I hope your Christmas carried with it comfort and joy, kindness and delight. And that you now find yourself gently moving toward the end of this year with both gratitude and expectation. Grateful for what was, hopeful for what will be.

ZOOM SERVICE THIS SUNDAY

To that end, we invite you to join us this Sunday for our annual Hello/Goodbye Zoom Living Room service. We’ll be gathering at the Zoom link provided on the events calendar at 10:30 AM (yes, morning!)…old school style. And our dear sister, Elizabeth Hogsten will be leading us in a time to contemplatively reflect on the year that was while wholeheartedly looking ahead to one that will be. Bring a pen and a journal. And if you have one, a plant to sit alongside you. We’ll continue our Advent theme of seeds and slow growth and lean into that imagery.

SABBATICAL FOR PASTORA INÉS

Hola familia! Pastora Inés here to let you know that I have entered into a short sabbatical from December 21, 2023 – January 16, 2024. In 22 years of pastoral ministry, I have never taken a sabbatical before. This year of our church plant proved to be tremendously challenging to my body, soul, and mental health with so many changes and transitions on top of the day-to-day ministry. I am grateful to have the support of our leadership and my therapist to take this time off to unplug and seek restorative rest. My hope for this time is to lean into “remember” and “reconnect” with my body, my soul, my family, and my God. You may not see me on Sundays, but I look forward to seeing you in the New Year!

BLESSING FOR THE NEW YEAR

Familia, I invite you to join me in covering my hermana, Inés, in prayer during her sabbatical. I am greatly hoping and earnestly praying that rest and ease will seep into my sister’s bones. That her head and heart will relax into a posture and pace of peace that passes understanding. And that Christ Jesus will be Immanuel with such loving kindness in it all.

In that same spirit of blessing, I offer you here a blessing for the new year from one of my favorite writers. Perhaps there’s a line here that speaks to you, a piece of poetic prose you can hold to like a warm blanket on these chiller days.

You are so loved, Beloved. And we can’t wait to be with you over Zoom on Sunday!

Bobby

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“Beannacht”

By John O’Donohue

On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.

And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The gray window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colors,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
In the curragh of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.