Dear friends,

My first Wednesday night without you tendered me to realize how much I value the steady rhythm of our life together. Our Wednesday nights energize me and propel me to think more deeply about life and faith and community and God and music and relationships and and and so many things! I missed being a part of First-Plymouth so much on Wednesday night. Even though I knew you were in the most capable hands of my colleague and friend, Jeremy, I wished I could have been there to see and hear each of you, to pray with you, and to be in my comfortable seat in our circle. What a blessing to work with people that you miss when you are away! What a joy to have a job that you miss while you're working on the road! What a gift to have colleagues like Becky and Jeremy that make so much possible for me and for us all!

As many of you know, I am back in Michigan spending a wonderful week with my beloved chamber choir-- singers AND people with whom I've grown so much these last seven seasons. Almost everything I have come to know about choral music we have learned together. Almost everything I believe about singing, we have experienced together. Almost everything I understand about shared leadership and group process, they have taught me. We trust one another, respect one another, and celebrate one another. We humble ourselves for the good of the whole. We share everything in the music we make together. What I have realized coming back this week is how grateful I am for these people who have trusted me, loved me, and graced me by sharing their amazing talents and their valuable time making music with me. They could all sing with any group they would want to, or they could all go sing solos just about anywhere. But they choose to listen to one another, to allow their voices to serve any style of music we encounter, and to support and encourage one another in every possible way. What a metaphor for the world! If only more people in our world would work together rather than just look out for their own well being, just think what the kingdom could be!

While I am grateful for being here this week, and enjoying such a challenging and rewarding connection with these singers and these dear, dear people, I can't wait to get back to Lincoln. We are beginning to discover so much about who we are and what we might be able to become, with God's help and with one another's gifts and talents. We have the chance to experience so much each and every week and for years and years and years. Let's continue to trust one another, to bring our best for the good of "us" rather than "me," and to fully treasure the opportunity we have to share in every moment we are together. I wish you could all experience the magic of this week in Birmingham, Michigan-- it's like a week of Wednesdays! But there is so much magic in Lincoln, too.. . we just have to look and listen carefully to discover what's been waiting to reveal itself all along!

Have a wonderful weekend. I can't wait to be home with you all on Wednesday!
TT