Thursday, January 3, 2013

St. John's Epistle for January 3, 2013

Dear light bearing people of God,

Happy New Year! We begin the new year with an Epiphany service this Sunday at 10:30 am. Songwriter Alanis Morisette has a song from 1992 called "Thank You" in which she talks about all these bad things that happened to her that made her stronger. She talks about frailty, having a breakdown, and how it made her realize what she can and can't do. She says "Thank you disillusionment" because our recognition of our own disillusionment sets the stage for us to be ILLUMINED. How do you move from DISALLUSIONED to ILLUMINED? There are so many people that are wanting Epiphany to happen in their life. They want to be illumined. All too often they seek illumination in unhealthy and unsuccessful ways. This Sunday's sermon, from Matthew 2:1-12, is called "Epiphany: From Disillusioned to Illuminated."

Many thanks to our church staff and volunteers who led our beautiful Christmas Eve services. I also appreciate Rev. Linda Herron who preached last Sunday. God has blessed our congregation with an outstanding church staff and highly capable lay leaders.

Remarkably, our 2013 stewardship campaign ended up with one more pledge than last year for a total of $1,000 more pledged than we had in 2012. Thank you to all who pledged! If you are unsure of how much you may have remaining on your 2012 pledge, you may call Curtis at 281-221-7416 and he will tell you.

This Sunday these church members who were elected by the congregation will be ordained and installed as Ruling Elders for the Class of 2015: Franklin Caspa, Dave Muanza, Dave Nelson, and Kyra Noons. Our Youth Elders for 2013 will be Jacob Ehrenstrom and Christianna Johnson. We appreciate their willingness to answer God's call to serve the congregation in this important way and will keep them in prayer and offer them our support in the coming year.

Your seeking Christ's illumination on this Epiphany Sunday pastor,

JON BURNHAM

--
St. John's Presbyterian Church
5020 West Bellfort / Houston, TX 77035
T. 713.723.6262 / F. 713.723-4015 / Email: office.sjpc@gmail.com
Worship Service: Sunday, 10:30 am / Sunday School: 9:00 am
Share/Save/Bookmark