This Sunday in 1/19 Worship

Dear Grace Family,

Kansas weather is so interesting. As the saying goes, if you don’t like the weather in Kansas, just wait a few hours and it will change. Yesterday and today the temperatures are hitting the high forties. It is almost warm enough to hit the golf course as long as you have colored golf balls to find in the snow. On Sunday, the weather will remind us again that we are in the middle of winter as the expected high is fifteen degrees. The wind chill will be much colder than that. At least we are not anticipating any more snow over the weekend.

Today I received an email from a pastor friend that had a quote from Parker Palmer about winter. Palmer is an author and educator who lives in the Upper Midwest which experiences an even harsher winter than we do in Kansas. I decided to read the entire essay by Palmer. Here is part of the wisdom he wrote about winter and the gifts it brings.

One gift is beauty, different from that of autumn but perhaps more beautiful still.

I am not sure that any sight or sound on earth is as exquisite as the hushed descent of a sky full of snow.

Another gift is the reminder that times of dormancy and deep rest are essential to all living things. Despite all appearances, of course, nature is not dead in winter—it has gone underground to renew itself and prepare for spring. Winter is a time when we are admonished, and even inclined, to do the same for ourselves.

But, for me, winter has an even greater gift to give. It comes when the sky is clear, the sun brilliant, the trees bare, and the first snow yet to come. It is the gift of utter clarity. In winter, one can walk into woods that had been opaque with summer growth only a few months earlier and see the trees clearly, singly and together, and see the ground that they are rooted in.

One place that I find roots for my life is each Sunday when we gather for worship. Even when we are in between the “big” Sundays of the Christian year, our weekly rituals give me time to reflect and connect with God. The sanctuary becomes a place of rest where I can renew my spirit. I am grateful that even when the weather is cold outside, God’s Spirit is warm and alive through the fellowship of the church.

See you in worship!

Barry

Each Tuesday Pastor Mitch publishes a devotion on his website Weeklydevotion.com.  If you’d like to receive this in your inbox, drop him an email at   and just say “Sign me up!”