Let us go resolutely into the days ahead, mindful that the sun turns on its wheel and life returns even to the most blasted land; that neither victory nor defeat is ever as absolute as it seems in the moment; and that the work which lies before us has ever lain before us, and will lie before the children who come after us. To live is to struggle, and to love is to have meaning.
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We venture into unforeseen futures sustained by the strengths and sapped by the weaknesses which have ever shaped our species. But a blessing whispers into the ears of those who listen: We did not invent love, it was love that invented us. Go forth, therefore, wrapped in a love no human power can forestall.
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We are each a little different from our neighbors, each bearing our own gemstone of experience. We were not designed to wander alone, but in companionship with one another. There is nothing heavier than a heart alone in its sorrow, while few things are more frustrating than triumph which cannot be shared with the world.
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Our most profound calling is to be where we are and to feel what we are feeling. This work is its own burden, but also its own reward. In the simple act of sharing our lives’ deep realities, we most fully exercise as a church and community of the faithful, alive and well and mutually blessed.
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All living things require nourishment. Rain soaks into the ground in the spring, and nurtures the green shoots. Insects scurry through their tiny world in the summer months, beasts of the field and birds of the air partake sustenance after each individual kind. In the end all pass away, and with the fallen leaves nourish the soil in their turn. The world goes in unending rotation. In the same way the church is also a living thing, which we nourish through gifts of the spirit and commitment of our labors and resources.
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On this happy morn we hail the sun’s life-giving warmth, the glorious forces of nature, the sky which grants us moisture and the air we breathe. If we listen carefully, we hear a cry echoing not from the past but from the future: “Live not merely for today, for others follow. Prepare the way.” We feel, we listen, we march together into the future.
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