Isolation and loneliness remain active in our world and in Bellingham. Our congregation, our church family, is providing opportunities for us to remember and connect to belonging. We belong to each other, to our congregation, our neighbors, young people, immigrants, and other populations at risk including women, indigenous and people of color.
Connecting to each other and desiring belonging is a human and spiritual need. We all crave this and deserve it. Even if our basic needs of housing, food, and water are met, without community, without authentic connection we cannot thrive. The past 18 months have only magnified this awareness; our need for each other. No matter our physical distance, we are connected spiritually as well as through our good works and values rooted in gratitude.
Gratitude is a biblical virtue. We are called to be thankful to those who help and welcome us into community. So, thank you.
Thank you for showing-up in the ways that you have this past year.
Thank you for dropping food at a neighbor’s.
Thank you for your prayers.
Thank you for wearing a mask.
Thank you for learning a new virtual platform to connect with a friend.
Thank you for asking for help when you needed it.
Thank you for showing-up to virtual church Sundays in your pajamas.
Thank you. We are the us we helped.
As we prepare for another year, which will most likely have persistent challenges, please consider how you want to continue cultivating this essential sense of belonging and welcoming community. We ask that this actively include this church family you are a part of and that we all commit to each other through a financial pledge or promise. Thank you.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,
for those who are called according to God’s purpose.
~Romans 8:28
To support the ministries of First Congregational Church visit our giving page.
