Dear saints,
At a staff meeting this week, Louisa Merchant, our Director of Refugee Ministries, let the rest of the staff know that she currently has a record number of volunteers engaged in ministry among the communities in Clarkston. So much about that struck me as remarkable: that we are in the middle of a pandemic that elsewhere is keeping people away from engaging with others not drawing them in; that so many in the refugee communities around us are in great need of love and support; and that this flood of volunteers is All Saints’ through and through. As much as we love to learn, and think, and share a strong opinion with one another now and again, we are a church that leads from the heart. We have spent three decades in Clarkston because our hearts have been moved to act. The same heart-led story can be told about so much of what we do. Even the beauty of our church building is a beauty of warmth and closeness. Wood, vibrant stained-glass color, and years of laughter, joy and life together packed into that crowded sanctuary on West Peachtree and North Avenue. This is a place and a people where your heart can be warmed and spirited to action too. What more do we need to be the church God calls us to be.
Thanks be to God for the gift of one another.
Peace,
Simon+
