I regularly get reminders of what I love about Redeemer, but yesterday seemed full of them. When I woke and saw the beautiful blue sky I hopped out of bed and high tailed it to work. I’ve been wanting a chance to get my drone up in the air to take photos of the workers on the roof, and since there has been a lot of rain recently, this hasn’t been possible. I also wanted to do it before there were too many people around, as drone flying is inadvisable under those conditions. So the early start meant I got to practice my Spanish with the roofers and chat with some of the earliest soup kitchen guests, who were all quite curious about what I was doing. After getting the foreman’s permission, I was up in the air, checking out the views!

Another highlight of my day was lunch with Terry Connolly and Chris Hill, as we talked about some of the new initiatives of the soup kitchen and ways that Chris might have an impact there. It was a delightful conversation and another reminder of how the CSK is an extension of our altar.

My day ended at an interfaith Iftar– the feast that breaks the daily fast for Muslims during Ramadan. Peg and I had been invited and it was a pleasure to sit with a rabbi, several Muslims, a Quaker and a woman from Greenfaith. We were all filmed by Voice of America (I haven’t seen it to know if they used my part or if I made any sense). I found myself giving thanks that I serve in a congregation that would be invited (in fact I’ve had THREE Iftar invitations this year, but this was the only one I could attend) to participate in this sacred meal.

Interfaith Iftar

In between all of these things I got to enjoy time with our fabulous staff, have conversations with some of you, and slip into the church to spend a little quiet time being thankful for each of you and our collective ministry. It was a glorious day, and I look forward to many more when I return from sabbatical.

–Cynthia Black