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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Dear Colleagues,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In these times (in which we are still the people), we all find ourselves in vastly differing personal realities. I am serving two very small congregations here in the middle of Iowa and this past weekend was our Thanksgiving Ingathering. Between the two churches (where attendance ranges from five to ten in one and ten to fifteen in the other) we managed to raise nearly $12,000 for contributions to global missions presented at the In-Gathering. Please don’t start on the inadequacies these contributions (or missions) represent and celebrate with me this large accomplishment of very few.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Believe it or not, all that we have been discussing here on the list is tearing at the fabric of these small communities. I felt compelled to address it this morning in a witness that I titled “The Time Has Come.” I am severely constrained in the language I use. I have tried to convince them in many ways what I mean when I used the word ‘God.’ I tried to address their fear, frustration and anxiety. I closed my talk this morning by reminding them that no matter what happens on Tuesday, on Wednesday morning when we rise God will still be God and we will still be charged with loving God’s world and all that is in it with every cell of our being.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Margaret<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>