Last Sunday was a good day at Peachtree Road UMC as we celebrated All Saints Sunday. We called the names of 29 members of our church who have preceded us into death, lighted candles in their memory, and gathered at the Lord’s Table to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Hearing the Great Organ as we sang “For All the Saints” and Tom Walker playing “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes was just what I needed last week. It was a very good day!

I really am looking forward to Sunday as we begin a new series of messages here at Peachtree Road UMC entitled “We Are Grateful.” This series is designed to instill in us a spirit of gratitude…We begin this Sunday with our Celebration of All Saints Sunday. We will begin our service by singing one of my favorite hymns: “For All the Saints.”

As you read these words, I am with a large group on a “Journeys of Paul Tour” in Turkey and Greece. We are retracing the footsteps of the Apostle Paul and are visiting the cities that Paul visited on his second and third missionary journeys and to whom he wrote many of his New Testament letters. We have joined with a larger group of United Methodists from around the country from Brentwood UMC in Nashville, Trinity UMC in Birmingham, and Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City. I’ll share a little more about this journey at the close of this note. We will return on Monday.

Like you, I have been following the events in Israel and Gaza with keen interest. The images shown on television have been heartbreaking. We have seen the face of evil in the terrorist attacks by Hamas in Israel. We have heard the cries of innocent men, women, and children who are suffering the ravages of war. And, in the ancient words of the psalmist, we have wondered, “How long, O Lord?” I encourage you to remember your faith: