Hello, Disciples, this is Terri Hord Owens, your general minister and president. I’m here to mark the beginning of the Advent season as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I want to remind us all that we are part of God’s covenantal relationship. God’s covenant is marked through the embodiment, the incarnation, that comes through Jesus Christ. And God’s covenant is also manifest as we live our lives together as members of congregations, through our regional life as Church, and through our life in general Church across the United States and Canada, truly a bi-national church.
Most importantly, as Christians we need to remember that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ. That is God’s covenant with us.
And our response to God’s covenant must simply be to do the work that we’ve been called to do as followers of Jesus Christ – to do justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God; to take care of those that are poor and homeless, to concern ourselves with those who have needs in our communities.
That covenant must be lived out day to day – and I pray that as you celebrate during this season, you won’t ever forget that our response to the covenant is what makes us who we are, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.
It’s the season to remind ourselves that nothing can separate us from God’s love, but that we are called to act, that we are called to be visible in the world for justice, for hope and for peace.
Happy Advent and Merry Christmas, Disciples.
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