​In elementary school, we learn that many animals in North America hibernate in the winter.  They gorge on food, grow a protective layer of fat, and sleep for days on end.  While I recently learned that hibernating animals are not 100% unconscious the whole time (they do wake up occasionally to deal with some bodily needs), winter is a time in the animal kingdom to slow down.

Earlier today, I was chatting with someone about how difficult it can be to get up on these cold mornings.  The sun comes up so late, and we agreed that we are groggy even when it does.  Then I made the comment about how humans are still animals and most animals hibernate at this time of year.  They agreed that this makes sense… though I fully admit that I love any excuse to sleep in and move more slowly.

Now that we are past the frenetic rush of the holidays, I hope you get to enjoy the slowness of the season.  Now is the time when we get to slow down and enjoy the simple comforts and the coziness of our homes.

The Northminster building will be closed this week.  Hopefully, business can wait until the new year.  See you all on January 4th at 7:00 p.m. as we celebrate Epiphany Sunday.

Blessings,
Pastor Chris

It doesn’t take much for a song to get stuck playing on repeat in my head.  For those who don’t experience the phenomenon, this is what it feels like: my brain is a radio and I don’t have control over the station (for those who are curious, not having a running inner dialogue where your brain interprets your thoughts as actual sound is called anauralia, a term coined in 2021 by Australian researchers).

When a song is stuck in my head, it feels like I can hear it as if it is playing in the room.  Trouble is, sometimes my brain acts like a scratched record repeating one line or verse of a song.  The other day, I had Santa Claus is Coming to Town playing on repeat in my brain against my will.  Unfortunately, after some time, my brain got stuck on the first line and the song sounded like this:
   “You better watch out, you better watch out!
    You better watch out, yoooouuu better watch out!
    Santa Claus is coming to town!”

Needless to say, my brain’s changes to that song make it much more ominous and foreboding.  Why do we need so many warnings to watch out?  Why is my brain repeating this ONE line?!  At the same time, this is what the holidays can feel like: a foreboding sense of needing to get things done that grows with every day that brings us closer to the holidays.

 To give us all peace of mind, here is my semi-annual holiday reminder:

• Even if the food burns, baby Jesus will still be born.
• Even if the food is terrible, baby Jesus will still be born.
• Even if someone isn’t able to make to the family gathering, baby Jesus will still be born.
• Even if something in the Christmas Eve service doesn’t go as planned, baby Jesus will still be born.
• Even if you lose or break a present, baby Jesus will still be born.
• None of our imperfection can stop the love of God being born to us this holiday season.

So - let us all relax into the human, messy, and joyful parts of this season.
And in case you forget,

As many of you may have heard, Suzanne Joy’s time with us at Northminster is coming to a close.  I am extremely grateful for her work and all that we have done together.
So let me brag about her for a moment.

Since I joined you all in 2020, Suzanne has been instrumental in our ability to weather the storm of unprecedented times and adapt to a new landscape.  When we went all online overnight, Suzanne was our support, making sure communications went out and learning new technologies to make sure we stayed connected.  She took it upon herself to learn how to update and edit our website so everyone could find updated information as things changed.  Later on, she brought to my attention that when you googled “Churches in Troy Michigan,” Northminster was pretty low on the list.  So - she learned how SCO (Search Channel Optimization) affected our ranking on Google.  She worked on our internet presence to improve our SCO and raised our rankings.

When it became clear that social media had become a vital tool for communication in or modern world, Suzanne and I worked to create a social media calendar so that we were consistently posting congregational updates, prayers, the Pastor’s letter blog, and relevant news articles.  This often means that she takes my words, uses her graphic design skills to format them to be pretty and social-media friendly, and posts them.  I know that many of you are on Facebook.  Did you know that she has been running our Instagram account as well?  You can find that HERE.

Suzanne has also jumped in to learn the "ins" and "outs" of running our YouTube channel.  She schedules our livestreams, creates beautiful thumbnails for videos, and organizes our videos into neat playlists.

All of this she has done over the years, taking on the responsibility to learn more and help us more effectively reach out online and in person.  She does so much behind the scenes in the office as well just to make sure things go smoothly.
So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for all that you have done.  It has been a joy to work alongside you for these five years.
So, Northminster, what is next?
The Operations Committee has put together a personnel team.  That team has created a job description and is in the process of posting that online on various job search websites.  If you know someone who may be interested in this kind of work, feel free to forward them THIS job description and have them email a cover letter and their resume to [email protected] by January 5, 2026.

In order to do this job search well, it will take us into the new year.  I feel that it is better to take our time, do this search calmly, and find a good fit for our congregation.  However, that means that there will be a few weeks where we will not have an office administrator.

I am working with the personnel team to create a plan.

• Part of this plan will be to go to minimum function.
• Minimum function means that only necessary & essential tasks get done.
• I will be able to assemble and print the bulletins for Sunday and well as assemble and publish the Tuesday Notes.  There likely will be a temporary increase in my weekly hours.  I will work with the personnel team to create a compensation package for my additional hours.
• I will work with Operations and the financial team to make sure bills are paid and checks are cut.

Our hope is that this arrangement will only be needed for a couple of weeks in order to finish our search process, at which time, we hope to find a qualified candidate, negotiate compensation, sign the hiring paperwork, and begin their training.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out and ask.

And again, Suzanne, we are so grateful for your time, energy, and imagination that you have poured into your work here at Northminster.  We give you our blessings and prayers as your journey continues.

Blessings,
Pastor Chris

What would you think if I told you that our typical depiction of the scene above is wrong/historically inaccurate?  Most of the time, the assumption is that Mary and Joseph had to lay down in a faraway barn because there was no room in the tavern-style guest house.  If Jesus was a Medieval European peasant, this likely would be true.  Europeans typically kept their animals in their own separate building or in a lower level of the house (think walkout basement).  When people traveled from town to town, the travelers would find an establishment where someone ran a business renting out rooms to strangers and serving them food in the tavern.  But Jesus was a first-century Palestinian, not a Medieval peasant.In ancient Judea, families would not keep their animals in a separate building.  Rather, families would build one big room that included a kitchen, eating area, sleeping area, and animal pen.  A short wall would subdivide the room to keep animals like sheep or goats out of the humans' living area.  Built into this low wall was the manger for food and a trough for water.  “But what about the guest room?!”  The term in Greek that is used implies a spare bedroom built on top of the flat roof of the house.  Ancient Judean custom would hold that Joseph would be welcomed into any home as family as long as he could recite his family heritage.  Only true outsiders with no shared family lineage would be forced to rent a room from a businessperson.

Thus, Jesus was not born “Away in a Manger,” but on the living room floor.  Jesus would have been surrounded by aunties and grandmas in a crowded house.  While some derive meaning from Jesus being born far away from the chaos of humanity with only the animals to attend to him, I have always found it much more impactful to imagine a family having to squeeze in tighter to make room for Jesus in the chaos of life.

In this spirit of Christmas, I told our neighbors at Oakland University's Music Department that we could squeeze in a bit tighter and make sure that they have a home for some of their end-of-semester music lessons, practices, and recitals.  This includes the Oakland University String Department Student Recital at 5:00p.m. in the Sanctuary this Friday.  They have extended an invitation to our community to attend this performance for anyone desiring a bit more music in their life.

Saying yes to letting OU using our space was a matter of principal and theology for me.  Not only are we in a season where we celebrate a story where the world makes room when a family is in need, but this kind of request also brings up the question of, “why have a building at all?”  Theoretically, we don’t need a building in order to hold a service and continue our ministry; but the building is a tool for our ministry.  It is helpful for our ministry to have a place to gather (and to store our stuff).  However, sharing good news with the community implies a willingness to share our resources and tools for the betterment of the wider community.  And if we are not willing to make space and share our resources in a time of community need, then we are not stepping up to the calling of sharing the good news.

So, let us welcome our neighbors in need and make room in our crowded life for the coming of Jesus.

Blessings,
Pastor Chris