Dear Friends,
It is hard to believe that the year is coming to a close. As I look back over 2017 I count it a joy to have been in service with you at DCPC. God has blessed our family so richly by being in community with you and your family. We have worshipped together, grown in faith together, and served together. We have shared our lives and lived out God's call together. We have laughed and cried and journeyed together through the peaks and valleys of family, church, and community life.
As we look to the new year I encourage us all to invest in our faith and in our church family. Spend time in worship, in prayer, in scripture, and in conversation with brothers and sisters in the faith. Spend time asking God where you need to be serving and then serve there. Find a place for your family to connect with other families in the faith. Participate in reconciliation and work for the healing of relationships.
Commit yourself to a faithful path of discipleship by learning the ways of Jesus. Talk about those ways of being with your children. As Moses reminded us - speak of these things when you wake up, when you eat together, when you journey together, and when you go to bed. Practice loving God and loving your neighbor. Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.
In all of this remember that we belong to the Lord and to each other! We are God's own - claimed and loved, and blessed! And we belong together as brothers and sisters in the faith. Do not settle to be estranged from God. And do not settle for our relationships to be fragmented. God calls us into community. Work to preserve that and God will use us as a force of transformation in the world. The world will know we are Christians by our love! May it be so! To God be the glory.
Grace and peace to you as you move into 2018!
Robert
