And what are the colors, and what do they mean? In the broadest and most meaningful sense, our Open and Affirming logo, and my coat, both have the primary colors of the rainbow, as our church welcomes all of God's children into His house, and accepts all of His children's gifts and offerings with equal love. Viewing these colors at a more "down to earth" level, the green could just as well represent our Gardeners whose handiwork we see from the windows by the pews, maybe the blue is for the blue skies outside above our courtyard surrounded by our lovingly cared for buildings, maybe purple is for the passion that we put into serving others through outreach, evangelism and education, and maybe the yellow (gold), is for our choir, and so on. There are so many colors in God's rainbow, and so many of you who give the color of your spirit to your gifts. As I've spent this last year working with many of you, I've slowly started assimilating some of your colors.

During this last year, I've come to know much, much more about our church, and most importantly I've come to know and genuinely appreciate YOU the members of our congregation. I've been fortunate and blessed that so many of you have shared with me your hopes and aspirations for our church; and yes my heart has listened to your fears and doubts as well, as I too have many of the same hopes and fears.

As a member of the Search and Call committee, I was exceptionally mindful to keep these hopes and fears foremost in my mind as the committee embarked upon an at times trying journey. And l was truly blessed to follow this path with six exceptional, like-minded, and devoted members of our congregation.

Now, you may have seen depictions of Joseph's coat as being one of vertical stripes. That's good because as you grow, you can just open up the back seam of the coat and insert another stripe, and as I grow (i.e. gain weight), I'll need a bigger coat!  So too, our church will take on new colors as we reach out into the diverse community around us. The colors won't be the drab mono-chromatics of decades ago. They will be bright colors, pastels, and maybe even colors our eyes have never seen.

I am so VERY THANKFUL for this last year and the coat of many colors that the congregation has gifted me with, and I look forward to growing with you...and adding more colors to my coat as God wills it.

Peace,