North Guilford Congregational Church
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Messages from the Pastor

All Aboard

5/5/2022

 
Pastor Paul
In the Friday before I started here at NGCC, I rode Shoreline East into New Haven, transferred to CT Rail north to Springfield, MA.  After a 50-minute layover I returned by the same route.  I was doing something I love.
 
My mother dubbed me a “train nut” at the age of 4 when I got my first train setup and started a life-long love for anything on rails!  Some people get it – others don’t.  The idea of just buying a ticket to ride a train for the sole purpose of riding the train seems foolish.  On longer trips (like taking Amtrak to Boston) I will plan for a longer layover and have lunch at a well scouted vegan eatery.  But Friday it was a ride for the ride’s sake.
 
A major part of my affection is the ability to look out the window and watch the scenery, the landscapes, the buildings, junkyards, beaches, shopping malls, downtowns and farms, in fact, all the things I can’t see when I am driving or flying.  The sounds of the horn, bells, the unique soundtrack of steel wheels on steel rails, the squeak of bouncing of the cars or that of cars rubbing one against another, conductors calling for tickets and the announcement of station stops.  Immersed in the entire experience and atmosphere I can fully relax.  Others are in charge and responsible for the safe conduct of the train and its precious cargo, me (and a lot of others).  It is a happy place for me.  It is something in my life that I like to say, “makes my heart sing!”
 
Everything about railroads is a happy place for me and makes my heart sing.  I carve out time just to ride the rails.  I am rewarded mentally and spiritually for my effort.  I am fed.  Getting your heart to sing is a self-care priority and a way of nurturing the divine spark God implanted in me – in each of us. 
 
What has God planted in you that causes your heart to sing with awe, excitement, or relaxation, letting go and the sheer joy of going along for the ride?


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North Guilford Congregational Church   ~~~~~   159 Ledge Hill Road, Guilford, Connecticut 06437
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