Dear Friends, It’s time to check in and do a little catching up, or I should say a lot of catching up. I won’t try to cover all the bases, but I want to let you know that things are going fine for me, now. Whew! The first year of retirement was difficult, to say […]

Dear Friends, This is either my last letter as your senior minister, or my first as your Minister Emeritus.

Dear Friends, The days have dwindled down ‘to a precious few.’ Oh, if only I could find the words to express what I’m feeling, to put into sentences what I’m thinking, to tell you how much you have meant to me, what gifts you have given, how fortunate and grateful I feel.

Dear Friends, Carlyn graduated from Cleveland Institute of Music on Saturday – it was the most moving commencement ceremony I’ve ever experienced, and with two children, two grandchildren and a few of my own, there have been lots of them.

Dear Friends, An invitation to the June 15 retirement gathering was mailed to Lory and me with a note that said, “You can’t decline.” We smiled, then Lory held it up the way a prosecutor holds up evidence to the jury and said, “This makes it real.”

Dear Friends; Lory and I drove to Cleveland this past weekend for Carlyn’s senior recital at Cleveland Institute of Music. She played Beethoven’s Sonata No. 5, Schumann’s Fantasiestucke and Prokofiev’s Sonata in C Major – and she was wonderful…and we were appropriately proud, and very relieved!

Dear Friends, Losses come in a variety of ways – and sizes. For example, a few weeks ago on my way home at suppertime I stopped at Stop and Shop, like the name suggests, and got dinner. It wasn’t until the next morning, while in my office, that I noticed my wallet was not in […]

Dear Friends, In addition to several new members this winter, our church was chosen by a pair of red-tailed hawks. They were spotted mating in a tree just outside my office. Last week when Judy Constable’s family was gathered in the memorial garden to inter her ashes, one of the hawks sat in a tree […]

Dear Friends, I’ve started to re-arrange things, cleaning out the office by bringing stuff home — family photos and tchotchke –you know, those little trinkets you accumulate, given as gifts that hold memory, so they have sentimental value, but wouldn’t be shown on the Antique Road Show or even be sold at a tag sale.

Dear Friends, The salutation for my Soundings letter never felt more appropriate, following on the Valentine-bombardment. I’m very touched. I spent a couple of hours opening and savoring them on my day off last Wednesday, thinking:  ‘Love is the spirit of this church.’