To Love and To Serve

I wrote “2026” for the first time yesterday, and it is sort of hard to believe. It seems like I was just getting used to writing 2025 and now I have to get used to a whole new year already. This past year seems to have just flown by, and although there have been many joys, there have been a great number of hard things as well, although I guess this is true of every year. It is also hard to believe some things that will be marked by 2026 for me personally. I will be having my very last birthday of my 40s, although with my back issues and artificial hips, perhaps that doesn’t seem too difficult to believe. It will also be the 20th anniversary of my marriage to my wife Amelia, and yet it seems like just yesterday that I asked her out on our first date. For the church, it will mark my 18th year as pastor, which is hard for me to wrap my mind around. I tell everyone that people in the church still seem to me to be the age they first were when I came to the church. So, take your age and subtract 18, and that is the age I still see you as. Well, not if you are 20, I guess; I don’t still see you as a 2-year-old. “Time and tide wait for no man,” as Chaucer said in the Canterbury Tales, and it is just as true now as it was in the 14th century.

The onward march of time was very true in Christ’s time as well. Even though Christ had existed from the beginning of time and would exist until the end of time, his disciples were sometimes a bit impatient and wanted things to be a bit different. We see in the Gospels situation after situation where they want more time with Jesus, or they want something that has not happened yet, or they are worried that there won’t be enough time for something, or that the world is not going as they want it to in general. Anyone else feel like that today? I’m going to go out on a limb and say that these feelings are fairly universal. Now if you are someone who has reached full contentment in life and you never worry about anything, give me a call; I’d love to know your secret.

Perhaps none of us will achieve complete peace, in this life at least. However, I would suggest that part of the secret to finding peace in life is to trust in Christ. It is also to take stock on a regular basis about what is truly important in life, what is really going to matter to you as you look back at the decades of the past, versus things you will never remember. For instance, I’m sure that in 2006 I was mad at someone on the highways of Boston (it kind of goes with the territory) but darned if I can remember a single instance of it. My wedding, though, I will never forget that. If something is not actually that important, how much of ourselves and our energy should we put towards it? What do we think Christ is calling us to focus on in our life? I’m going to tell you it is probably not the length of the Dunkin drive-thru line. In 2026 (there I go writing it again) I pray for a good year for everyone, but I also pray that we truly look for the good in 2026, and we understand that as children of God, our time and attention are precious, and thus should not be taken up by nonproductive things. May 2026 be full of the worthwhile, and may you hold those things close to your heart.

Peace and Blessings, Pastor Brian