We need each other, and we need ALL of our gifts and voices.  So if you are leaving a ministry this month, or stepping into a new role, thank you!!  Your unique presence and voice and perspective are what makes us the church!

What we do as a church when we include, reach out, invite, welcome, gather and listen is nothing short of miraculous and life-giving.  We are the body of Christ!  Every member belongs to the whole!  Let's not take for granted the profound importance of who we are and what we do!

Sometimes these unthinkable horrors are far away, in nations and places that we can scarcely imagine.  And sometimes, the horror happens right down the street, in a place that we know, on a sidewalk where we stood just the week before.

This week I was again struck by the writing of pastor and theologian Frederick Buechner-- especially since we are in the Easter season, and we are hearing the stories of the risen Christ appearing in various places.