It is clear that spring is winding down and summer is drawing close - and how do I know that?  Part of it is that feeling these days that even my bones are weary!  It is time for some sabbath time to re-group and to breathe.  In the month of June there are far less committee meetings, but the pace has not really lessened.  There are visits and worship services and more visits and more planning.  And sometimes it feels like I am spending way too much time sitting alone in my office with my computer.  When I was reading a commentary today to prepare for Sunday worship there was a paragraph that basically leapt off the page at me.  The reading is about Elijah who feels persecuted in his own land, so flees as far as he can go into the wilderness.  He falls down by a tree and cries out to God that there is no more he can do - he is exhausted, and he prays that God will take away his life.  God's response to Elijah's death-wish is to send angels who bring food and drink and encouragement so that Elijah can carry on with the journey.  And so this commentator asks:  "Where are the angels at work in your congregation, offering the sustenance that you need to carry on?  Perhaps this story gets at our temptation to think that we are alone...or that we alone count in the crucial work."  There are plenty of angels in the community around us.  In the last 2 days I have had the privelege of visiting two of our elders - women who no longer attend church, but whose faithful witness is a huge part of what enables us to still have a worshipping community here today.  We visited, and we prayed, and I left reminded of the fragility of life and the power of prayer.  And this morning I am off to visit a family who just started coming here this year and who are looking to have their daughter baptised here later this summer.  They speak of the welcome and the wonder of this congregation - a circle of faith that they feel very drawn to.  It is those "holy" conversations that keep me going - that remind me of what a gift and honor it is to do this work on behalf of the wider community of Sunset United Church.  Thank God for all those hands that have reached out to remind me of the gift of community and that have called me to the heart of what it is that we are called to do.  And so the journey carries on - one step, one story, one cup of coffee at a time!  We are far from alone - thanks be to God.

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