Dearly Beloved,
The turkeys are on the move! And no, I don't mean the ones that we are beginning to collect for our Thanksgiving dinners. I mean the gang (that's one of the names for a group of turkeys!) of turkeys patrolling Loveland's downtown streets. These small reminders of God's whimsy, of the diversity of God's creation and of our part and place in it bring me such joy. They ground me in the truth that we not only belong to each other and to God, but we belong to the world, to the earth and all that is in it. They remind me to turn to wonder, to give thanks, to giggle and appreciate.
Our congregation is also on the move!
We are in the flow of nominating and stewardship seasons -- considering the ways in which we can share our gifts and our talents with our congregation, reflecting on what spiritual guidance and community are worth to us.
Our Vision & Ministry Discernment Committee has brought feedback and recommendations to the Church Board from the surveys you all helped fill out. Thank you for your candor about what we are doing well and the areas where we have room to grow.
Our Church Board voted on Monday to receive a special offering this week to support the Larimer County Food Bank and have empowered our Mission & Outreach Team to make a significant gift on behalf of our congregation to local organizations filling the gaps as families continue to try to get by without SNAP benefits. The Mission and Outreach Team is in the process of channeling moneys received for Homeless and Unaccompanied Youth to support students in the Thompson School District and those supported by The Landing (Loveland's Youth Shelter).
I have found myself in the midst of all of this with great gratitude for the small moments together: a conversation after worship, a hug from one of our youth, the energy of our children during children's time (I'm not sure if you caught Ezra's response to being told to put the toothpaste back into the tube on Sunday: "Oh no. I'm not going to do that.") The holy space represented by a lit candle in our midst, the story told with a marble or a tree or a baby Jesus in a manger. The sound of our musicians practicing. The careful labor over our church budget. Gentle generosity shared in hard conversations. This, after all, is what it means to be church together. To be prayerfully present (with our whole bodies, words, and actions!) with and for one another. To be paying attention to the needs of our neighbors and to attend to that.
I am holding each of you in love and prayer,
Thandiwe
