From Pastor Mark
Dear Ones,
As the New Year begins, Matthew 2:12 (the text for Epiphany, January 6) offers a quiet but powerful word of guidance: “Having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.” The Magi’s journey did not end at the manger. Encountering Christ changed not only their destination, but their direction.
The New Year often invites us to keep moving forward on familiar paths—habits, routines, assumptions that feel safe because they are known. Yet this verse reminds us that faithfulness sometimes means listening for God’s warning and being willing to choose a different road. The Magi trusted that God’s guidance, even when it disrupted their plans, would lead them toward life and away from harm.
As we step into a new year, we do so with dreams, hopes, and perhaps fears. Matthew 2:12 invites us to pause and ask, where might God be redirecting us? What paths no longer serve love, justice, or faith? Following Christ may call us to leave behind old routes marked by fear, resentment, or complacency, and to walk a road shaped by courage, compassion, and trust.
The New Year is not just about turning the calendar, but about being open to transformation—returning home changed, and choosing, by God’s grace, another way forward.
May the peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds as we step into a new year—hopeful, grateful, and filled with expectation for all that God will do among us.
In Christ’s love,
Pastor Mark
Contact Pastor Mark at: pastormark@sotpmail.com
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Shepherd of the Prairie has a document that is helpful to have filled out for your loved ones as they plan your funeral.
This funeral planning guide is available online at www.bit.ly/SOTPplan or as a hard copy in the church office.
From Pastor Ryan
“When you pray, move your feet.”
This African proverb is a concise yet powerful reminder that our prayers, and by extension our faith, have to be about more than words or thoughts. The late Congressman John Lewis used this proverb as a mantra in his work on human rights and illuminated this proverb in his memoir, saying: “There is an old African proverb: ‘When you pray, move your feet.’ As a nation, we must move our feet, our hands, our hearts, our resources to build and not to tear down, to reconcile and not to divide, to love and not to hate, to heal and not to kill.”
As we begin this new year in the season of hope we call Christmas, and slowly begin to turn our focus toward the deep reflection of season of Lent (and eventually the renewed hope of Easter), I invite us all to remember the true gift Jesus was and is for us, the way he built community among us, and the sacrifice he made.
On December 25, we once again celebrated the day God joined us as one of us, underscoring the profound intimacy of our relationship with God. We praised Jesus as being the light of the world. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined. (Isaiah 9:2, NRSV)
There is a lot to feel down about in this world, and Jesus encourages us to take all our fears, anxieties, sufferings, grief, and struggles to him through prayer. That should be merely the start of our process. Our prayers represent a conversation in so many ways. They are, of course, a conversation between us and God, but if you think about it, they are also a conversation we have with ourselves. When we settle ourselves into a time of open reflection as we pray, we find that our mind begins to connect with our heart, revealing our deepest concerns, passions, and desires. It is those moments we should pay close attention to, for it is in those moments we can find ourselves inspired to focus our energy, resources, and time in ways that bring the light of Christ into a troubled world.
Each new year brings a new opportunity to try something new, experience some growth, and live deeper in our faith and relationship with God and our neighbors. We are the recipients of such an incredible gift in the person of Jesus and the sacrifice he made to be our Savior. May this be a year full of the kind of prayer that inspires us to move our feet for the good of all. Let us all honor Jesus as he deserves by finding the place we can make the biggest positive impact in this world, pray for God’s guidance, and then step out in active faith.
I pray that this year brings health, peace, joy, and love to you, and that your year will be filled with all sorts of blessings as we work to bring the light of Christ to all the world, working for that day when all are loved and cared for. I pray that when you pray, you move your feet. And know that I am right here with you, praying and growing and working to be a better mover of my own feet. Together we can do this to the glory of God!
May the Lord bless you and keep you this season and always!
Pastor Ryan
email Pastor Ryan at pastorryan@sotpmail.com
