Genesis 12: 1-9; Matthew 8: 14-22

With so many of our American neighbors stationed at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have become more acutely aware of the realities of service to our country. When someone signs up with the Armed Forces, there is a contract that he or she will be ready and willing to go wherever needed. And we are also aware of what that means to families - it is a great hardship to have a son, a daughter, a mother, a father overseas. It is a sacrifice that the rest of us must never take for granted.

Micah 6:6-8; Matthew 8: 1-13

It was a warm and meaningful Communion service. The Word had been spoken and sung beautifully; the sense of God's presence was powerful; there was a strong sense of bonding as the congregation came forward to receive the bread and the wine. At the conclusion, to make sure no one in the church had been forgotten, the pastor asked, "Has everyone been fed?" And the response of one of the faithful was something many people would remember for a long, long time: "No, Pastor. Millions outside are still waiting."

Isaiah 60: 1-6

This morning in the church is the first Sunday in the season of Epiphany, which has the unfortunate effect of being an in-between time. It's an in-between time in the sense that we have just finished the mad rush of Christmas planning, and now we get this brief breather before all the thinking about Lent and Holy Week and Easter has to begin. Meanwhile, nature, which in these parts likes to throw a lot of white stuff at us this time of year, invites us to think in terms of hibernation - cocooning ourselves in a nice warm blanket in front of a fire, or, in our home, on a warm register - and waiting out the winter, so we can seize the good weather when it comes in the spring.

Mark 9: 1-13

     A man was driving through the countryside, and took a wrong turn, and got lost; and, being a man, he drove around a couple hours before he asked for directions.  (That seems to be something many women don’t understand: just because you’re lost doesn’t mean you ask for directions; that’s something you only resort to when you’re hopelessly lost – there’s a difference.)  But anyways, he saw this old farmer out in the field, so he stopped and walked over to him and asked; and all the old man said was, “Mister, if I wanted to be a-getting there, I sure wouldn’t want to be a-standing here.”

Mark 8: 27-38

I wonder if Jesus ever observed the beginning of a New Year. Certainly if what that entails is a big party time, with horn blowers and hoopla, there is no record that he ever took part in such a thing. Who knows?