It's an understatement to say it has been quite a year.
The stress of violence and tragedies in Ukraine, Israel, Palestine, and elsewhere…
The frustrations and bewilderment caused by the myopic foolishness of self-interest…
The growing threat of the climate crisis…
Plus staring at the US elections in 2024…
2023 has left many of us exhausted and wondering how we’ll manage another year.
The idea of starting 2024 raises emotions from antipathy and numbness, to anticipatory dread, to hope and conviction that a new day is surely coming.
This quote by Dr. Howard Thurman from 1961 seems a fitting summary of the downs, ups, and more downs of this past year, and provides the theme for this Christmas Retreat:
The symbol of Christmas—what is it? It is the brooding Presence of the Eternal Spirit making crooked paths straight, rough places smooth, tired hearts refreshed, dead hopes stirred with the newness of life. It is the promise of tomorrow at the close of every day, the movement of life in defiance of death, and the assurance that love is sturdier than hate, that right is more confident that wrong, that good is more permanent than evil.
This retreat will not completely fill your tank, assuage your exhaustion, or provide a clear path of hope for the future.
But it will, I pray, provide a theological and spiritual framework for what you have endured, witnessed, and felt this past year.
This is a free, downloadable, at-home retreat that you are invited to engage anytime during the twelve days of Christmas.
A schedule is offered at the beginning so you can choose to go on this retreat over 90 minutes, three hours or six.
By God's grace, we will minister in 2024 with an open heart, confident that God will continue to provide all we need to preach, minister, and lead.
This, too, shall pass.
And in the meantime, people need Good News.
Thank you for sharing it.
Merry Christmas,
Lisa Cressman+
Founding Steward
Backstory Preaching