Dear Friends,

One of my closest pals is an expert editor. I don’t mean she pores over magazine spreads; instead, she edits her home regularly. Her place is always fresh and inviting. There’s almost no clutter! She’s ready at a moment’s notice to welcome guests.

For many years, I tried to follow the ritual of denying myself something for the season of Lent. Sometimes this spiritual discipline yielded new focus, but often it led to a lot of time yearning for the thing that I was missing. It was a challenge of New Year’s Resolution proportions to think of this year’s object of denial, and it was just as large a task to try to follow it for the duration of Lent.

This Friday, “love” will be everywhere. Your favorite shows, commercials, stores, and even the news will talk about love. “LOVE” is both a powerful emotion and a powerful word.

Full disclosure: before I was ordained, I used to avoid the Annual Meeting at my church. Annual Meeting Sunday? Great! I’ll go out for Sunday morning bagels instead. 

With Grateful Hearts, our 2025 Annual Campaign, is Bethesda-by-the-Sea’s invitation to reflect on our blessings and respond with gratitude.

“Ordinary” in this case refers to the texts in our liturgy that don’t change from week to week. At the 8:00 service, we say the Gloria, the Sanctus, and the Fraction Anthem, using the same text each week. At 9:00 and 11:00, we sing them and mark each new season by rotating to a different composer’s setting.

Merry Christmas! Many folks have boxed up their decorations, but at Bethesda, we’re still celebrating.