December 28, 2024

Dear Road Church Friends,

This Sunday I will complete my term of service as the Pastor of the Road Church.

I do so with mixed feelings because I have loved being your pastor, and parting is bitter-sweet. However, I am looking forward to the prospect of a happy retirement with Barbara, my soulmate in work and play. My ministry at Road Church has been a happy time for both of us. We will always treasure the bonds of Christian love and friendship that have grown over the years. We are also pleased to continue living in this wonderful community. This is a happy ending to another chapter in our life. We are also confident that the next chapter in the history of the Road Church will be a good beginning and a blessing to all of you. More about happy endings and good beginnings tomorrow.

SCRIPTURE: Revelation 21:1-6   SERMON: Happy Ending—Good Beginnings 

I saw a vision of a new heaven and earth descending to replace the first heaven and earth that had faded away. Next, I saw a new Jerusalem, coming down from God, adorned like a bride for her husband. Then I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look, God will dwell with his people. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no dying or crying. And God said, “everything is beginning again. I am the beginning, and I am the end of all things.”

FACING THE NEW YEAR

Author Unknown

We pledge ourselves

To follow through the coming year

The light which God gives us:

The light of Truth, wherever it may lead;

The light of Freedom; revealing new opportunities

For individual development and social service;

The light of Faith, opening new visions of the better world to be;

The light of Love, daily binding brother to brother,

And man to God in ever closer bonds of friendship and affection.

Guided by this light, we shall go forward

To the work of another year with steadfastness and confidence.May the grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you in the coming year.

Pastor Norm Erlendson

This Service on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/KmO1Ao-U1I0?si=p150hBqPNkY0NnNb