Dear Friends:

Selma. The Holocaust. Vietnam. September 11. Workers for justice. Saints. Angels. All of us.  So much to lament. So much to give thanks for and so much to ponder during these forty days of Lent.

I have always loved the lyrics (printed below) to the song Standing on the Shoulders. When I found them again this morning, I realized that they are the words that fit how Lent has been for me and how the work towards Easter is shaping up.

This morning, I gathered with Lovey Shaughnessy, our longest term member, as the 7 a.m. Eucharist group bid her a safe journey to our new home.  

Lovey has lived through all of the moments listed at the top of this article. She has walked those moments and her faith journey for 90+ years in the walls of this space and out in the world. We are standing on her shoulders and I am so very thankful for her life.

See these two young girls? They have their own shoulders and steps that they are giving to this place. On their own they started collecting clothing for the homeless. They cannot imagine a world where there are people sleeping on the streets and freezing.

Lovey and these girls all have shoulders that have led and that are leading. May we each be fortunate to leave our own "shoulder marks" on the world. What a resurrected world we can create and leave for others.

STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS
by Joyce Johnson Rouse

I am standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before me
I am stronger for their courage, I am wiser for their words
I am lifted by their longing for a fair and brighter future
I am grateful for their vision, for their toiling on this Earth
We are standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before us
They are saints and they are humans, they are angels, they are friends
We can see beyond the struggles and the troubles and the challenge
When we know that by our efforts things will be better in the end
They lift me higher than I could ever fly
Carrying my burdens away
I imagine our world if they hadn't tried
We wouldn't be here celebrating today