Pastor's Corner for January 3-4, 2009

Happy New Year! It is hard to believe that it is already 2009. As I look back and reflect upon 2008, I am forever grateful for what the Lord has done in our lives at Goodwill. Here’s a partial list of the highlights from last year – “Dad, the Family Shepherd,” 60 Week Sacrifice, Baptism Service, Seder Dinner, Easter Services, Couples Conference, Choir performing at Carnegie Hall, Graduation Banquet, Israel Trip, VBS, Goodwill hosting the Presbytery, Women’s Conference, Senior Saints Banquet, Operation Christmas Child, Christmas Dinner Party, Christmas services, and the Christmas Cantata. We have witnessed God alive and active in our midst as we have seen Him deliver us from many impossible situations. As you can see, 2008 was an amazing year. As I look ahead to the New Year, I’m excited about what God has in store for us. For one thing, we are expected to complete the new building. This will bring many opportunities for us to advance the gospel. We will be starting up community-oriented ministries such as Angel Food Ministries. I believe that prayer is and needs to be the foundation of our ministry. There are many different ways you can pray at Goodwill Church. We have the prayer room available on Saturdays and Sundays. You can ask an elder to pray for you. We have the Wednesday Prayer Service. And lastly, you can join a small group, where prayer is a central component. As you plan and make resolutions for 2009, would you make room for prayer?

Pastor Jay R. Lee

Pastor’s Corner for December 27-28, 2008

For me, a short sabbatical from my pastorate at Goodwill has begun. It lasts until Ash Wednesday, February 25, 2009. I’ve never taken one, so I’m very interested to see what this will be like. A sabbatical, as you may know, is not merely a vacation or time off. It is a time for refocusing. It is a regular, required feature in the lives of pastors who stay in one congregation for their career. On our website and via brochures that the Goodwill staff will make available, you can read the EPC description and prescription for sabbaticals. The best way to describe it is as a time when the urgent is forced to take a back seat to the important. Usually in life, the urgent wins the day. This may be especially so in pastors’ lives. I’ll take a few weeks for vacation, resting, and family time and then be at it. Reading, writing, study, and – as you’ll soon hear more about – set aside times for intensive prayer, will, for about nine weeks, get all the time they deserve. The vision of the Elders in directing me to take this mini-sabbatical is that I be spiritually strengthened, freshly resourced as a leader, and at my creative best heading into the opening of our new building. There’s a funny balance to it. On one hand, it’s time to rest. On the other hand, it’s time to dig and discover. Pray for me as I’ll be praying for you. Thank you for your devotion and love. May God richly bless you and your family in 2009!

Pastor John Torres

Pastor’s Corner for December 20-21, 2008

Maybe you have a problem this Christmas season: busyness. Many people have complaints about Christmas, but none seem as frustrating as busyness. The good news is that it’s fixable. Do less. Buy less. Shop less. Plan easier meals. Give yourself time. Don’t try to be two places at once or all things to all people. Develop your inner radar for all crazy-makers – things or people – and then proceed with caution. Understand that busyness is a choice; it’s your choice. If you’re so busy that you wonder if you even have time for church or devotions, then you’re too busy and there’s no one else to blame but yourself. Pick a fight with yourself about this, if you need to. Why exist through another blur of frenetic Christmas activity, when you could choose a different path? The path to peace during the holidays is paved with “no.” The most effective weapon against busyness is the word “no.” Holiday is a word formed from the phrase holy day. Holy means set aside, different, separate. Holiness happens through the use of the word “no.” If your observance of the birth of Christ seems profane to you, perhaps it’s because you forgot to say “no.” When you say “no” to crazy busyness, you say “yes” to simple blessedness. May your Christmas this year be your best yet because busyness and stress has been displaced by worship and joy.

Pastor John Torres

Pastor’s Corner for 12/13-14/2008

Advent and Christmas are about the fact that God became a human being. This historical fact changes what it means to be a human being. It implies that no human life can ever be accurately looked at or understood without Jesus’ help. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in Ethics, writes: “Since God became a human being in Christ, all thinking about human beings without Christ is unfruitful abstraction. The counter-image of the human being taken up into the form of Christ is the human being as self-creator, self-judge, and self-renewer; these people bypass their true humanity and therefore, sooner or later, destroy themselves.” Are you confused about your life or who you are as a human being? The one place to find answers to life’s deepest questions lies between the borrowed manger of Christmas and the borrowed tomb of Easter. You can’t decide what your life means; God already has. Go to Him this Advent with all your questions and desires. To turn away from Him is self-destruction: a denial of your own humanity. To turn toward Him is life. Be like the three wise men we sing about every Christmas and follow the star that shines for Jesus Christ. Let His birth bring about new birth in you.

Pastor John Torres

Pastor’s Corner - December 6-7, 2008

Lost has been a popular television show. Though I’ve not watched it at all, I’ve noticed, according to the news, that the premise of the show seems to have been its undoing. The plot now is so complicated that even the most dedicated fan would be hard pressed to try to summarize it. Lost is getting lost. It’s the same for our lostness as human beings. Without Christ, things get complicated quickly. When we have no reason to live and no hope for or vision of eternity, then we have a hard time understanding or explaining our choices and the lives we live that flow from them. Advent is the happy ending to the plot of Lost: not the television show, but the state of the human race. A star shone over the birthplace of Christ. This star still shines and still guides us home. More accurate than any GPS and more significant than any road sign, the star of prophecy shines light on the only way home to God through Christ. If you feel lost this Advent, look for the star in your life. You weren’t born to live a lost life. You were born to follow the Son of God through something He called “abundant life” which leads to eternal life. Call on Him today in prayer. If you haven’t received Him as your Savior and Lord, pray to do that right now. Welcome His guidance and direction. Rejoice in His love for you. This is what Advent and Christmas are all about.

Pastor John Torres