moderator

.
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> "If there be anywhere on earth [where] a lover of God is always kept
> safe from falling, I know nothing of it, for it was not shown me. But
> this was shown: that in falling and rising again we are always kept in
> the same precious love."
>
> These words, of Julian of Norwich, are good companions this first Sunday
> - our weekly day of rising - since my surgery. I am home in Toronto and
> look forward to being well enough to travel to Marathon by Wednesday. I
> am sore, physically weak and a bit disturbing looking - at least to me
> and honest children - but do feel that I am "rising" from a very
> difficult week.
>
> The surgery itself was a bit of a miracle of modern medicine and very
> successful. The prognosis continues to be good. The medical folks
> remarked often on the speed at which I am recovering. That I account to
> the miracle of your old-fashioned prayers.
>
> Over the next few weeks I will be recuperating on the shores of
> Superior, and then will be undergoing radiation therapy mid-July until
> early September in Toronto.
>
> The Very Rev. Sang Chul Lee, and his wife, Shin Jah Lee, visited me in
> hospital. We prayed and laughed together like old friends, though we had
> never met. In fact, laughed so hard that Shin Jah covered her mouth and
> asked Pearl if this was harmful to the fresh graft.
>
> Sang Chul knows well the feeling that the Great Mystery sometimes calls
> us to lead in places and ways not easily embraced. He reminded us that
> he was elected Moderator in 1988, the year that General Council agreed
> that sexual orientation was not a barrier to ministry. Much of his term
> was spent calmly receiving the wrath of those angry about the decision.
> A vital gift to us, though likely not how he imagined his time in
> office. So, I continue to ask how God wants to be known through, and how
> I am to lead in, this illness. Will it be simply an inconvenience, or a
> source of vision for our emerging transformation as a church?
>
> Thank you for your prayers for me and for Pearl, Jeremiah, and Naomi,
> and for the hundreds of e-mails and cards. I only regret that I am not
> able to respond to each with the same personal care with which they were
> sent. Trust that I have read and reread many, and that they have been a
> source of great encouragement.
>
> Peace be with you,
> David
>
> P.S. For further updates on this journey through the Valley of Shadows,
> as I've called it, I invite you to visit The United Church of Canada's
> website (www.united-church.ca/communications/news/moderator/070529)
> where you can read entries that I am posting to my WonderCafe blog.
>
> David Giuliano, Moderator
> The United Church of Canada
>