Dearly Beloved,
What a joyous weekend we had with our youth Sunday (a tremendous thank you to Dax, Braxton, Colton, and Lucas for all their leadership and to Noe, Daniel and Sara for helping to plan and lead the service), our baptism of Dakota Flores, and Eileen and Jacob's wedding. In a time when so much is heavy in our world, so much is wrong in our country and even in our close-to-home communities (I'm thinking of the closure of Loveland's homeless shelter in particular), it is such a gift to get to celebrate the miracle of love and the gifts of our youth.
And the truth is also that for some of us, perhaps many of us, the impacts of the government shut down, of mass layoffs, of shut-downs of important social programs due to cut funds, of deportations, and targeting of trans people, people of color, those who are neurodiverse, are here and close by. This is a fearful time, God's beloved. It is a time of heartbreak and uncertainty. A time when greed, lies, injustice, prejudice and division are harming us, are harming our families, our friends, our neighborhoods, our cities and country.
I have felt the heaviness of all of this, and it can feel overwhelming, overpowering. In this moment, it is especially important for us to slow down and check in with one another. Like the work of the earthworm of the poem I referenced in last week's midweek, it is important for us to meet the world "grounded, consistent, and slow." To let our "gift to the world be constancy, a devotion to openness, a willingness to be with what is." The Nominating Committee began their meeting yesterday in that spirit -- giving time and space to simply hear and be present with one another as we shared the fears, the heartbreak, and the joys of our lives.
I hope you will give yourself and those you are with the time to do the same. It is so easy to feel isolated, to feel alone, to feel overwhelmed and helpless in the midst of everything that is happening, everything that is changing so fast. And we are called to walk together. At the end of the day, we are called to follow Christ's way of love, fostering and tending our deep social connections with one another. The *business* of church is not worth much if we are not doing that most basic thing.
And in Christ, we find an example for how to resist oppression and injustice, how to rest and slow down, how to retreat, how to feed and heal, how to receive love and care, how to practice courageous justice, how to walk in faith and love with our siblings and with our God.
In love, gratitude and hope,
Thandiwe
