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A Letter from the Editor

An education professor I know teaches that humans are set apart from the rest of creation because we search for meaning---we are meaning makers. This trait emerges when we are young. How many of us have been annoyed by a child who persistently asks why? How many of us continue to ask that question quietly to ourselves most days? How many days does the question go unanswered?

One such day last September I was vacationing with close friends and my husband at the beach. The North Carolina morning was gorgeous. As we were getting ready to go out and enjoy the day, my sister phoned to tell us we should turn on the news. From this pristine ocean-view home, we watched speechless as the World Trade Center was struck by two planes and then collapsed. Like so many others, we spent much of that day wondering what had happened and why.

Until that morning, many of us had watched tragic world events from a distance---from across oceans. We had been affected only marginally, if at all. Suddenly this nation, this people, were the focus of a tragic world event. A year has passed. In the ongoing aftermath, altered, many grope for meaning from a different perspective---perhaps a perspective more in tune with the world community. Many emerge from their search empty handed.

World events and events more personal often render us speechless, searching, questioning. We quest for meaning and meaning alludes us. Some despair, but the majority struggle forward because the human ability to hope undergirds and propels the desire to make meaning. Poet Emily Dickinson wrote that "hope is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul--- / And sings the tune without the words--- / And never stops at all."* And hope prepares the way for faith, which scripture tells us is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1).

Unique in God's creation, we possess not only the capacity to make meaning but the unction, the desire, the willingness to search for it. We are often empty handed, but we are not inclined to be empty hearted, for scripture assures us that emptiness is not always what it seems.
---Susan Jackson Dowd, PW Communications Coordinator

From Our Readers

Wow! What more can be said? I just received my July/August issue of Horizons---you guys just keep getting better and better with each issue. I usually go straight to Forbearance, but today I just started at the front. Every article had me thinking and questioning. It was great! Thank you for another superb issue. I never thought you could surpass your July/August 2001 issue. Keep up the great job and I'll see you in Louisville in 12 months!
---Shelagh Wirth, West Columbia, South Carolina

Just wanted to let Horizons know how much I have enjoyed this year's study on Esther. It is one of the best in the last several years. That is really saying something because for the past four years the studies have been excellent. Keep up the good work.
---Jan Albert, Greenwood, Indiana (via email)

At our May planning meeting, the coordinating team of Presbyterian Women of the Bertha E. R. Strosacker Memorial Presbyterian Church, Midland, Michigan heartily praised the May/June 2002 issue of Horizons! We want to thank you for an exemplary collection of articles, most especially "What Does It Mean to Be Presbyterian?" We recommend this issue to all our members.
---Marilyn Findlay, Midland, Michigan

Lois McAnlis of New Galilee, Pennsylvania stitched the PW logo using the pattern published in Horizons (January/February 2001) and won first place at the Pennsylvania State Grange needlework contest in October 2001. The Grange is a volunteer organization, comprised of families and individuals who share a common interest in community involvement, agricultural and rural issues. Congratulations, Lois!

Just a few lines to let you know that your Bible studies are wonderful. I've been using the PW Bible studies for 21 years and all have been good, but my favorite is the 2002­-03 Bible study, No Longer Strangers: A Study of the Letter to the Ephesians. I love the way the lessons are laid out [making] Ephesians a lot easier for me to understand. Keep up the good work!
---Peggy Ann Ker, Port Charlotte, Florida

I wish to thank Anne M. Jones for her article "Sacred Space" in the March/April '02 issue. I have read and re-read the poem "A Widow." I lost my husband several months ago and every word of that poem touches me.
---Celia Ann Replogle, Carson City, Nevada

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