A Letter from Lindy Jan 19

HI Pilgrims,
So weird to find myself writing this letter again from Orlando, but I unexpectedly needed to fly back down.Thank you for the grace you have offered for me to take care of my family here. I look forward to being with you on Sunday. Pray for the preaching vibes to ride the waves my way :)
 
Come and see. One of the delights I have had this week is reading the annual reports from Pilgrim boards and moderator in preparation for the presentation of our 2020 budget at our congregational meeting on January 26. We have been a faithful, action-oriented community, striving to make manifest God's word in our congregation, our community, our world. Well done, good and faithful servants! With you, God is well pleased.
 
These reports pave the way to and for our 2020 proposed budget, all which will be coming to you by week's end. Just like Andrew's invitation to Peter, I pray you come to them with hope and expectation in learning how God's movement will reveal itself us in this coming year. As you hold each report in prayerful discernment, offer a word of gratitude of all of the faithful leaders who have gave of themselves this year to bring each into being. I celebrate both long-serving and new leaders who give voice to the ways in which we grow as beloved community. A special shout out to our budget team and moderator who guided the unfolding of new processes.
 
What are you looking for? Our moderator's cover letter does an outstanding job of offering us guideposts along the way to absorbing pages of numbers. She carefully highlights the nuances and variations of this year's budget compared to last year's. Her thoughtful guidance stems from the questions that were raised in our inaugural "Get to know you Budget" fellowship hour in the hopes that one person's question might reflect others unspoken.
 
If your questions have not been fully answered, give voice to them at our congregational meeting. I read a reflection in the UCC daily blog today where it was observed that the poet Rainer Maria Rilke became famous by begging us to love the questions. We don't, he rightly observed, not surprised that people don't actually love questions. If it were easy he said, we wouldn’t need admonishing. The blog's author invited current readers with this thought. "One way to love questions is to give more permission to uncertainty. We might even become open and affirming about them and welcome the questions." 
 
This is my prayer that we hear our questions as a means to delve more deeply into the Way in which God calls us.