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Beginning Again

It is Monday, January 4th, and I am trying to catch up on what has happened in the world and in the community. As many of you know, I took the week off following the first Sunday of Christmas, which was a tremendous gift to receive. Thank you to all of those who helped afford this small vacation for me: for Jane Williams and her constant care and support in communicating our life together, for Rev. Tim Jessen and his willingness to travel up from Bloomington with his wife, Elma, and lead us into worship yesterday, and for the thousand others acts performed in my absence. I came into the office this morning to find the sanctuary stripped of the Christmas tree and the pulpit and other furniture returned to their ordinary state - signs that we have indeed moved through the last of 2009 and into a new year.

This marks an anniversary: one whole year of living, working, ministering, and discovering with you. About this time last year, we had moved up to Greencastle, and I was busy finishing up the decoration and ordering of my office. I was beginning.

I return to this space ready to begin again. With the perspective of a year (which isn't much, of course) and the advantage of knowing more about who you are as a people, I am beginning to wonder where we might go this year. Or, more appropriately, where God might be leading us.

I am ready to listen, to love, to learn.

Wes

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