A pod of two or three students gather in the slush and snow.
Their breath entwines with cigarette smoke and chilled air and creates a man-made storm cloud. They scowl at the morning cold.
They are waiting, for the friend in soggy sneakers to join them. Then the friend who forgot their gloves, and eventually the friend who always has some extra smokes to share.
One by one, the pod of adolescents grows bigger, smokier, and louder. Laughter bounces off the huddle as they shake head to toe with the punch line of the newest joke.
The group's grumpiness seems to melt away, with the addition of each friend trudging through snow drifts to join the almost mob.
As snowflakes pile up on their eyelashes and scatter on the ground around them, they are content because they are all together in one place. They make a circle, complete now because not even one teen with snow soaked pants is missing.
They are the many, that make themselves one huddle against the cold.
They are one.
T.L. Eastman 09'
Changing seasons and Change of Pastoral Call… For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven Ecclesiastes 3:1 It is with great joy that I share exciting news of a vocational change. On Sunday, September 15th, the members of First Presbyterian Church of Warren, Pennsylvania called me to become their called and installed minister through a formula of agreement between the PCUSA (Presbyterian Church of the USA) and ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). My first Sunday leading worship with Warren First Presbyterian will be October 27th, 2024 at 10 am. Details for the formal installation service will be shared at a later date. Gratitude to First Presbyterian Church of Jamestown, NY, for the last 18 months of transitional ministry together and for your kind farewell last week. Gratitude to my family, friends, colleagues and church members from the Presbytery of Western New York and the Upstate New York Synod (ELCA) for your partnership, s...
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