that I attend – while
there is much familiarity, I cannot help but feel that something is always
‘sprouting’ afresh in the midst of it. And for this I am thankful!
Perhaps that is what the Israelites were feeling
too, as expressed in the above passage from Lamentations. The steadfast love
(also translated as ‘faithfulness’) and mercy of God never ceases and is always
there. But at the same time, they are new every morning. While there is much
familiarity regarding God’s dealings of love with us, there are new and fresh
things ‘sprouting’ around us all the time.
As we, the CUPC faith community, continue the
journey that God has called us to in 2009, I pray that we will continue to
thank and rely on God’s steadfast love and mercy to us – which is indeed,
everlasting. At the same time, I pray that we will look forward to the ‘sprouts
of newness’ that it brings, every morning, everyday. For our God is not a
stagnant God – God is alive, and working anew within us and among us all the
time!
New Year’s Blessings,
Pastor Grace Kaori Suzuki
DEACONS' REPORT
Blessings for the New Year! I know the new year
has arrived when we have warm & wonderful zenzai made for us for coffee
hour. This is shaping up to be a year filled with many new and exciting
happenings… one of them being the presidential inauguration on January 20,
2009. Not to overshadow the inauguration, but our first Deacons’ meeting and
retreat is set for January 18, 2009. We will be welcoming our new members, and
discussing the ministries we are currently involved in and how we can improve
upon them, and discern if we are being called to do other new ministries. The
Deacons are here to serve those within and beyond our faith community after the
example of Jesus Christ. So if any one of you has any needs or concerns, we are
here for you to call upon. This is our ministry…to serve you.
The Pastoral
Partnership training is completed, so the next steps are to find a coordinator
and have each of the pastoral partners determine who will be in their cluster.
The purpose of the Pastoral Partnership Program, if you are just reading about
this for the first time, is to provide inclusive, caring support to every
member of the congregation. The goal is for each person in God’s family to feel
loved and cared for and supported in their faith journey.
We lift up in
prayer those in our community and world.
Coffee Fellowship
The Deacons would like to thank the individuals who have contributed to the
coffee fellowship during the month of December. The Deacons are aware
that there are those who contribute but do not sign up on the list. We wish to
thank you also.
Jan Der, Co-Moderator
ARTICLE OF INTEREST
HOPE FOR THE NEW YEAR
As I write my HOPE for 2009 in the VP, I return
to what I wrote exactly one year ago, in January, 2008
The theme then was for
HOPE and PEACE, a yearning for PEACE and the end of conflict. Today, I find
myself with high hopes for the realization of my yearning, led by our incoming
President.
I hope for true Peace to come, not by submission of the weak, but
of mutual love and respect. As Christians, our mission is to love all humanity,
be they friend or foe, only our loving God can be the judge. My resolution for
the New Year is to reach out in love for all of God’s children, wherever they
may be. A blessed 2009 to you all!
Kathy Reyes
