Our Blog

By: Pastor Berg

I’m guessing that most of you have heard of Alice in Wonderland. But did you know there was a sequel to that story? The sequel is called, Through the Looking Glass. A looking glass is a mirror and Alice wonders what life is like on the other side of the mirror’s reflection. Of course, she is able to enter that alternative world and experiences many crazy adventures there.

As we draw to the close of one year and begin the next, the idea of gazing at the looking glass is intriguing, especially the way that Alice did. A looking glass as a mirror will show our reflection, will allow us to look back on the past year, but a looking glass like Alice’s will also allow us to look forward to what might be in store for us in the future. 

As we look back over 2023, we experienced many blessings as a congregation, didn’t we? We had nine baptisms, and only four of them were babies! We had eight confirmations and six professions of faith! That’s God’s Word at work! That’s twenty three different miracles that we witnessed as the Holy Spirit worked in the hearts of God’s children. We were able to study God’s Word as we met consistently in Bible study. We worshiped on a weekly basis. We were fed Christ’s true body and blood. We were able to teach over 100 children the truths of God’s Word on a daily basis. 2023 was a year filled with miracles! 

So what does the future hold? As we gaze into the looking glass and look toward 2024, what do we see? I pray that as you look you’re seeing much of the same! We have the opportunity to welcome a new pastor into our church family. We pray that Pastor Horton will be a blessing to us as he serves us with God’s Word. We pray that God will use our witness and our love for our fellow man to bless our personal evangelism efforts so that we have many visitors who dwell with us for a time and come to God’s house to be served by him. And just like in 2023, 2024 will be a year where we will see miracles! God willing, we’ll see baptisms and confirmations. God willing, we’ll gather each week to be fed by his Word. We’ll receive his supper regularly and often. We will continue to feed more than 100 of God’s little lambs. 2024 will be a year filled with blessings and opportunities because of God’s promises to us. 

Through the looking glass of God’s promises, I see wonderful things in store for us here at Eastside. God has opened many doors for us to explore. May we take those opportunities and run with them! May we use the blessings that God has showered on us to bring more people to know the reason for our optimism, the reason for our joy, the reason for our hope! May we bring more people to know Jesus, so that our look through the looking glass at the end of 2024 will be a reflection of what we see today!