From the Pastor for December
Almighty and Everlasting God, you have seen us through another year. Like any year, it came with its ups and downs. We experienced the highs that come with new births, growth in the family of faith, milestones achieved, and goals accomplished. We also experienced the lows of challenging times, difficulties of the body, heart, soul, and mind, and the grief of the loss of ones we love. In the midst of it all there is one thing we know for sure: we can continue to cling to the promise of our faith that you were with us through it all.
We give you thanks for a community of faith that is with us through it all as well. We are strengthened and given a deeper sense of hope because of those whom you have drawn together as Augusta Road Baptist Church. We thank you for hugs of comfort, shoulders to cry on, ears to listen without judgment, and arms to lift us up when we feel we cannot stand. We also thank you for smiles of welcome, embraces of celebration and joy, and hands clasped in prayerful worship. We give you thanks for those who are faithful to one another, whose love of you and of each other is the driving force behind acts of faith for the glory of your kingdom.
As we begin a new year, we ask for your continued presence to be with each of us and with our community of faith as a whole. Even more than that, we ask for your presence to be revealed even more fully among us than it was in the year we just concluded. For those who have not fully experienced you in our community of faith, we ask for opportunities to see you at work. For the often-difficult decisions that we will have to make, we ask for clarity of vision and purpose. For our leadership and those who serve our church as ministers, deacons, coordinators, team leaders, and volunteers, we ask for the blessings of your strength to endure what is difficult even when it comes as a natural outpouring of our faith. For our youngest generations, we ask for ears to hear and eyes to see your true message of good news for all people. For every generation, we ask for renewed commitment to the work to which you call us. For our entire community of faith, we ask for the clear understanding of your will in the year before us, that we might have the opportunity to impact the communities around us in ways only you have dared dream.
Grant each of us the blessing of your presence in every aspect of our lives in the year to come, O God. Enable each of us to find ways to live into your dream for this world, that when this new year is complete, and we look back on all that has taken place, we can say again with full confidence that you were with us through it all. This is our prayer for the year to come, and it is made in the name of the one who came to live among us so that your presence might be revealed to all the world, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
May you and your family be blessed with the presence of God throughout the year. Know of my love and gratitude for you. Know of the love and support of the community of faith at Augusta Road Baptist Church. May God continue to guide us and draw us closer together in direction and purpose, that we may be united in all things for the glory of God’s kingdom.
Peace,
Rev. W. Mattison King