Pastor’s Corner – January 25, 2026
Listen to Your Life – Matthew 4:12-23
Again we find ourselves called by Jesus as disciples to follow him. Last Sunday when John the Baptist called Jesus as the Lamb of God, meaning the mediator between God and humanity and the one who will baptize people with the Holy Spirit, Andrew and Peter immediately followed him. This Sunday we have a different version of a call, while they were fishing, mending their nets by the shore of Galilee, Jesus called them with a promise to make them fishers of people. Then they left everything to follow him.
It seems to me that wherever you are, God calls us to follow Jesus with the understanding that wherever we are, we can experience God if we simply open our hearts and listen to the voice from above that we belong to God. In the words of Frederick Buechner, “Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”
By paying attention to our life, whatever circumstances we may be in, we can choose to live with grace, forgiveness, thanksgiving and be joyful. Come Sunday, let us once again hear the call of Jesus who preached from the prophetic tradition and spiritual wellspring with the message, “people who walked in darkness have seen a great light!”
“Winter is coming!” This infamous quote from the Game of Thrones warns us of the impending storm and hardship. It is winter already and we are bracing ourselves for this weekend storm, having to cancel in-person worship and having our service on Zoom instead. This will be my first in all my thirty years as a teaching elder (during the pandemic I did not serve a congregation). Wherever we are in this life we call our own, this Sunday God is calling us! Listen once again the words of Jesus, “the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” It is my prayer that we claim this truth in our lives by the grace of God! Amen.
Pastor Dae