This is the concluding post from the 125th anniversary devotional. Thanks to all who have made these last 12.5 weeks of this year meaningful as we’ve celebrated 125 years of church @ First Presbyterian, Barre…

Here’s a closing thought….and devotions from the last two days of 2014…

Closing Thought for Reflection:
When the song of the angels is stilled
When the star in the sky is gone
When the kings and princes are home
When the shepherds are back with their flocks
The work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost
to heal the broken
to feed the hungry
to rebuild the nations
to bring peace among the people
to make music in the heart.

Wednesday, December 31st
Gospel Reading John 8
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
Reflection
Gina Hilton VanOsdall remembers the Christmas pageant when Shaun Cheever brought forward baby Sierra, who played the baby Jesus that year. She remembers that there was a great focus at that point in the pageant with a sense of wonder in the children who gathered around to see an especially alive baby Sierra/Jesus. (Thanks be to God for Sierra’s too short life!) Regarding pageants, Claire Lissor particularly remembers the angel wings, the manger scenes and especially the little ones who played lambs.

Tuesday, December 30th
EVENING PSALM 89:1-18
1 I will sing of your steadfast love, O LORD, forever; 
with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations. 
2I declare that your steadfast love is established forever; 
your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens. 3You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, 
I have sworn to my servant David: 4 ‘I will establish your descendants forever, and build your throne for all generations.’” 5Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones. 6For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD, 7a God feared in the council of the holy ones, great and awesome above all that are around him? 
8O LORD God of hosts, who is as mighty as you, O LORD? Your faithfulness surrounds you. 9You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.”
Reflection:
Annie Dillard writes, “There is no less holiness at this time-as you are reading this-than there was the day the Red Sea parted…There is no whit less might in heaven or on earth than there was the day Jesus said, ‘Maid, arise’ to a centurion’s daughter, or the day Peter walked on water, or the night Mohammed flew to heaven on a horse…In any instant you may avail yourself of the power to love your enemies; to accept failure, slander, or the grief of loss; or to endure torture… ‘Each and every day the Divine Voice issues from Sinai,’ says the Talmud. Of eternal fulfillment, Paul Tillich said, ‘If it is not seen in the present, it cannot be seen at all.’”
Question for Reflection:
How might you pay attention to, listen for the voice of God in your life this day? How might you, upon further reflection, notice God’s voice to you over the course of the last month or the last year?