Jimmy Fallon has a running bit that has lasted through both of his late-night television shows, in which he writes thank you notes. Each is written to a flourish of music provided especially for the moment. He’s been writing them for years. They’re funny and sometimes pointed and very occasionally sweet.
Mine are none of those things. They are simply sincere.
Thank you PPUMC congregation, for encouraging me to take time away from work. David and I traveled some, and we spent time in our own backyard. We rested. We will be doing more.
Thank you Wind and Tree and Stone and Earth, for the still life captured in the photo above. It was taken simply by pointing a phone camera on what happened to be at my feet on the path to the lake one day. A reminder to anyone with eyes to see that now is our moment.
Thank you also, PPUMC, for filling in the necessary functions to keep things going in the office and in worship without missing a beat while David and I were away:
Thank you Liz Richards and all who are responding to the call to answer the question “What about the Art Fair & Bazaar?”
Thank you to Ann DeGroot and all who are responding to the call to answer the question “What are our resources…?”
Thank you to Ann, Steve Ozanne, and Cathy Velasquez Eberhart, who stand by to help navigate the relentless decision-making that these times demand.
Thank you to the physician in our midst, Kelley Jewett, who we know and trust. Kelley advises us on what is safe as COVID conditions change and change and continue to change, so that in situations where we need to adapt nimbly, we are informed.
Thank you to the many who created the Sunday morning worship experiences:
Thank you to the hospitality team of Ann DeGroot and Ginia Klamecki, who offered the welcoming opportunity to stop and connect in simple conversation on the way in and out of worship.
Thank you to Marilee Johnson and Ginia Klamecki for elegantly adorning the altar each week with grace and meaning.
Thank you to the Zoom worship team of Mike Hvidsten and Steve Ozanne onsite and Cassie Davies-Juhnke, and Anna Rieth at home, for adjusting to both Dave Nyberg and Cathy Velasquez Eberhart being away. This team has been on an amazing growth curve over the course of the last year and a half, connecting us so that our gathering can reach beyond our four walls.
Thank you to musicians Alan Husby, Frank Trnka, Kathy Webb for continuing to provide the sound track of the worship experience with such variety of organ, piano, guitar and voice – and for leading us in song.
Thank you to worship leader and preacher, Theresa Mason, for your presence with this community and leadership in worship and your words of challenge and comfort.
Thank you to every person who forgives me for forgetting your name that should have been mentioned. I am convinced that a perfectly accurate list is only possible in The Book of Life (and I’m fairly skeptical about that).
And finally thank you for filling in your own name here and knowing that I mean it when I say thank you. Thank you _______________ for hanging in there! Thank you for being part of this community. Thank you for making the choice to continue in whatever way is possible for you right now. You bring what nobody else can – yourself. It is simply not the same without you!
Thank you Creator of All That Is and Was and Is Ever Going to Be, for all of the creation still going on in us and through us and all around us!
Wild blessings,
Pastor Chris