Dear Ones,

I journey East this week and next for visits with family and friends, the beginnings of a search for a new house, and a much-anticipated time in the Pennsylvania woods. And I take this trip, continuing in vulnerability and risk, not knowing the outcomes and feeling uncertainty, as one way of living breaks apart even as another forms from pieces known and some unknown. And while all of this is so unsettling, it is not at all unusual. Everything is always changing, even when we do not notice, even when we want it otherwise. And always, we find a way, especially when we share our awareness and we share our anxieties and fears. Sharing them really does lessen the burden, because we can gain perspective from those who experience the shared reality differently. And then we begin to see new paths opening.

My time away is a reminder that we have done good work together, as well as practice for the change that is coming. What fears and hopes will you share together in this time? What moments of gratitude and pride in accomplishment will sustain you in the inevitable changes? May you move together in this complexity and with faith that you are loved, you are worthy, you are welcome, and you are needed. May you feel it so and may it be so.

Blessings and warm wishes, Rev. Rita