Read this week’s newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal Jan. 4.

Rev. Justin writes:

In his poem, “For a New Beginning,” poet John O’Donahue writes, in part:

“This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge…

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening…

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.”

Whatever we experienced in 2017, we are beginning a New Year, an opportunity to engage our lives in new ways, to re-awaken to the adventure that is our life. This Sunday, we begin the New Year together, with our annual Remembrance Sunday, a time when we reflect on our losses over the past year and honor those we love who have died. This service is also an opportunity to mark other significant losses in the life of your family, such as a separation or divorce, saying goodbye to friends who’ve moved away, the passing of an animal companion, or the loss of a home, job, or familiar school community. You’re invited to bring a photo or memento of a loved one, or something beloved that you are remembering, to the sanctuary for our shared altar that we will build on Sunday morning. Let us hold nothing back during this service, as we feel the grief of our losses, and the strength of our bonds to one another, to those we love, and to our ancestors. Let us feel these losses as we discover the new rhythms of our lives.

And if grief is a companion that is traveling with you right now, you are lovingly invited to join our Grief Group which begins meeting at the end of January (register for that group here). We have a number of Care Circles (like the Grief Group), Soul Matters Circles, Spiritual Deepening Circles, Young Adult Circles, and Racial Justice Spiritual Deepening Circles that begin at the end of January and early February. Not only are these Circles a place to grow, mend, and deepen your spiritual life, but they are also Circles of accountability and deep friendship. Our hope is that every person in this large church is connected in a smaller Circle of some kind, where you are known and know others. You can sign up for Circles and Adult Programming here.

May 2018 bring unexpected moments of grace, insight, clarity, commitment, and resolve.

I’ll see you in church!

In faith,

Justin