A Message from Pastor Kaji

Beloved in Christ,

It’s a new year! I don’t know what that proclamation means to you. Maybe it feels like a new start. Maybe it feels like you have no idea how to start again. Maybe these thoughts and questions are too much for you. 

Know this: they are not too much for God. 

New moments, in general, give us a chance to make new commitments…to God. To ourselves. When these two are aligned, God sees us through. 

This Sunday, our church will celebrate the Epiphany as we reflect on the visitation of the Magi. The Magi’s bold devotion and their courageous choice to honor God above any earthly power can inspire us all. Their journey encourages us to offer our own gifts of faith and action in the world.

This ties directly to a call I want to remind you of this week: the urgent need for clemency and forgiveness. With just days left in this presidential administration, we pray and act in faith, trusting that President Biden can fulfill a sacred responsibility to exercise the power of pardon on a broader scale, especially to members of our community and the communities we serve. And especially to our friend, Ravi Ragbir. Ravi probably faces deportation if President Biden doesn’t act. 

Clemency and pardon are not just legal terms—they have deep roots in our faith. Forgiveness is at the heart of Jesus’ teachings, and acts of mercy reflect God’s grace in action. As Jesus taught in Matthew 6:14-15: “If you forgive other people…your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you…”

This Sunday, we’ll reflect on how the Magi offered their gifts to Christ with courage and intention, and we’ll consider how we are called to live out those same values in our lives. 

Let this season inspire us to align our actions with God’s call to justice and mercy, whether in advocating for forgiveness or in living out love in our own communities.

We invite you to join us for worship this Sunday as we begin the new year together with intention—placing God above all else and allowing faith to shape every other commitment. Let’s start 2025 by offering God our whole hearts, our bold actions, and our deepest trust.

And if Ravi’s story resonates with you, we have much to do to support him as we head into his Jan 13 check in with ICE. We need people to join us, before work, to flank him with support. We need people to check in with him before he checks in with ICE, sending prayers or offering a listening ear or an offer to take a walk together. We need our community to remind Ravi of our gratitude for everything he has done for this city. Now is our time to show up for him, because he needs it. If this feels like something you can do, please please please be in touch with the office so that we can prepare you to help him. With our gratitude. 

I thank you, in advance, for the ways you will find to plug in to this support. In Jesus’ name.

Pax Christi,

Pastor Kaji

SCRIPTURE
Matthew 2:1-12 (Year C, p. 37):

1 Now Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod. Suddenly sages from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the one born king of the Judeans? For we have seen his star at its ascent and have come to reverence him.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was shaken, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 then calling together all the chief priests and religious scholars of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah would be born. 5 They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for it has been written by the prophet:
6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
by no means are least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod secretly called for the sages and learned from them the time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go, search diligently for the child, and when you have found him bring me word so that I may also go and reverence him.” 9 When they had heard the king, they left, and there suddenly was the star that they had seen at its ascent going before them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they rejoiced; their joy was exuberant. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they fell down and reverenced him. Then, opening their treasure, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.