Letter from Chris Fortin: January
01/11/10 Filed in: News | Chris Letters
“Happy New Year!”
We hear and speak those words at the stroke of midnight with festive expectation, surfing the gleeful Christmas wave, lights twinkling, most of the needles still on the tree. Carols are still playing on some stations approaching month four of “holiday favorites”, and wow, there is so much chocolate.
Then January continues on – we get back to our routines, de-ice our windshields, deflate the lawn snowmen, annnnnd… and what? What happens now? (cue thumb twiddling and whistling) Does the world around us remain dormant and lifeless until the end of March? Is the air just cold? Are the trees just leafless? We notice so quickly the absence of those delights other seasons bring, but what fills winter? What is winter here for?
The beauty of it, to me, lies in this: simplicity. As a worship leader, Christmas was anything but simple. Sure it’s a time of decorations and good wishes and music and food, but everyone…EVERYONE celebrates something in December. Whether it’s the birth of Jesus or a sale at Macy’s, we’re all in some kind of tornado. And that hurriedness, that output of energy can only last for so long.
So instead of wishing for spring for the next two months, breathe in the peaceful simplicity that you see outside your window. What an incredible gift to see a gigantic blanket of snow fall that tells even the mailman to take a break. It seems like God’s way of whispering “shhhhhhhh...be still and know that I am God.”
Over the next several weeks, artists from PCNP will be submitting new material that shows their impressions of winter. I invite you to return to the site and check out the updates as they occur. Thanks so much for visiting today. May this January be filled with more for your eyes and ears to behold.
In Christ,
Director of Worship and Music
