Samwise in Maine
Summer Greetings,
I recently returned from ten days in Maine, visiting family and enjoying the cooler weather. Though I never dreamed he’d still be here this August, my 14-year-old dog, Samwise, accompanied me. For this (for him), I’m immensely grateful.
I carry this gratitude within me as I return to church. And I feel inspired to celebrate the good as an act of resistance to the many horrors in today’s world. As Cole Arthur Riley writes in Black Liturgies:
It can feel foolish to pause to marvel
at the stars when the world is burning.
Or to find the world beautiful when
you’ve known it to betray you.
But wonder is a liberation practice. A
reminder that we contain more than
tragedy. Beauty is our origin and
our anchor.
Yes! And it gives us the strength to go on, to resist, to recreate.
I want to marvel at the stars and make wonder a liberation practice. Do you?
Thank you to everyone who helped out while I was away. It means a lot that I can take this time off, knowing our church is in such loving and capable hands.
With Much Gratitude,
Pastor Ellen