The Gathering

Today we are continuing our series Shift Happens: When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned. We are talking about how to move through seasons when our life takes a left turn, goes off track, or isn’t working out as we expected. Each week we are looking at a different reason why by reading the stories of people in scripture who had their own plans fail for different reasons. As we read their stories we are learning strategies for how God can lead us through those same circumstances in our own life.

Today we are going to look at the prophet Jeremiah. If I could sum up the story of Jeremiah, I would say that he is the guy who did everything right, everything that he was supposed to do and that God asked of him, and yet all he experienced was failure and the falling apart of his plans. And yet, Jeremiah had this incredible capacity to keep going, to keep hoping, even in the face of setback after setback. So today I want to talk about how we keep going when it feels like all we are dealt is obstacles and curveballs.

Today we are continuing our series Shift Happens: When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned. We are talking about reasons that our plans get upended and how we move forward when that happens. Each week, I am talking about a different reason our plans get messed up. We are looking at a different character of the Bible, and how they dealt with failed plans. As we explore their stories, we will learn strategies for how we can deal faithfully with those same situations in our own life.

Sometimes shift happens because of choices and decisions that we make. So today we are going to talk about a character who had his life planned out from the time he was a kid. He had gifts, talent, opportunity, and a strong call on his life. He had a plan. But things did not turn out as he imagined, and it was due to his own choices.

Over the next 4 weeks, we are going to explore characters in scripture who experienced plans shifting for a variety of reasons. We are going to learn what happened to them and how they moved through it. Each of them deal with circumstances that are universal, things that we all deal with. As we explore their stories, we will learn strategies for how we can deal faithfully with those same situations in our own life.

Today, I want to start with one of the most universal experiences we have – loss. Probably the most common way our life changes or plans fall apart happens when we lose something that we rely on. A person, a job, a marriage, a set of friends, a family situation. Loss destabilizes our plans and suddenly leaves us in a new place that we must navigate. And just as we all experience it, so did so many who came before us. One of the most inspiring stores of moving through loss is found in the story of Ruth.

As I was praying about this morning—this first Sunday of 2026—I started wondering: What if we had "The Gathering Wrapped"? What if we could pull the data on our spiritual life as a community? If God ran the algorithm on The Gathering McCausland for 2025, would our "Minutes Listened" be skewed toward fear and anxiety, or toward hope and action?

This morning is our "Visioning Sunday", wherein we look ahead. But I think we need something different this year. I think we need to look at our "Wrapped." We need to look at the raw data of 2025—the good, the bad, and the messy—to understand who we actually are, so we can decide who we want to be in 2026.

Today, we are going to focus on the bit after Linus Van Pelt’s recounting of the Christmas tale. What happens next after Jesus is born?

Through the remembrance of the Christmas story, we’re called to be transformed. To have our lives changed in light of God’s willingness to become a person like you and me, and be God with us, here in creation. We are called to have our expectations of the world subverted and changed from what the world would tell us. We’re meant to disrupt systems that harm our most vulnerable siblings. We’re meant to lead a life that says I will not stand by while the world continues its reign of oppression, I’m going to go another way.

Today we finish up our Peace series. The question today is how do we have peace with God? It’s not about what we think or feel so much as it is how God sees us, humanity.

Now we could go all the way back to the beginning of the Bible and name the ways God views us as humanity, so today’s few points are not an exhaustive list by any means. But what I hope you know is that God's stance through millennia and into eternity is rooted in an unwavering steadfast love for us from the books of Moses, to the prophets to the gospels. God is with us and for us.

When you read the Christmas story, and really listen to what it says, you begin to see what this peace can look like and feel like in your life.

At Christmas, Jesus brings peace through

Through Proximity – being close to you and not leaving you alone;

Through Power- the capacity to do what you can’t do because nothing with God is impossible; and

Through the Promise that when evil does come, or struggle, or hardship, or suffering – that he will protect you, save you and give you a new life that is eternal.

And it is a gift Jesus gives to all those that trust him.

At Christmas, strained relationships can weigh especially heavy. This weekI will talk about how God’s treatment of us in Jesus offers us a model for our treatment of one another. Joseph embodies this model in his treatment of Mary. The Christmas story says that Jesus is an expression of God’s mercy, grace, and forgiveness towards us. What would it look like for us to treat others in our lives with the same this season?

The angels at Christmas declared that Jesus’ birth would bring us peace. In a divided world, with complicated families and stressful schedules, we still need that gift. Throughout the Christmas season, we will talk about how Jesus can help bring peace to all aspects of our lives. From our inner spirit to outward relationships, Jesus can resolve tension, reduce stress, heal relationships, and bring us peace.

Join us for part 1: Peace in Our World, as we talk about how Jesus can bring peace to divided communities and countries like ours.

Practicing gratitude takes time and energy that is in short supply for most of us. Because of that, we tend to be people that blaze right through life, along with a lot of good stuff, without noticing or stopping to say thank you. In our focus on anxiety about the future, we often fail to practice gratitude for the present.

In the middle of busy and hectic lives, we are called to be people that give thanks continually. This is, after all, God’s will for us. We practice thanksgiving when we notice, when we speak, and then ultimately when we act.Paul writes that he has figured out the secret of being content in all circumstances, and the secret is gratitude.