A Letter from Lindy July 30

Pilgrims,
 
Well, here we go again. I pray my stepping in and away through the summer is not causing too much confusion. I pray also that you are looking forward to receiving our special guest preachers for the month of August. They will be wonderful conversation partners about our sabbatical topic of being a community that recognizes and holds with care those who grieve. And if we are honest, that group includes all of us at some stage of our journey, perhaps even right now.
 
Even if our grief is but an undercurrent that we have learned to carry, touching it occasionally or whether it feels like a torrent of river rapids, learning to be present, attentive to the ways in which it manifests, and supportive feels like a calling to me. A calling that meets naturally the ministry entrusted to God’s beloved community. Because of this special and specific fit, it will do us well to hold with care the sacred knowledge that grief does not only come from the loss of a loved one. Rather loss manifests in so many ways, as you will hear next month.
 
As we gave voice to our vision for sabbatical, I was struck at how many people approached me with stories about how the shifting patterns of their journey unexpectedly included reckoning with the currents of grief. I pray we are open to the stories. I pray we are attentive to God’s unfolding hope birthing in and through us. I pray we grow as a community in our capacity for meeting people–whoever they are, wherever they are on life’s journey.
 
Hope see you Sunday,

Pastor Lindy (she/her) why pronouns matter

 
Living and working on occupied Shakori land. 
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Melinda Keenan Wood