2022 Year in Review + Focus for 2023
Dear Calvary Family,
I pray that you will be blessed and encouraged as you read our Year In Review of 2022. Writing these letters always fosters a moment of reflection and gratitude for what God has done in and through our church community. It’s almost hard to remember how January of 2022 had a bit of a Covid resurgence, but really 2022 has felt more like a return to whatever normal means these days.
In our world, 2022 will most likely be remembered for the war in Ukraine, protests in Iran, and skyrocketing inflation. Calvary Church seeks to be a light for the Kingdom of God in all these dramatic world events supporting Ukrainian refugees, getting Bibles into Iran and caring for those in financial need in our community. We believe that good deeds lead to good news and we ask God for more opportunities to share and live out the gospel.
Our primary themes for 2022 were ONENESS and DEPENDENCE. We sought to be more dependent on the Spirit of God and we know that it is only the power of God that will make us unified as one people of God. We lived this out by learning about depending on God in the wilderness as we studied the book of Numbers. We learned about the wisdom of God in the Proverbs and we learned how to incorporate some spiritual practices into the rhythm of our daily lives as followers of Jesus. We had times of listening prayer and blessing prayer within our services. In dependence on God, we know we must receive the love of God first and then live out of that love each day.
We know we need to continue this focus on dependence in 2023 while also wanting to grow in our discipleship. This is simply how we have been helped by others to follow Jesus and how we help other people in our lives to follow Jesus too. We have all received much and we have the wonderful privilege to give away what we have been given. We will talk much more about this in the months to come.
One of the things I love doing most, and seems to resonate with many of you, is the prayer of blessing I pray at the end of each Sunday service. This prayer underscores much of our heart for dependence on God. It is God who will bless you and keep you. His power is what guards and protects you. It is God’s face shining upon you that gives you grace and peace in your life now and for eternity. All blessing comes from him and we depend completely upon him for everything. That is true for our church as well.
May the Lord bless you in 2023!
Eric Wakeling