Greetings!

One of the most beautiful things about being a human is that we live in such a richly complicated and complex world. We live in a world where we all have different perspectives, understand things differently, and live in the tension and nuance of holding all the pieces of life together simultaneously. Multiple and conflicting things can be true at the same time.

We can “rejoice always,” giving thanks in a season explicitly focused on gratitude and thanksgiving for the abundant blessings in our lives. Indeed, we have so much to be thankful for and once you begin counting your blessings, it is often difficult to stop. They almost seem to multiply even as you begin to name them individually. Rejoice, friends, for God’s blessings of love and grace are never-ending and steadfast. Even in the darkest and most despair-filled seasons in our lives, we can always give thanks for God’s steadfast love and boundless grace, and the countless ways they show up if we pay attention.

We can “rejoice always,” giving thanks in a season explicitly focused on gratitude and thanksgiving for the abundant blessings in our lives. Indeed, we have so much to be thankful for, and once you begin counting your blessings, it is often difficult to stop. They almost seem to multiply even as you begin to name them individually. Rejoice, friends, for God’s blessings of love and grace are never-ending and steadfast. Even in the darkest and most despair-filled seasons in our lives, we can always give thanks for God’s steadfast love and boundless grace, and the countless ways they show up if we pay attention.

But step outside of Fright Fest, catch a news notification dinging on your phone, hear a news report on the radio as you drive out of the parking lot, and there is, indeed, plenty to fear. The world today is a scary place. But you don’t need me to tell you that. Scroll through social media or scan the newspaper’s headlines and you’ll find something to cause you concern, anxiety, or fear. The monsters of Fright Fest are a lot more fun than the monsters in the real world.

And, at the same time, we can “pray without ceasing,” holding all the anxiety and concerns we have and offering them to God too. There’s no toxic positivity message here—no call to forget about the very real worries in our hearts. We can be grateful for God’s steadfast love and grace even while holding the weight of the world on our shoulders. We can fear what comes next, we can worry about what will happen, and we can be little anxious balls of energy bouncing around aimlessly. It doesn’t mean you don’t have faith and it doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with you.

Rejoice always, friends. Give thanks constantly for the steadfast, ceaseless, unending love and grace of God, who continues to heap blessings upon blessings in our lives and the world.

And pray without ceasing, friends. Bring all the concerns, worries, and anxieties in your hearts to God. If we’re really loving God, who created the heavens and the earth and all that is within it, and if we’re really loving our neighbors, all 7 billion of them who share this good creation with us, then there is plenty to be worried and anxious and concerned about. Pray without ceasing with your hearts. Pray without ceasing with your minds. Pray without ceasing with your hands and feet.

Whatever happens this month, this season, this decade, this millennium… “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

May it be so. May you be held in the beautiful tension and complexity of being human, and may we hold our fellow beautifully complex human neighbors gently as we rejoice and pray together this season, and always.

Rejoicing and Praying,
Pastor Laura