The New Year is my very favorite holiday. That may seem strange for a pastor to say. I think most of my colleagues might choose Christmas or Easter. I am certainly grateful for those High Holy Days and all that they represent. My very favorite holiday, though, is New Year’s - both New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

As New Year’s Eve approaches, I automatically start looking back over the outgoing year. I review good times and bad times, assess my progress toward achieving long-term goals, and just take stock of where I am in all aspects of my life; with particular attention to where I am relative to where I was at the beginning of the year.

This year, overall, has been one for the books! I entered this year in Connecticut, having resigned the pastorate of MCC-New Haven at the end of 2011, and having just heard, toward the end of 2012, that there would be a pastoral vacancy at Imani. I was praying, fervently, for God to open the door here for me, if that was consistent with God’s will. I missed Durham. No offense intended to the great people I met in Connecticut. It’s just one of those “heart wants what it wants” things.

(borrowed from Religion Quotes)