The Salvation Army exists to share the love of Jesus Christ, meet human needs, and be a transforming influence in the communities of our world.
Happy New Year!
It’s 2017 if you can believe it. I hope everyone had a good time yesterday bringing in the New Year. I suspect some of you did that quietly in the comfort of your own home; possibly even going to bed long before midnight. Others went out and partied with friends celebrating the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017.
I did my usual New Year’s tradition and got together with dear friends/families from my church. We do a curry potluck (which is simply awesome and may be my favourite part of any New Year’s Eve), play games, set off fireworks, and work hard to stay awake until midnight so that we can give each other a hug and a kiss before everyone goes home and crashes. (It’s that last part that reminds me that I’m another year older and that lasting until midnight is more and more of a chore. But I digress…)
So we welcome January, with the reminder that we’re all a year older, and the knowledge that 2016 for many of us, and for lots of reasons was a tough year, we look ahead today.
We look forward.
And we do that with HOPE.
Hope for a year of seeing folks:
find community
find a place to live
find recovery
find love
find peace
find, well, hope.
With our January missional themes being focused squarely on both our mission statement and our core value of Excellence, I want to issue a challenge.
I know many folks groan these days when thinking of New Year’s resolutions. But I want to, if I may be so bold, ask each of us to resolve to memorize our mission statement and to do everything we do with excellence.
I strongly believe that this resolution will strengthen our ability to be The Hand of God in the Heart of the City.
Peace,
Dion
God, thank you for a new year. May I be willing to let myself start 2017 with a clean slate.
As we begin this new year, remind us of our truest values and our deepest desires. Help us to live in the goodness that comes from doing what you want us to do. Help us to put aside anxiety about the future and the past, so that we might live in peace with you now, one day at a time.
Amen
(adapted from here)