Since my youth, New Year's has always held more memories for me than just staying up till midnight, or making resolutions, or watching college bowl games. In my hometown church in Iowa, the start of each year was marked by a worship service, no matter what day of the week January 1 fell on. I can remember singing hymns such as "Another Year is Dawning" and "Great is thy Faithfulness" at these services, and I associate them with New Year's Day just as I associate "Joy to the World" with Christmas. The words of these hymns recount that God has acted providentially in our lives in the past, but also express the confident expectation that He will continue to act in powerful ways in the years to come. The deep insights expressed in these hymns is the product of a faith in Christ that has undoubtedly grown through the disciplines of prayer and the study of God's word, and is what we commonly refer to as "spirituality."
Another memory I have of those New Year's morning worship services is that I often struggled to stay awake. I'd stayed up beyond midnight New Year's Eve celebrating with family and friends, and I usually paid the price once the time for the sermon arrived. My mother would undoubtedly pass a roll of strong-flavored peppermints down the pew when she saw me start to nod off. The cool sensation from the back of my throat rising all the way into my sinuses was enough to help me tune back into the pastor's message.
As part of the Natural Church Development program that Libertyville Covenant Church continues to follow, the church Council has asked the Deacon Committee in the year ahead to explore ways that our congregation might encourage our spirituality by improving our corporate and individual prayer and devotional lives. As part of this process, we will be asking for your ideas about what you think would be helpful in improving your individual spiritual discipline, as well as that of our congregation.
The Deacons have been working with Bruce Lawson from the Christian Formation Department of the Covenant to start formulating some ideas, and it has been an exciting process so far. We are enthusiastic at the prospect of developing a deeper spiritual intimacy with God and each other, grounded in scripture and prayer, and along the way of becoming better attuned to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Although we are at different individual points along our spiritual walks, our paths have joined here at Libertyville Covenant Church, and God has given us the opportunity to journey together for a while. I'm curious to see the ways God will lead us closer to Him in 2009.
Sometimes we just need a little extra help to pay attention to what God is telling us. I'm praying that God will use the spiritual ministries of the Deacons in 2009 like my mother's peppermints; that is, that these efforts to strengthen our individual and corporate prayer and devotional lives will reawaken us, and help us to become better attuned to what God would have us hear as we serve Him together.
Funny thing about peppermints; although you may first need them to stay awake, after a while, you just enjoy them whether you're sleepy or not.
