Dear Friends in Christ,

"So we who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us..." (Romans 12:5-6)

I had a new refrigerator delivered a few months ago. Two men showed up at my door with it. One was in his 50's and the other a teen-ager. It was hard work getting the old one taken apart so it would fit through the back door and bringing the other one in in pieces and assembling it right before my eyes. For one thing, if you're not paying attention while carrying a heavy refrigerator, you might just miss the stairs going right down into my basement. The older man was careful though to position himself on that side throughout. He knew the perils. He knew to watch his step. I noticed as well how carefully he walked the younger man through every step. What one supplied in muscle, the other had in experience and he was teaching him as they went. They were a living demonstration of what it is to be with and for one another, using different gifts.

For the last nine months I have been meeting monthly with a young pastor. I've been called upon to be her mentor. She is bright, articulate, energetic, and faithful. She's doing wonderful things in her congregation and promises to be a wonderful leader in the church. She doesn't need much from me, that's for sure, although occasionally I do bring the long view that time and experience offer. Mostly though, I find I receive more than I give...Even so, our gifts are different and it's a joy to be able to share them.

Yesterday morning I pulled my car into the hospital parking lot. One of our oldest members was just getting into her car. I knocked on her driver's side window to ask how she was. She told me she was just there for a blood pressure check. She went on to wonder about an accident she came upon on her way there---right at the intersection of DeKalb Avenue and Meadow Lane. On that last day of school she worried about the young people who were involved and was concerned it may have been some of ours. So far as I know, they were not connected to Salem. Still, I was struck by her kindness, her concern, and her instinctive compassion for others in this place. She recognized that we are all 'members one of another.'

Your gifts are many and varied. Our strengths ebb and flow depending on where we are in life. It would be wrong to deny them, a waste not to share them. Clearly, God has given them to us all and we are called upon to use them to build up Christ's body.

So I wonder what gifts God has given you that you're called upon to share with others? What skill have you mastered that you could teach? What young person would benefit from your spending time with them? What older person would like nothing more than to have you stop in? What small task could you do for them that they can no longer accomplish?

Summer is a wonderful time to take a step back and think about how we are connected and to consider all that we have to share. Indeed, we are all invited to live even more fully into our identity as members of Christ's Own Body.

Peace to you and many blessings,
Pastor Janet