October 4, 2026

My Friends,

For the second year in a row, All Are One Catholic church and First Congregational church of Winona joined our services! We have liturgy in the same building – they in the “big” church space and us in the smaller chapel, and then we always have fellowship together. Our two parishes are very similar in our commitments to living out the call of our brother Jesus and trying to be his “body” in our world, so it is most appropriate that we would pray together too on occasion. As I told those gathered today from both groups in my part of the shared homily – “I think Jesus would approve as he prayed just before he died, “that we all would be one.” Being that yesterday was the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, and this year is the 800th anniversary of Francis’ death in 1226, we thought it would be good to celebrate his work in our world. Because Francis had such a profound love for all created life – people, animals, plants, mountains, seas – all of it, we had a blessing of folks’ pets, (just bringing in their pictures), and the children were encouraged to bring their favorite “stuffies.”

As you will see in the following offerings from Pastor Danielle and myself, she chose to write about Francis and the courage he showed in reaching out to the leper, a defining moment in his life…and the encouragement that we would show that same love and courage in our lives as we work to protect our world to the best of our abilities, and I spoke to our chosen reading from the Book of Genesis extolling the wonders of creation and the fact that after all the creating was done, God said that everything was, “very good!”

We all found this experience very meaningful! Pastor Kathy

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Pastor Danielle

   One of the defining moments of Francis’ life was when he embraced a man afflicted with leprosy. To do so was not only a social taboo, but it was an actual physical risk to Francis. But, he saw the world and all of its inhabitants the way God does – with unyielding love. So, what had once inspired fear and disgust became an opportunity for grace. In that encounter, Francis discovered that God’s love often meets us where we least expect it. Rather than turning away from suffering, he moved toward it, finding Christ in those whom society rejected.

   Yet Francis’ vision extended beyond humanity. He understood all creation as a gift flowing from the goodness of God. The sun, moon, water, fire, animals, and even death itself became companions in praise. In his famous Canticle of the Creatures, he offers a spirituality that sees the entire world as a living testimony to God’s presence.

   Francis did not worship creation; he recognized creation as a window into the Creator.  Every bird’s song, every flowing stream, and every breath of wind became an invitation to gratitude and wonder.

   Francis challenges us to examine the ways we separate ourselves from others and from the created world. Francis reminds us that every human being bears the image of God and every part of creation reveals something of God’s beauty.

   In a world struggling with loneliness, conflict, and environmental degradation, the witness of St. Francis feels especially urgent. He teaches us that the path to peace begins with recognizing our interconnectedness. When we see others not as strangers but as siblings, as kin, and when we view the earth not as a possession but as a sacred gift, we begin to live differently.

   The legacy of St. Francis is ultimately a way of seeing. It is the practice of looking at the world with eyes of love and finding traces of the Divine everywhere. When we adopt that vision, ordinary encounters become holy moments, creation becomes a hymn of praise, and every person becomes a reflection of God’s boundless grace.

Pastor Kathy

   As Pastor Danielle and I prepared for this special celebration honoring Francis of Assisi, a saint who exemplified probably more than any other, a profound love for all of God’s created life, we wanted to use a Scripture reading that spoke to the awesomeness of this God-given gift of all created life, and the Genesis reading used today, seemed to do that. 

   As I always say to my community, we “need to go deeper” with any reading.  In the case of the Genesis selection, we can’t just stop with “hearing” about all the created life that our God gave us, including our own precious lives, but to realize that all this goodness has been “entrusted” to us, not just to use, but to be “responsible for.”  Being “responsible for” simply means to treat each person, and our earth, with all its beauty, with love, to the best of our abilities.

   The reading ended with God, “looking, [and we can assume, with love], at all of this creation” [and] “proclaiming that it was [not only] good,” [but] “very good.”

   I believe it was with this sense of all of creation being “very good” that our brother, Jesus carried into his earthly life, to show us the way – a sense that Francis carried throughout his new and renewed life – loving that which appeared both good and not so good.  That my friends is our challenge and the responsibility that God entrusted to each of us who choose to say, “yes” to following him!  To have that sense too, that our beautiful earth, complete with plants, animals, great mountains, seas, and people of many different cultures, faces and races were “conceived” in love by our loving God, and who entrusted us to see a piece of God’s face in each one to the best of our abilities. 

   We, as always, look to Jesus to find the way when it is hard, as Francis no doubt did, before he was able to embrace the leper, as Pastor Danielle spoke of.  We will each need the memory and the modeling of both Jesus and Francis as we encounter the “lepers” in our own lives – those that we may find it hard to be with, to love.  In conclusion then my friends, let us, going forward, turn to each other for encouragement in being our best selves, especially in these most trying times that we live in – sometimes I will carry the hope of better times for you, sometimes you will for me, and together, we will model the right behavior – in memory of Francis, in memory of Jesus. Amen? Amen!