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We express our love for God both in how we live out our spirituality, which is conveyed through our hearts and minds and is transformative, and in what we do for others, as the need arises, for the sake of those who are without hope, hurting, and broken. God's love is shown in its fullest sense through our spirits, minds, and active service.

Some of the most meaningful and sacred work we do together as the Church is journeying with one another through grief and loss. These past three years we have honored the lives of many incredible human beings whose impact on us carries on even today. This Sunday is All Saints Sunday when we honor those who have died. The number of names we will be lifting up is significant. My heart aches as I read these names and feel the loss and think of what each family and friend of these beloved people are going through.

How do you see yourself as a believer in God in relationship to other people, no matter if they are believers in God or not? How has your relationship with God changed the way you interact with people, regardless of if they are believers in God or not? If you find yourself having any difficulties figuring that question out, try thinking about ways that you express your relationship with God outwardly rather than privately.

When I was in middle school, I decided it was time to try a sport and joined a softball team. The first year was so much fun! Our team wasn't the best, but I learned a lot, made friends, and grew in my skills. When I signed up to play again the next year, I assumed it would be the same. Wow, was I wrong!

It is often hard to hear the revealed word that God wants us to know without being distracted by our own desires to advance ourselves and our position that either subconsciously or consciously counteracts the truth that we have heard from God because that truth is too difficult to fully understand as it relates to our lives.

Throughout the month of October, we are exploring stewardship. When someone becomes a member of a United Methodist Church, they are asked if they will participate with their presence, prayers, gifts, service, and witness. Last week, we explored presence. This week we take a look at prayer.

I know people who bring a Godly presence with them wherever they go. The presence I am thinking about is the understanding that those people have invited God with them in as many places as they want God to walk with them into.

How do we help to heal the people and the land that we live in today? We need healing not just because we have been living through a pandemic but also because we needed healing long before the pandemic began. We needed healing, in large part, because of the increasingly isolated society that we have adopted that is based on an independent and self-reliant culture that has been forged since our country gained its independence from England.

Isn't it funny, and by funny, I mean complex, messy, and chaotic, that so often the things that bring us comfort can also cause so many complications? The last 18 months, the phrase "unprecedented times" has been used more than I can remember and if I'm being honest, at this point, they bring up a negative physical response. Unprecedented times. I don't know about you, but I struggle with the unprecedented, with the unknown, with the chaotic! I like order. I like direction, having a sense of what's going on. Uncertainty leaves me feeling more anxious than I'd like to admit.

What mindset and state of heart do we need to get us through a period of hardship, bleakness, or poor health? at one time or another, one or more of those negative things will visit us during our lifetime.

The last year and a half, unfortunately, was another opportunity to show how we handled an intense level of adversity, loneliness, and sickness. Thankfully we pushed through it to be where we are today! I am grateful to see the way that we have navigated the valleys and the peaks of the pandemic to this point.