October 25, 2021 - Grace and peace from our friend and brother Jesus. Sunday was the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Next Sunday is All Hallowed Saints Eve that we know better as Halloween. But next Sunday, our scriptures, sermon, and service will celebrate All Saints Day, remembering the saints we have lost as well as those most meaningful in our personal lives. For me, All Saints Day is very important as we venerate those who came before us.

October 5, 2021 - Grace and peace from our friend and brother Jesus. Sunday was the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time. These past few days have been on and off rain. We really need the rain, as Shelby County is in a drought situation. That doesn’t seem possible because we had a milder summer with more rain than usual. But during those hot days of summer, it doesn’t take long to dry the soil out. Next week is supposed to be dry and mild. I was always told that when I got old I would talk about the weather a lot—and I sure do!

September 20, 2021 - Grace and peace from our friend and brother Jesus. Sunday morning came in quiet and peaceful after our busy week. Sue and I went to Dallas to stay at our daughter’s house. Meg works remotely and was involved with zoom calls most of the afternoon—but was able to take off Thursday and Friday. Our son Jacob came for dinner Wednesday evening; we had a nice visit and updates on his family in Denton. During the day Thursday, Meg and I went plant and home shopping, our favorite. My brother and sister-in-law came over later for dinner, visit, and birthday presents.

August 30, 2021 - Grace and peace from our friend and brother Jesus. The biggest news in our little of community of believers is that we haven’t had Sunday School or in-person worship for two weeks. A few of our members came down with Covid-19, so we closed for two weeks. Hopefully we can safely begin again to worship together, although maintaining social distance. I am happy that all our members took this deadly virus seriously and got vaccinated. Their Covid symptoms were mild, and we hope they have a complete recovery.

August 15, 2021 - Grace and peace from our friend and brother Jesus. It is Sunday morning, and I just got back from a walk with my faithful companions, Gunter and Sam. It was really humid, but the temperature was much nicer than a regular August morning. We got a good rain yesterday evening, with more thunder and lightning than rain. But I will not have to water today, so “Yeah! I am not complaining one bit.