Throughout 2023 we asked in one way or another, “What makes you come alive?” That question came from one of Howard Thurman’s most famous quotes: “Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because the world needs people who have come alive.”
This past year witnessed The Church of the Palms collectively and members individually resurrected in mind, body, and spirit. What made you come alive was different from what transformed me and that’s okay, even preferred. When we spend time around people exactly like us it’s like living life in a bubble – all we breathe is soapy air. Diversity is a needed, beautiful, necessary thing! And in many ways, we have it at The Palms; 2023 was witness to it!
As we journey into 2024, I invite you to spend some time this month reflecting on a couple of things. 1) What were areas of your life where you came alive in 2023? List them. And 2) How can you intentionally choose ministry, helping, caring, loving in 2024? Spend time praying about it.
As we reflect about shedding the cocoon of covid and coming alive in 2023, as we reflect and choose to be intentional in our path onward in 2024, let’s circle back to Howard Thurman. He wrote a poem entitled, “I Will Light a Candle,” that speaks of this time and our ministry. Jim Strathdee took the words of that poem and turned them into a hymn we sing as much as any song, “I Am the Light of the World.” May the words of that hymn guide us in 2024:
“When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the magi and the shepherds have
found their way home, the work of
Christmas is begun:
To find the lost and lonely one,
to heal the broken soul with love,
to feed the hungry children with warmth
and good food, to feel the earth below,
the sky above!
To free the pris’ner from all chains,
to make the powerful care,
to rebuild the nations with
strength of good will,
to see God’s children everywhere!
To bring hope to every task you do,
to dance at a baby’s new birth,
to make music in an old person’s heart,
and sing to the colors of the earth!
‘I am the light of the world!
You people come and follow me!’
If you follow and love you’ll learn the
mystery of what you were
meant to do and be.”
May we be intentional in 2024 with our choices!
Shalom, Paul