Rev. Barry Bloom's Corner November 2016

This fall has been beautiful beyond beautiful. The color of the leaves, the quality of the light, the awesomeness of the harvest super moon, the mild temps have all combined to regularly put me in a state of wonder.  My work has been to fight to stay conscious, to not take for granted but to stop and breathe and smell and look carefully.  You know the saying, “take the time to smell the roses.”  This has been, “take the time to take in nature at its most beautiful.”
Speaking of beautiful, I want to say something about the board which “runs” this church.  You and I know that perfection is never fully realized in any walk of life no matter how driven we may be to achieve it.  This group of your friends and fellow members have been working hard under, at times, difficult circumstances, to oversee the overall direction and daily operation of the church.  I, personally, would like to thank them.  This is what it means to be part of a spiritual community, to support each other in loving ways.  In order to not generalize and thank the “board” though, I would like to thank Marcia Free, Marika Barth, Erika Coan, Josette Schaffer, Dennis Francen, and Michelle Noftsker, who make up the board.  And I invite each of you to do the same.  Thanks for doing a difficult job in an imperfect way, just like any of us would do.

So you can be thinking of it well in advance, there will be a Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at 5:00 pm on, of course, that Saturday evening.  On Christmas Day, which falls on Sunday this year, there will be no service but the church will be open and Julie Miller will host.  There will be some goodies to eat and a warm feeling of community to greet you.

In the meantime, may we celebrate this month of Thanksgiving by being generous to those who are in need.  Remember, “There but for the grace of god go I.”  Let us be thankful.

Blessings to you all.

Peace,
Barry

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