Dear Pilgrims,

I write to you from my home study in Owatonna. It seems strange to be writing somewhere other than my church office! I miss the familiarity of working directly with Mary and Patrick and popping into each other’s office as need or want arises. I miss Pilgrims stopping by to say hello.

In 2006 my daughter and I flew to Spain to attend a Buddhist Retreat in Pego. I learned that while we were in Pego Pablo Picasso’s famous painting Guernica would be on display at a museum in Madrid for the first time in more that 20 years. One of Picasso’s best-known works, Guernica is regarded by many art critics as one of the most moving and powerful anti-war paintings in history. Painted in 1937 it was representative of the Spanish Civil War which took place between 1936–1939. The painting has come to symbolize the clash between the ideologies of liberalism, socialism and communism versus conservatism, traditionalism and fascism. Spain at the dawn of the 20th Century was caught in a crisis of identity and purpose.

On January 3, 2020, the officers of our UCC’s national setting called upon all settings of the United Church of Christ to join in a time of prayer and fasting for peace during the season of Epiphany. This call to prayer and fasting came after the killing by the U.S. of Major General Suleimani of Iran, which led to rising tensions in the region and the deployment of additional military personnel to the Middle East. We also watch the unrelenting fires in Australia with horror, overwhelmed by the enormous devastation to people, animal life, and property, and the earthquake in Puerto Rico that has left so much suffering in its wake. We are mindful of so much in our world and in our nation that compels us to pray for the peace of God’s people and Creation.