Blessed in Christ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. Ephesians 1:3-4 How has God blessed you in the past year? No, it's not a trick question. Seriously what blessings have come your way in the past year? We've had plenty of talk about the difficulties of the past year…natural disasters, wars, financial uncertainties, racial tensions, and political division just to name a few. I don't ask the question to make light of the challenges we've faced or the hardships that some have endured. But rather to remind us that God has indeed blessed us. The apostle Paul tells us that we have received blessings from the one who chose us before this world was ever founded. Imagine…before you were born, God chose you in Christ so that He could bless you! And the reason that God blesses us is so that we can stand before him without shame or fear…that we will be truly whole in his presence. So how has God blessed you? Looking at the year ahead, how might our blessings be expressed here at St. John's, Cranmer Chapel, and Trinity Kremmling as well as in our local community? As we head into a new year, may we find hope , comfort, and peace in the blessings that God has freely poured out on us. "How silently, how silently, the wondrous Gift is giv'n;
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His Heav'n.
No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in." Blessings,
Matthew+ O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP p. 214) | 
