Dearly Beloved,
In a time of so much turmoil and suffering in our nation and our world, I am grateful for the joy of our last two Sundays together! This last week, we didn't get to celebrate Theo's baptism because he was sick, so we'll celebrate that this coming Sunday, April 23.
This last week, we did get to celebrate the gifts the Holy Spirit pours out on us! What fun we had writing words of affirmation and love and gratitude on plates on each other's backs. Those plates are hanging up in the sanctuary and narthex, and you can add to them over the next few weeks.
I forget sometimes how vitally important gratitude and joy are to our spiritual, emotional and communal lives. Gratitude and joy can be powerful acts of resistance when we are surrounded by messages of scarcity, the experience of division and isolation, and the reality of violence and fear. Gratitude reminds us of all that we have and all that we are! Of the blessings of connections large and small, relationships new and old, and the love that we share with others. Gratitude invites us to take in the world around us with child-like hearts of awe and wonder and joy cultivates creative imagination. After all, out of despair and fear come survival, and out of joy comes the ability to thrive, to imagine and live into new life-giving ways of being together.
April is National Poetry Month and with this focus on joy, I want to share with you poet Mary Oliver's words:
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don't hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that's often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don't be afraid of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.
May you find joy in the little things and the big things this week!
Thandiwe
p.s. If you're curious about some of the other things remembered, honored and celebrated in April, here's a short list of some highlights:
Arab American Heritage Month
Earth Month
International Guitar Month
World Autism Awareness Month
National Garden Month
National Poetry Month
National Donate Life Month
National Frog Month
Parkinson's Awareness Month
Sexual Assault Awareness Month
Scottish American Heritage Month
National Humor Month
