May he grant you your heart’s desire
and fulfill all your plans!
May we shout for joy over your salvation,
and in the name of our God set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions! (Psalm 20:4-5, ESV)

Earlier in the week I offered some reflections on the past year in our life together at LPC. It was a good year. And in case I need to say it again, what a joy and a privilege it is to be called to serve and to live life with such a wonderfully faithful people as those God has called together at LPC to be a part of his amazing family of faith. Thanks be to God for Langhorne Presbyterian Church and her people.

But 2013 is now the “old long since.” What about the year to come? What about 2014? David prays boldly for us in Psalm 20. “May he grant our hearts desire and fulfill all our plans.”  So what are our hearts’ desires and our plans?  That we “worship, grow, connect, serve and share.”

• Let’s plan to worship. Lord’s Day by Lord’s Day and as he calls us together around his Word and to worship his name. In the New Year’s Eve post I said, “our habit of worship sets us aside as God’s peculiar people. Our world knows nothing else like Christian worship. This is who we are.” Worship is the most important thing we do together – all our growing, connecting, serving and sharing flows out of worship and finally back to worship. Each of us is weakened when we miss a single Sunday of worship and our fellowship is diminished when even one of us is missing
• Let’s desire to grow. Fifty or more of us have committed to A Year of Prayer. Why not join the number? Men gather on Wednesday mornings (we begin a long journey through Hebrews this coming Wednesday – all men are welcome in this band of brothers; men in their 20’s to their 70’s and joyfully committed to each other and to the Word) and Saturday mornings. Women on Tuesday evenings, Wednesday mornings and more. Faith Acts has a wonderfully full slate of classes planned for winter and spring. The list goes on.  Let’s grow in the Word.
• Let’s plan on connecting.  Say hello to the newcomer in the pew. Share a cup of coffee after worship. Invite a new friend to brunch or dinner. We connect on Thursday evenings for table fellowship before classes and choirs. If you haven’t been to Faith Acts recently, why not join us? The room is usually full, but we’re always willing to set up another table.  The Men’s Retreat is coming soon (men, register right now!). The Women’s Retreat is in the spring. Church league softball, baseball games, picnics – connect with us as we connect with one another!
• Let’s desire to serve. Mission is whenever and wherever we join Jesus in the work he is doing in the world. Some of our opportunities are programmatic – from stocking the shelves at the food pantry in Penndel to traveling to Guatemala for a week. Some happen once a year – the Thirty Hour Famine is coming in February – and some can happen every day – dropping a donation in one of the Heritage Hall bins. But mission also, especially, happens when God’s people, you and I, serve wherever we happen to be by giving and loving in the name of Christ. Where is your mission field?
• Let’s plan on sharing. The old missionary famously defined evangelism as “one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” Many of us have received God’s gracious gift of the Bread of Life offered through Jesus Christ. We know what it means to not hunger even in times of physical, emotional, relational and spiritual scarcity. Who in your life might you tell about this Bread? Or might you be the one who has been with us a long time, but who has never understood the power or accepted the grace of this gift given?

2014. I’d love to see more new members added to the rolls at LPC. But even more I’d love to see more new and renewed Christians excited about the possibilities of the life of faith, engaged in the work of mission, eager to worship and saddened when they don’t, expecting and offering support and encouragement as a member of the family, enthused about sharing the joy, peace, hope and love of Christ in word and in deed with the world around us.

Let’s make it our desire to worship, grow, connect, serve and share. And let’s plan on it. Let’s set up our banners – “Langhorne Presbyterian Church – Sharing the Life of Jesus!”

See you Sunday!