Dear Ones of St. Columba's,

This coming Sunday is our In-Gathering Sunday - the day we bring in and gather together gifts from our lives in celebration of our community. Everyone is invited to bring a bottle or two of wine to stock our cupboards for the coming year of worship and celebrating communion together. And, this is when we begin to gather in pledge cards, the written commitments of financial support from you, for the 2019 year. 

As this Sunday approaches, I've been thinking about all the ways this faith community gathers together - to worship and to discover God.  

We gather to worship: This is our primary gathering activity each Sunday. Our liturgy is renewing work - sacred ritual that reminds us how sacred all human life and interaction is, from meals shared to peace exchanged. We also gather on Wednesday nights to hear lay preachers, to lay hands and pray for healing, and to sing and celebrate Eucharist.

We gather to learn: Some of us are learning to write prayers. Newcomers to our community are learning what it means to be Episcopalian. This summer many of us learned how to encounter the Bible as an inspired text through our summer book group. This fall we we learn about Mary by coloring and meditating on her life, and about justice in our tradition, and about the gospel of Luke. Our men's Bible Study gathers each Monday to read the Bible together. These are just some of the ways we gather to learn more about the practice of our faith, in community.

We gather our children: One of the most renewing and joyful part of life at St. C's is the community of children and youth who find a spiritual home here. This congregation is a safe place for our children to explore relationship with God and community with each other. Their presence is a gift to those of us who are not children, and a reminder that Jesus repeatedly placed a vulnerable child in the center of the circle of community. 

We gather to support the vulnerable, the stranger, and the outcast: Our community is continually transformed and challenged by opportunities to build relationship with our most vulnerable neighbors, and we come together to do this work. This past month we have sewn culturally appropriate uniforms for middle school Muslim girls at our local middle school, provided a place to for rest and nurture for homeless men and women by hosting the Reach Out Shelter, fed hungry families through our Food Bank Ministry and continued to be a place for immigrant and refugee families to discover agency, hope, and healing by growing food in our Community Garden. 

I am transformed, renewed, and blessed by all the ways we gather here at St. C's. This Sunday as we bring wine and pledges, I am deeply aware that these are symbols which point beyond themselves to a reality that has to be lived in order to known. This is the reality of God's church, gathered here at St. Columba's in a unique and special way, inviting all of us to become Jesus' hands, feet, and heart in our world. Thank you for gathering, and for being part of the in-gathering of God's spirit each week in our worship, and each day in the lives touched and blessed by this community of faith.

I am so grateful to be gathered in with each and all of you.

with care and gratitude,

Alissa