Moderator's Memos

On February 14, 1639, when John Winthrop was off in London arranging a charter for what would become Massachusetts, he added a postscript to his letter to his wife “Thou must be my valentine.” Valentine’s Day was not recognized in the short Puritan calendar of holidays, but every letter the couple wrote testified to their intensity of love.

Love is not the first word to come to mind when Puritanism comes up, but human sexual passion was much a part

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• 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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