Have you ever heard of “lay by time”?  I was fortunate to pastor two churches that had a lot of farmers. 
There is a time of the year when they are not cultivating, planting, or harvesting. They referred to that as
”lay by time”. They still had stuff to do, but it wasn’t as rushed. In fact a lot of churches had their yearly
revivals during that time.
January and February are like “lay by time” for churches.  The very busy holiday season is over.  Its
usually very cold. And church folk are tired. But don’t let your spiritual life “lay by”.  Church attendance
is still important and Bible study is always needful. Don’t neglect your relationship to the Lord, or your
opportunities to serve.  
On a different note, I wrote in another column about my favorite movie “A Christmas Carol” and all pf its
remakes. Well, they made a new one and I watched it. The “Scrooge” person was a “church going lady”
(they made several references to that).  But instead of dealing with poverty and sickness, the mistreated
folks were in the LGBTQ+ community and immigrants. In other words it was “woke”.  I shook my head in
disbelief as I watched.  But by the time it was over, the mean, grouchy, hateful Christian lady was cured
of her prejudices and every one lived happily ever after.
Unsurprisingly, it has been announced that another adaption, to appear in 2026, presents a “fresh look”
at the story.  The fresh look?  It will deal with the mistreatment of migrants. Really. I can’t be for certain,
but I wouldn’t doubt that Christianity will be mocked in some way.
Say good things about your Savior and His church.