Alka's Angle

Beloveds, last Sunday we meditated on the “Beatitudes” of Jesus and I have not been able to forget the fact that Jesus was preparing his disciples to be called names and insulted and rejected when they will do what Jesus was preparing them to do -- to feed the hungry, to care for the needy, to tend to the sick, to speak against the injustices of the empire and to stand with the least, the last, and the forgotten.

Beloveds, I am slowly getting into the rhythm of things and am catching up with emails and phone messages and texts, even as I continue to prepare for the upcoming 2020 General Conference of the United Methodist Church. While I have been trying to keep you informed with all that is happening, I feel it is also important that we, as a congregation, also have our own conversations and think of where we would want to be as a congregation and who would we want to align with, post May 2020.

As we welcome the year 2020, I am reminded of the roller coaster of emotions the year 2019 has been- some of brought a smile to our faces but many were challenging, that have had a toll on our lives -- as individuals and as a church.

“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,

If you were at church last Sunday, you know we had a special church conference to approve our budget for 2020. I am grateful to all who were able to stay and invest in the conversation and deliberations. After some very meaningful and honest conversation, we approved the budget!