Dear One's of St. C's, 

To begin again, it is one of my favorite phrases.  It is so filled with grace, forgiveness, and opportunity.  We don’t have to be completely defined by our past, we get a chance to begin again.  That is often what the New Year makes us feel and I am so thankful that this secular holiday coincides with Christmas.  What deeper image is out there about beginning again, then God being birthed into the world to reconcile all people to God's self? God is inviting us all to begin again.  This is our story and now the question is how will we live out of this story?  

I have been thinking about old stories that I can get stuck in.  How I can get stuck in my head and end up re-creating old stories I am afraid are true.  I can build walls and make assumptions from these stories that keep me protected but isolated.  I have to continually remind myself of this Christmas story.  That I am God’s beloved and I am precious in God's sight.  The story that Jesus longs for me to know so that I can go out to the world reverberating this story in all that I do.   

During this Christmas season, in this new year, let’s begin again.  Let’s take time to reorient ourselves to the truth of our belovedness, so we can re-enter the world open and ready to love those we encounter right where they are, right as they are. 

with great hope, 

Meghan