Leslie’s Logos – March 2022

Around the start of each congregational year in the late summer, I often take a few minutes to think about what I will use as my signature for that year. “Sincerely” seems too obvious so for many years, I used “In faith” though I realized that was probably a little scary for new folks stepping their toes into or back into this world of faith for the first time in a while. When COVID-19 descended in earnest in 2020, I moved to “take good care” which was truly my wish for everyone. I wanted them to take care of themselves AND also to take care of the others around them. Both were so important and continue to be.

Still, now it is 2022 and I like most of you are willing to continue to hold the realities of this continued threat of COVID while moving beyond to center other realities in our lives. What I have realized as I pondered what my wish was is that it is tangled up in my wishes that people have the resolve and the persistence they need to get through these times. Those of you who have received an email from me in this new year may have seen me sign it with an “In faith and resolve” or “In faithful resolve” – both continue to feel a little stilted and inaccurate.

Last week I looked down at my wrist where I was wearing a bracelet I bought at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  I appreciate this place and like to spend my dollars there and last summer on my infamous van journey across the nation, I bought a bracelet with turquoise and coral and a small silver plate with “perseverance” in somewhat crooked letters.  That seemed good too—perseverance often is a hard and not completely beautiful journey.

So for the next little while, if you get correspondence from me, it most likely will be signed “In faithful perseverance.” To me, that captures what we need to do—move forward, no attachment to the outcomes and yet engaged in the journey and to do so from the grounding values of our hearts. 

In faithful perseverance,
Leslie