Dear Ones,
It is with a swirl of emotions that I send this email, sharing
my final sermon as your senior minister (available on our
homepage and
Facebook page).
The All Souls worship team and I returned to our sanctuary and pulpit on Wednesday to tape this last service together. We put a lot of heart and love into it. I hope you feel that love, too.
This week we have gathered twice as a congregation for public rallies and vigils in remembrance of George Floyd, and all those who've lost their lives to white supremacist violence. I want to say a big "Thank You!" to everyone who came out on Tuesday and Friday evenings as we tolled our bell for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, in remembrance of George Floyd's brutal killing.
After being physically apart from one another for several months, it was powerful to again experience the strength, love, and solidarity that are present when we are together. For me, it was another reminder of how much I love you and will miss you.
Tomorrow is my last day as your minister. We will say a final goodbye as minister and congregation with a Ritual of Gratitude and Love at 7:00 pm on Monday June 8 on Zoom. Everybody's welcome, and I hope you'll join us. [I hope that before this service you'll have a chance to watch my sermons from May 31 and June 7, which are also an integral part of our goodbye. But if you can't, don't worry!]
You will find the login information for the Ritual of Gratitude and Love tomorrow on our
homepage.
Friends, it's not easy to be present to both the brokenness of our world right now, and to our goodbyes. These aren't the conditions under which we wanted or expected to say goodbye to one another. But this is the world we find ourselves confronting, and I know we're up to it. We can both lift our prophetic witness and say our loving goodbyes.
And just in case you don't have another opportunity to hear me say it: "I love you all. I miss you. And I will always be proud to call myself a living member of the great family of All Souls."
Love,
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