Dear Ones,

I can tell the season is really changing. 

The temperature is coming down. Our air conditioner is running less. When I wake up in the morning it’s still dark. I haven’t yet noticed the sun setting earlier, but I know that will come. I’m grateful for it all.

Next week is the Fall Equinox, the halfway point between summer and winter solstices. This is a time of balance, a time to pause and reflect before moving forward toward the shortest day/longest night of the year.

It’s appropriate that Yom Kippur, that time of reflection and making amends occurs around the time of the equinox. It’s a good time for reflecting on the year past, identifying one’s triumphs and failures, challenges and gifts.

We as a congregation can celebrate surviving, even thriving, over the past eighteen months during a global pandemic. We’ve had to figure out how to do a lot of things in new ways, from an online auction to committee meetings and worship via Zoom. We’ve had to hold one another physically at a distance, yet closer in our hearts and minds. 

While our American culture sets aside a day for giving thanks in November, I’m giving thanks right now. This coming Sunday’s service is called Grateful Spirit, and I’m meditating on the hows and whys of gratitude in our culture. 

How about you? What’s on your mind and heart these days? What are you grateful for?
I’m grateful for you.

    Blessings,
        Rev. Lori Hlaban