“Joy to the World, our God is Come…” is one of the many favorite carols of mine. It puts me in the spirit, reminding me of why I am celebrating the day. If you joined us for any of our services on, December 24th, we sang this carol together. The carol invites me to prepare myself to receive the Christ-child in my heart and in this world. I hope you enjoyed singing that hymn and many others, we together we celebrated Christmas -- God coming into our world in human form. I pray that the light of God continue to bring us hope, peace, joy and love in ways we have not imagined or experienced before.
I also want to take a moment to thank you all for all the gifts, card and wishes I received from you, for me and my family. I am extremely grateful to be part of a community that loves extravagantly and accepts unconditionally.
As the year comes to an end, I want to thank everyone of you for making Broadway what it is. As any year, we had our good and difficult moments this year as well, but, as any other year, the good outweigh the challenges and those challenges are easier to handle when we know we are all together in it. So, I thank every one of you for continuing your support for Broadway and its ministries even if there were times you didn’t approve or like what Broadway was doing. I invite your continued unwavering support for this church we call home and for all that Broadway stands for.
But the year has not ended yet! At Broadway, we will bring the year to an end on Sunday, December 29th, with a Hymn/Carol sing @ 11:00 am.
Then we open the New Year with a Kwanzaa celebration on Sunday, January 5th @ 11:00 am as we celebrate African American culture and history, and remind ourselves of the seven principles, consisting of what Karenga (one who created the celebration of Kwanzaa in 1966) called "the best of African thought and practice in constant exchange with the world."
I hope you will join us for this celebration and, with us, renew our commitment to live by those principles in the coming year, at Broadway and in the world.
I will be on vacation during those celebrations and I thank you for allowing me time to visit my family in India (my dad is in the hospital when I write this letter, so I am grateful that I go and visit with him). Any pastoral emergencies can be sent to Rev. Rick Newbury (312-560-5946). From January 5-17 they may also be directed to Rev. Britt Cox (708-996-0195) or Rev. Gregory Gross (847-989-1656). Any non-emergency needs, may be sent to Broadway’s Chair of Relationship Builders, Kathy Wurster (773-502-9409).
Beloved, may God continue to bless us and keep us. May God continue to shine God’s light upon us! And, May God, once again, grant us peace! May God continue to guide us into 2020 and help us to remain faithful disciples!
Happy New Year dear ones! And remember, I am always your partner in justice.
