Friday, June 15, 2018 

Dear Friends, 

This week it came to light that, for someone raising teenagers, I’ve been spending a disproportionate amount of time in the children’s section of our local bookstore. It was gently pointed out by our daughter’s friend, who happens to work at said bookstore. In response, all I could do was smile and nod repeatedly, because there’s no getting around the fact that I am drawn to words and illustrations intended for those much younger than me. In this season of gifts for graduations, confirmations, and fond farewells, I am drawn back repeatedly to the simple but beautiful wisdom that is too often lost in the verbosity of adult conversation and literature. See what I mean? 

In the days and Sundays to come, our family and our church family will move through some significant gatherings, for what can only be described as life milestones. For our Trinity family, as our time of ministry with both Gerry and Michelle draws to a close at the end of this month, we are particularly mindful of how important it is to offer gratitude, alongside and all through all else that might be said in the moment of goodbye. No matter the genre or complexity of language, there won’t ever be quite the right words to sum up what it has been to share this life together – but we can and will certainly begin by saying thank you. This Sunday, we’ll say so to Gerry; next Sunday, to Michelle. 

It is also entirely possible that it will take far more time than we’ve had yet, to come to a fuller realization of what and whom has grown in these ministry years. In what may be a holy gift beyond our knowing, most of us tend not to really understand or see the expansive way that God’s Love flows through all the minutiae of our days. As adults, we tend to put it down to hindsight. As children of God, who might reclaim the wisdom of one of my youngest friends, we could also relearn the art of saying, with peace, “I haven’t learned that yet, but I will.” 

In the days and years to come, may we all rest in the beauty of life’s simplest illustrations, sketched out for us most clearly by Jesus – trusting that we are each a treasured part of this community story, for however long or short a time we call this home. Even as the pages turn far too quickly for our liking, there is still something else wonderful to follow. In the most literary sense, and absolutely in the Jesus sense, there really isn’t such a thing as ‘the end’. 

With love to you all, 

Heather 

”To me, the only kind of faith worth having is faith that can celebrate the good and the true and the beautiful wherever you find it. It’s a big, buoyant, expansive embrace of everything, everywhere you find it.” (Rob Bell, as quoted in The Wisdom of Sundays) 

“I wish you more treasures than pockets.” 

(Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Tom Lichtenheld, I Wish You More)