As this year moves into its final month, we face a holiday season unlike any we have ever known.  We had a warm-up with Thanksgiving, setting aside family gatherings, or limiting them, or risking them with a combination of testing and quarantining and whatever other accommodations you figured out. These shifts and changes in how … Continue reading Jonalu’s Journal – Dec 2020

Only a few more days until the election is over! Except, probably, not really.  Our nation is so deeply divided that it’s a good bet that there will be recounts and court appeals and who knows what else.  Remarkably, the idea of a peaceful transition of power has been rejected by one side.  We may … Continue reading Jonalu’s Journal – Nov 2020

German religious philosopher, Martin Buber, reminds us:  “Humans are a promise-making, promise-keeping, promise-breaking, promise-renewing people.”  We can look at ancient promises like the rainbow in the sky, which according to the story of Noah was God’s promise not to flood the world again.  We can recall contemporary promises like the “I do” in a wedding … Continue reading Jonalu’s Journal – Oct 2020

Did you have a chance for renewal this summer? I did.  My partner Jane and I took a camping vacation and though some of my behavior may have been riskier than what I had gotten used to, I kept my mask on when around others and stayed outdoors almost always.  I spent a lot of … Continue reading Jonalu’s Journal – Sept 2020

For some years now, the warnings about fascism have increased.  Now, we witness federal troops taking protesters from the streets of Portland, Oregon, and expanding their presence to other cities.  Who knows what will happen between the time I write this column and you read it? This series of events may have been impossible without … Continue reading Jonalu’s Journal – August 2020

Amidst the intensity of national and world events, I don’t always know how to respond, or even what is going on. The reactions to the murder of George Floyd and the on-going violence against Black lives have intensified … In the midst of a pandemic and economic crisis.  Our world today is a sad, scary, … Continue reading Jonalu’s Journal – July 2020

I wish a lot more people would embrace not knowing.  I say that both to those who embrace the dominant narrative, as well as to those who hew to dissenting ones.  What information might we be blocking out, in order to maintain the integrity of our viewpoints?  Let’s be humble in our beliefs: it is … Continue reading Jonalu’s Journal – June 2020

We know that the world we return to from the domain of coronavirus isolation will not be the same as the world we left.  We were already feeling on the cusp of something new–too soon to know whether new would be good or bad.  With climate change, political stalemate and dysfunction, increased nationalism around the … Continue reading Jonalu’s Journal – May 2020

  Last year, I commented early in my report, “What a difference a year makes!” This year, I say it in a whole new way. We started the year with threats of serious flooding, exacerbated no doubt by climate change. Meanwhile, the national political climate feels poisonous. Then, coronavirus and its side-effects have multiplied the … Continue reading Developmental Minister 2020 Report

Dear Friends,   In these days of isolation, some people may be craving interaction and contact.  Others may be simply afraid for their health.  Our Caring Team has been reaching out and contacting some of you, but the needs may be greater than that.  I’m writing to you about two opportunities for regular connection. First, … Continue reading Caring Letter