Moderator's Memos

• reflect on some of our guiding principles – love God

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Many of you are familiar with this ending of Mary Oliver’s well-known poem, “The Summer Day,” and might remember that I included the poem in one of my August Moderator’s Memos.
 
I know January – just some two weeks after the Winter Solstice – might seem to be a strange time to think of a poem written about summer.
 
But this sentence

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“Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother’s house we go.” I will soon be going over several rivers and through many woods but, alas, not to Grandmother’s house. However, I will be going to my hometown of Gloucester, Virginia, to spend the holidays with family.
 
It’s times like this that I’d like to be in two places at once – with my family in Virginia but also with my Cleveland Park Church family here in DC.

I’ll

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Giving Thanks – Showing Gratitude – and Giving

I’m writing this Moderator’s Memo while away on a slightly extended Thanksgiving break, which has allowed me to spend more time with family than I am usually able to do. By the time you read it, I will be back in DC, caught up in the whirlwind of activities that December and the holidays always seem to hold in abundance.
 
But this time away – as well as the season –

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