I have been reflecting on gratitude recently. I have found myself incredibly grateful. Grateful to be home and able to be back working again. Grateful for the outpouring of support to the diocese around the fires. Grateful for the changing seasons and movement into fall (my favorite season). Grateful for the finishing of the Camp Cross retreat center and new cabins. I know that there are lots of books about gratitude, suggestions for a gratitude journal, ways of practicing gratitude, and I also wonder if at times we simply need to allow ourselves to be grateful! With no expectation of writing it down or doing something about it. Sometimes we just need to feel.

I have also been pondering the relationship of generosity and gratitude. The many people generously supporting the disaster relief fund, the many people generously giving for the new construction at Camp Cross, the many people generously giving of their time and efforts to support the work of camp and their local congregation all have led me to gratitude. What I know is that the example of the generosity of others, and my gratitude for that generosity, leads me to greater generosity myself.

As we enter into fall, the back to school for many, the changing seasons, I wonder how we are being called to generosity and gratitude. I wonder as well about different types of generosity. For instance, the generosity of service to others is one of time and talent. The generosity of both stepping up to and stepping back from leadership. The generosity of noticing the gifts of others and naming those gifts. The generosity of offering thanks for service others have offered. What I do know is that generosity and gratitude transform us.

Let us this fall engage in generosity and gratitude, and especially offer our gratitude to God for God’s gracious generosity towards us!

Faithfully,

+Gretchen

An extra note from Bishop Gretchen about Fall Gathering Day: 

You are invited to join congregations across the region and diocese for the fall Gathering Day!  Why might you come?  Because it will day of learning, fellowship, and gaining ways to help our congregations in these challenging times.

Human beings are story tellers, stories help us make sense of our history and our present,  and help cast the vision of the future.  Some of those stories are spoken, some written, and some sung.  We will be looking at how “Sing a new song the Lord” is about telling our story today, and how that song shapes our sense of the world and our desire for the future.  We will look at the songs sung in Scripture and how those songs can speak to us today.  We will look at how music itself helps us tell our stories, and how music impacts those stories.  And we will ask song we are singing today – the story we have both as individuals and as congregations.  This work will help us as congregational members and leaders see song and story in a new way and how we can use song and story to shape our life together.