November 2023 Letter

ALL THINGS NEW 

          We are beginning to turn a corner in our fall season where more trees are bare than full of colorful leaves, when the edges of the beautiful mums have begun to brown, and when the fields surrounding our towns have been harvested and have opened up the landscape in areas that we could not see only weeks before.

          The difficulty with fall is that we know that winter is coming and many of us struggle with the extra-long dark days.  Others struggle with the cold temperatures.  Still others struggle with the sadness brought on by the upcoming holidays.  And yet others struggle with the emptiness of their schedules once the holidays are done. 

          But for every fallen leaf, there is room for a new leaf bright green leaf to grow next spring.  Every empty field is a blank canvas to be plowed and turned over and replanted.  And, those fall mums that have become browned by the frost can be replanted for spring; and their absence on our porches will soon be replaced by Christmas cheer.

          Every fall presents us with the opportunity to examine and gather up what has past, just like we rake up the leaves, and think about the potential for what is to come.  As a cooperative parish, we are headed into the holiday season together, and headed into new opportunities: opportunities to share our faith with others through worship, through connection, through study, and through mission. 

          So, let us, as we look at opportunities before us, pray for God’s guidance.  We are called to be a light in the darkness and what better time is there for us to be a light than in a time when the days are darker than usual?  Let us, as the Church, live into God’s promises in our communities and live out the words of Isaiah 43:19 to those around us: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”