Hello, Friends!

Greetings from the sultry southland (yes, even more humid than Austin's been recently). I'm happy to report
that John's mom is beginning a process of recovery from her fall last week.

At the  tender age of ninety two, she' s experienced her first broken bone, and only her third trip to the hospital. As is her way, she's spent much of this morning asking me about our Austin-based kids,  apologizing for being "so much trouble," and worrying that her hair is a mess (it's not, but it's also not curled as she likes it). In other words, Gladys is being her  sweet, sassy self, and she shows every sign of continuing her journey. At times she has bouts of some pretty debilitating pain, and she has to work very hard to weather them. When I expressed regret about her suffering, she just shrugged and said "I guess it goes with the territory right now."  

I'm still learning from my elders, about how to meet life on life's terms, with integrity, dignity, and  grace. I've had great  teachers, family members, parishioners, sometimes casual acquaintances, and it's been occurring to me more and more often that  I  really need to take notes, because my turn as elder is just around  the corner (I know, some of you "youngers" think I'm there!). One of the ties that binds us in the human family is generational; each age, every stage of life can benefit the ones who follow, with the gift of perspective--and younger ones have much to teach their elders, about urgency, and energy, and hope. All that's required is time, and willingness to be with each other, to listen as well as speak, and to learn together. We get so task-focused, so deadline-bound, so fixated on what's next and what's "necessary" that we can forget about simply being, and being with others. Here's my  hope and prayer for our faith community today: that we will keep making church in all the  good and meaningful ways Spirit empowers us to do, with creative, nurturing worship, challenging, inspiring learning times, well- intended works of  service,   sincere efforts to welcome and engage our neighborhood--all  good. And while we're at it, I pray we'll make time to allow God's love to manifest in our connections, human to  human. 

I look forward to being human  with you this Sunday, and all   our days to come.

Shalom,
Sarah