There was a joke going around that said something like ... I'm staying up until midnight not to see in the new year in but to make sure 2020 is finished and done with!! Another one is that after midnight tonight we'll be able to say "hindsight is 2020!!" 

This has been quite a year, like nothing we would have expected when we turned the calendar 12 months ago. It has been like nothing my generation or even the generation before me has ever experienced. And as a result, we have had to deal with emotions and realities that we haven't been familiar with. All of this has led to feelings of heightened anxiety, stress, grief, confusion and for some hopelessness and despair. The number of Covid 19 cases continues to climb at a more rapid rate even in our own community of Uxbridge and so do the the number of those who have died as a result. Our hospitals and medical services are being stretched beyond capacity. At times it seems and feels like there is no end in sight. Weariness and fatigue is common.

Into that reality, we are preparing to move from 2020 to 2021. In many ways things won't be any different; we will still be facing the same realities and feeling many of the same emotions. Yes, there is hope with the vaccine that is being administered. But to have a real effect it is going to take time and patience and especially faith and trust on our part.

Whatever is happening in our lives or in the world we live in, we are a people grounded in our faith in all God has promised us through Christ for today and every day of our lives. We trust that God is with us in the muck of these pandemic days. And even though that still means we have to comply with restrictions and protocols for some time to come, there is comfort in knowing we don't face these days on our own. God's hand is upon us; God's Spirit is within us; God's healing is a gift which is real for us to hold on to and trust in.

As we move from 2020 to 2021, marking the passage of time, remember that well known passage from Ecclesiastes 3 ... 

There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth: A right time for birth and another for death, a right time to plant and another to reap, a right time to kill and  another to heal, a right time to destroy and another to construct, a right time to cry and another to laugh, a right time to lament and another to cheer, a right time to make love and another to abstain, a right time to embrace and another to part, a right time to search and another to count your losses, a right time to hold on and another to let go, a right time to rip out and another to mend, a right time to shut up and another to speak up, a right time to love and another to hate, A right time to wage war and another to make peace.

Jesus promised us that no matter what time brings, He would always be with us and HIs Spirit would endure forever no matter what. That is a gift we need to hold on to these pandemic days even as we mark the end of one year and the beginning of another. We have hope and we must never lose our hope. For that grounds us and helps us face the days which are trying and difficult and tiring.

So my prayer for you and your family is that as we have endured these days of 2020, we may continue to face whatever the future holds with faith, hope and trust. God has blessed us, God is blessing us, God will always bless us. May we believe that to be true and walk into this next year confident in our faith and trust in all God promises us through His Son Jesus Christ.

Be well ... be safe ... stay healthy!! God bless!!