In this week of Thanksgiving, it thought it would be worth sharing this photo from a chalkboard at school (TW).

Barbara Bowyer, inspired by Pastor Travis’s Sunday sermon, writes: November has got to be one of my favorite months of the year. The weather is beautiful, the last days of fall are showing off their vibrant colors, and there’s a noticeable chill in the air. I especially love to walk in Forest Park and kick my feet through the leaves underfoot, making the most wonderful crunching noise. The holidays are on the brink of erupting. My life is filled with many happy memories. The point is: it’s November. AKA Turkey month. AKA the time of year when stores put up all the Christmas decorations (if they hadn’t already done so!). But this year is different. Large gatherings of family and friends are discouraged as COVID continues to ravage our community. Residents of local nursing homes are continuing to feel isolated as visitations are curtailed or stopped. As we enter this season of Advent, it’s easy to be downcast, to think we have lost so much. But we have much for which to be thankful. If...

Nancy Quigley writes: Being read to, even as a grown up, is a lovely experience. I find this to be true especially with poetry, and the Christian Forum’s session on Sunday with Ann Asper Wilson and Ben Sandler was enriching and comforting. The focus was serenity, with a selection of six poems, some serious and thoughtful, and others, amusing. In rereading them later, I was drawn to "The Way It Is" by Robert Stafford. What might the thread be? Is it God, or values, or family loyalty or the way we hold tight our own identity? The Way It Is Robert Stafford There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. But it is hard for others to see. While you hold it you can’t get lost. Tragedies happen; people get hurt or die; and you suffer and get old. Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding. You don’t ever let go of the thread. Poet William Stafford ...

Tim Woodcock writes: While we wait for the election results, a word that has risen to new-found prominence is patience . I am sure that after the fact we could run a search on transcripts of all the news reporting and commentary from the last few days and see a massive spike in the use of the word. That led me to think, what exactly does the good book, have to say about patience? There’s no shortage of Bible verses to choose from. Using Bible Gateway  to find translations that favored patience over near-synonym “perseverance” and “steadfastness,” here’s what caught my eye.   Romans 5:3-4 says, ”We also boast in tribulation, knowing that tribulation produces patience,  patience produces character, and character produces hope.” (Modern English Version). “We boast in tribulation” is translated as “we glory in suffering” in the NIV.   2 Peter 1:5-9 takes a similar idea of how one virtue builds upon another. “For this reason make every effort to add virtue to y...