Dearly Beloved,
Have I mentioned that I don't know what I'd do without this beloved community of faith and faithfulness? I don't know where I'd be without our Tuesday morning lectin conversations? Or without the wisdom and foresight of other leaders as our trustees care for our building and our Board looks towards the future together? I don't know where I'd be without conversations about God's presence, about listening to the still small voice of wisdom that is God's spirit alive within us? I don't know what I'd do without the gifts of love and care that my children and I receive here? Sometimes I think I would be lost without the hope our children bring. Without the beauty of music on Sunday morning. Without the energy and curiosity of our youth. Without the wisdom of our elders.
I am deeply deeply grateful.
How about you? What does this community mean to you? How do you meet God here? And how does that encounter sustain you in the week to come? How does it feed you to offer grace and kindness to others? What can you carry that hope and love forward?
I know it's not Thanksgiving week yet, but I want to invite you all through this month of November to reach out to thank those around you, but especially in our congregation, who are making a difference in your life. Offer a word of gratitude for coffee, poured hot and strong, for a solo that moved your heart, for the rhythm of drums, for the warmth of a smile, or the kindness of a word, or the clarity of scripture read, or the existence of Zoom or the cleanliness of the building.
We continue to live in an anxious time. And one of the antidotes to anxiety and fear is gratitude. I know I've had moments where my inclination is to grouse or complain. I invite each of us to pause and instead offer a word of gratitude, of thanksgiving, of appreciation and joy.
We have so much to celebrate. We have so much to be grateful for together.
You are a gift. Thank you for all of the ways that you sustain me in my walk of faith. For all of the ways that you buoy my hope. For all of the ways that you fill me with joy.
It means everything.
With deep love and gratitude,
Thandiwe
