Happy New Year, Middle!

We’re almost to the end of our Twelve Days of Christmas “Gifts to Bring” emails. Have you enjoyed the gifts? I always think it’s fun to see the diversity from each of the contributors. It teaches me something about what each individual treasures. One of the few sayings that scholars think Jesus actually said is, “What you treasure is your hearts true measure.”

In this new year, if you were asked what you treasured, what would you say? Are there other ways that is evident?

Perhaps it’s in work you do.

perhaps in how you volunteer.

Perhaps it’s in how you protest.

Perhaps it’s in where and how you spend your money.

I’ve always rolled the work this takes up into one word— bandwidth, which for me means doesn’t just relate to connecting to the internet, but it’s money, focus and time.

In 2025, we know there is a great work ahead of us. How will you spend your bandwidth? How will you be a good steward of it so it perpetually replenishes itself, so you don’t deplete your resources?

Perhaps in making sure you are in learning opportunities like conference coming up in April.

Perhaps it’s in small group sessions like our spiritual series coming up in February.

Perhaps it’s in making time for naps.

Perhaps it’s in volunteering to make sandwiches or usher or put away chairs or help set up our revived space when we return home on Easter.

One of my favorite Christmas movies is The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. What if the grinch had been a better steward of his bandwidth? Would he have judged the Whos down in Whoville so harshly without understanding them?

The hope, peace, love, and joy of this season can be hard to hold; we’ve got to be intentional. It’s not a passive activity. Only then will we be more aware of the gifts we can share with our community and with the world.

See you at church!

Rev. Natalie Renee Perkins 
Executive Minister for Digital Church

Newsletter Signup

We believe in the power of Love. Period.

Through Love, we are each created in God’s image and filled with the Divine Spark. No matter whom we love, no matter how we look, no matter where we are on our journey, God’s imprint is in every person of every race/ethnicity, every gender, and every sexual orientation. We believe God speaks many languages and is calling us on many paths to peace—Shalom. We believe that Love put on flesh—brown, poor, Jewish baby flesh—and came to live among us. We believe God lives among us still; we are the living body of Christ. We are the hands, feet, and heartbeat of God. We believe the Spirit of God calls us to freedom, and we are not free until all of us are free.