Hello my friends,
As summer unfolds and many of us travel for rest, renewal, and connection, know that your church family holds you in prayer. I hope the coming months bring you moments of joy, discovery, rest, and peace.
Even as you journey, I invite you to remain connected and support the ministries of our church. Our summer book club will meet both on Zoom and in person—I hope to see many of you engaged and learning together. Vacation Bible School will soon fill our halls with life and laughter as we share the good news with children through song, story, and fun. Family Camp in July will offer us time for renewal and recreation on the banks of the Frio River. And throughout the summer, we’ll continue sharing food and resources with our neighbors in need.
The ministry of Leander UMC continues year-round through your faithful engagement and support. Your service, your gifts, your witness, and your prayers sustain our mission in every season. If you’d like to set up a recurring gift during the summer months, visit leanderumc.org/give.
Whether you're near or far, your presence matters.
As you enter this season, I want to share a blessing from one of my favorite writers, John O’Donohue. This is his blessing, “For the Traveler.”
Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world you were never in.
New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you
Will startle a little at your entry.
Old places that know you well
Will pretend nothing
Changed since your last visit.
When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way,
More attentive now
To the self you bring along,
Your more subtle eye watching
You abroad; and how what meets you
Touches that part of the heart
That lies low at home:
How you unexpectedly attune
To the timbre in some voice,
Opening in conversation
You want to take in
To where your longing
Has pressed hard enough
Inward, on some unsaid dark,
To create a crystal of insight
You could not have known
You needed
To illuminate
Your way.
When you travel,
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.
A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth,
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life,
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.
May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.
May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,
And live your time away to its fullest;
Return home more enriched, and free
To balance the gift of days which call you.
Grace and Peace, friends,
Pastor Ryan
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Leander United Methodist Church