Preacher: Kate VanDerzee-Glidden, Resilience and Strength
Director of Music Ministries: Angela Salcedo
Music: UnCommon Time Quartet
Artwork by art therapist and artist Celeste Schexnaydre.
Dear Friends,
Recently I was thinking about the pandemic and how life changed so dramatically. My children spent part of their first and second grade years doing school from home. Lucas was lucky enough to have an amazing second grade teacher. It was sometime in the fall of 2020, on one of our virtual days, when I heard Lucas’ teacher, Mrs. Haddad, lead her students saying these words. “I am resilient. I am. I can. I will. I do.” They said these phrases together several times, and I joined in from the other room.
Resilience is the capacity each of us can develop that prepares us for life’s inevitable ups and downs and promotes positive adaptation to any situation no matter how serious and stressful it might be. Each time we encounter adversity, we have the opportunity to learn, grow and emerge stronger than before.
Everyone has the capacity for resilience, and it can be learned, strengthened and put to work in your life because, let’s face it, challenging things happen personally and in our communities and world.
This Sunday we will talk about how God calls us to be resilient and empathetic. Come worship together at 9:00 a.m. in the Meetinghouse or online.
The bulletin, large print bulletin and announcement slides are available above. You can watch any of our livestreamed or recorded services on our YouTube channel.
Throughout their second grade school year, Andrew and Lucas learned about power attitudes – flexibility, persistence, optimism, resiliency and empathy. God calls us to have these attributes and to make the world a more compassionate and just place. I’m thankful we get to do this together.
Blessings,
Kate
Our First Church family of faith enjoys worshipping together, and we hope you will join us! Our Sunday worship services are at 9:00 am in the Meetinghouse and livestreamed (and are also available for viewing later).