I find myself full of gratitude today. I previewed the first Church School lesson for our new School of Love. It is awesome! Kelly Heuton has learned a whole new way to offer Jesus to the children of the congregation. I listened to the plans to launch affirmation classes this evening. Anne Williams has morphed everything to keep kids safe while she does what we always have – raise up disciples.  I have heard praise for the music that David Fandrich made part of last weeks worship. At our prayer service this evening on Zoom, people were thankful to come together on Zoom to do what we do as people of God – “persevere in prayer.” (Romans 12) I wrote a letter to the congregation to thank everyone for the financial support we have received that has kept us going through the pandemic. Our finances are solid. ​

The Ark of the Covenant is something that has captured the imagination of generations of people in the Judeo-Christian faiths. I chose to research this for a class last year, and I can tell you with confidence that no one really knows where it is today. There is no evidence of a fedora-wearing archaeologist discovering it in Egypt during the 1930s, and it is not stored in a government warehouse in Area 51. Well, probably not. We think of it as a “lost treasure,” but the real treasure is what we have instead today!