Alka's Angle

I trust everyone had a lovely time with family- birth or chosen, during the week of Thanksgiving- eating, celebrating, playing games and sharing all the reasons we are grateful for this year. If you are the planning kind, then you perhaps are all done with your Christmas shopping, otherwise most people perhaps have started their shopping with the start of sales- Black Friday, Cyber Monday and then the ongoing specials of the Holiday season, so I will also talk about my shopping list for you and hope that many of you will pick at least one thing from my list to spend money on.

Beloveds, I trust you had a great time with friends and family- birth or chosen, and I want to take the opportunity to say that I am grateful for each one of you and thank God for blessing the world by your presence. I also pray that you did find some time to rest and relax in the midst of all these gatherings and engagements.

Beloveds, as we enter the last days of November, and we begin to experience the cold weather, our hearts somehow start to feel the gratitude for life and all it holds for us. And in this season of gratitude our hearts are more prepared to share our blessings in various ways. I am grateful to all who took the time to fill out the pledge cards this past Sunday-

Beloveds, it has been a week since elections, and many still are unable to process their feelings and emotions, so I invite each one of us to take the time we each need- to feel the rage, despair, disappointment, reality, pray, if it will be helpful, and when you feel ready, to find allies to continue the work for justice.  

Today, I share with you this message shared by Rev. Dr. Giovanni Arroyo, the General Secretary of General Commission on Religion and Race (GCORR) of our denomination;

Beloveds, I am sharing with you a message from the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Church and Society that I cannot share any better than this-