“Weave, weave, weave us together.  Weave us together in unity and love!”

– Rosemary Crow

Beloved of God,

There’s a picture that hangs in my study at home of a woman’s hands weaving together separate strands of what will one day become a basket.  The hands belong to Laura Somersal, a Pomo Elder.  They are old, these hands, brown and weathered.  Wrinkles cover every part of their surface—yet they are supple and strong.  When I look at the picture, I imagine her hands gathering lengths of willow from riverbanks; digging for pine root; harvesting young bear grass in the spring; stripping lengths of maidenhair fern, or peeling woodwardia and dying it with alder bark; gathering the strands together into bundles. Then, when they are ready, I see her hands weaving them together; twisting them to fit one over another, tightly, neatly, evenly, row upon row, to form a bowl, a hat, a baby basket.  Each with its own design.  Creating a tapestry from the gifts of the earth.  And this Weaver sings as she works, and her songs are woven into the basket; become part of it.  Her prayers and thoughts move from her heart, down through her fingers; move through the root, the fern, the quill, to become a part of the work, the whole.  The stuff that holds it together.  Out of the mixed gathering of gifts from the earth, her intention takes shape, a design is formed.  Yes, this Weaver knows what she is creating.  And so she weaves.  Patiently, steadily, rhythmically, her hands bring into being what already exists in her mind.

I invite you to imagine with me that God, like this Weaver, is weaving the Kingdom.  That God, like this woman, is at work gathering the separate and distant strands of people from every time and place and fashioning us into a community, a divine fellowship, a new and beloved creation which will one day be whole and complete.

“We are many textures, we are many colors, each one different from the other, but we are entwined with one another in one great tapestry. Weave, weave, weave us together.  Weave us together in unity and love!”

As November begins, we claim our status as beloved elements of the Kingdom basket God is creating while remembering the lives of other beloveds – saints from our community and from the long history of the church – whom God has called to his side.  This year there are six from the Peace congregation: Jeanne, Joyce, Ann, Peggy, Jack, and RaeAnn, whom we lifted up on All Saints Sunday.  During their time at Peace each of their lives intersected with our own, yet their stories and the patterns of their lives are much richer and complex than what we will ever know.  So we give thanks that God is forever at work incorporating their stories, along with our own, into the grand story of healing and redemption God has been working on since time began.

This November will also see the return of our Thanksgiving Eve Service on Wednesday, November 22^nd.  This will be a time of  coming together to remember with gratitude God’s gifts and presence in our lives and in the life of the world.  Finally, this month is also a time for considering how our gratitude and thanksgiving will be manifested in our continuing support for funding God’s mission through Peace.  To that end, keep your eyes peeled for a letter in the mail inviting you to once again participate in growing the Culture of Generosity here at Peace by filling out and returning a Statement of Intent.  What a joy that God is at work among us, with faithful hands, weaving us together in love!

Your partner in Christ,

Pastor Erik