I've spent much of this week getting ready for our Annual Meeting (this Sunday at 9:30 AM). It is an event I always enjoy. There is a lot to gather together: numbers and stats and recaps that the national church requires we track and report. I'm usually scrambling for these and sometimes find what I need on some scrap of paper I tucked away somewhere last June... So it makes me a little crazy, too. And I definitely couldn't do it alone - as you'll see in the Annual Report, there are many others who have their hand in this. But even with the scrambling and the lining up of the numbers and making sure Robert will get his Rules, it is an event I enjoy. Looking back at the year that was, and ahead to the year that will be, always fills me with deep gratitude for this community and all we are called to be together.

In a world that values wealth, status, and power, there is something countercultural about coming together each week to feed our spirits and souls. In a world that values independence and individualism, there is something profound about coming together each week to see how we can support one another. In what other places in our lives do we gather simply to experience holiness together? It is not even about what we find, but how we find it—together.

My prayer for you this week is to know how grateful I am for each of you, and for the community we share as the body of Christ.

Blessings,
Jennifer