Every time someone showed up for me, I learned that love is greater than skin deep.

Each Advent, my empathy for Mary’s situation returns.

What’s the one word you hope will define your upcoming year?

We could see the main path to the swimming hole ahead, but we had to pick our way through sand spurs to get there. Behind us were rattlesnakes. What did the youth do? They started playing.

In real life, we can only place the pieces, one by one, and see what kind of picture we create. Sometimes we turn out to have chosen the wrong piece. Sometimes the picture is wildly unexpected.

Help us to live in peace together and serve one another and to see the holy light in everyone, even when those holy lights are especially hard to see.

Keeper of our journeys, Today we mark and celebrate a significant moment in the lives of these young people Who this year assume the responsibility of becoming licensed drivers. We ask that they might be gifted with wisdom to make good choices as they navigate the roads ahead....

I invite you now into a time of gratitude, reflection, renewal and hope. What an unearned blessing to delight in the calming peace of this space; to hear the robin's song again at daybreak; to feel the warmth in this room, and to enjoy the promise of summer almost upon us....