It goes without saying 2020 has been a very difficult year and all of us are feeling grief

and loss.

To those of you who have lost somebody that you love to COVID-19, we are with you.

To those of you that have had to attend a funeral online or over Zoom, we are with you.

Shed into something in our church just a few days ago whose grandfather wasn't very old

but died from COVID and he said it's surreal.

I don't feel like it's real yet because I wasn't allowed to see him before he got sick due

to COVID and then I wasn't allowed to attend the funeral due to COVID.

If that's you, we are with you.

To those of you who have lost your job or your business or your sense of income and you

don't know where your next paycheck is going to come from, we are with you.

To those of you dealing with mental health or anxiety or depression, you're not alone.

Jesus is with you and we are too.

To those of you who are angry or sad over just all of the chaos of the last year and the

evil and the injustice we are with you, there is just so much to lament from 2020.

But it's also just as true and you know it.

There is so much to give thanks for.

I don't know about you but a hitting gift of 2020 and all of the pain and all of the suffering

has been I think it put me way more in touch with just what a gift life actually is and

all of the things that I take for granted.

My health, my body, 80 years of life, family and friends, the chance to gather around a

table of people I love, just a roof over my head, food on my table, clothes on my back.

...