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I am grateful.

I am grateful for a community that will come together during need. One that will rally do the hard work to create change. One that will have the sensitive conversations that create understanding.

I am grateful for Winchester. Are you?

The Bible says in Galatians 6:2, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” And the only way to do that is to come together.

On Saturday, the community came together for a time of prayer. There was much prayer going up individually to God as well as collectively around by-standers who God placed there who needed prayer.

I am grateful to Mayor Ed Burtner and the ministers from congregations throughout the community who prayed for the group and brought words such as “we are together as a whole,” “protect our town from the ugly in the world” and “we do have an enemy but that enemy is not each other, it’s Satan.”

These are words that are to help us remember that we are in this together and together we are stronger.

My question to you and to myself is, “What now?” What are we going to do with our tomorrow and the next day and the next?

How are we going to put our prayer into action? And what will that look like? How are we going continue to live out the life together remembering what it says in 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many?”

I pray that we will live out this “in it together” mentality and encourage each other to do what God has called us to do individually and collectively, accessing each others’ gifts and putting them into action to build a stronger community.

Together we can be the change that is needed to become a more inclusive people.

Living by 1 Corinthians 13:8-13, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”.

Be intentional with our walk each day.

Seek out those around us in need.

Seek out those around us who challenge our thinking.

Seek out those around us with whom we can join forces.

Seek out those around us who we can encourage and make stronger.

As Kenneth Boa says, “We must trust God for what He is calling us to become.”

It’s time to get moving.

Rhonda Gould,

Winchester