 Dear Church Family,
Last Sunday proved that winter is here to stay for awhile! When I drove into the church parking lot, all I saw was a glistening sheet of ice covering the entire blacktop, I knew it was going to be challenging for anyone to walk into the church. Please know that your safety is the highest priority and on Sunday’s when the weather is inclement, it might be best for you to stay home. Now that we livestream all our services, you can worship right at home,
I just read this poem by Ted Loder in Guerrillas of Grace titled “Grant Me Your Sense of Timing.” I thought I would share it with you as we move with confidence into this new year.
“O God of all seasons and senses,
grant me your sense of timing
to submit gracefully
and rejoice quietly
in the turn of the seasons.
In this season of short days and long nights,
of grey and white and cold.
teach me the lessons of waiting:
of the snow joining the mystery
of the hunkered-down seeds
growing in their sleep
watched over by gnarled-limbed, grandparent trees
resting from autumn’s staggering energy;
of the silent, whirling earth
circling to race back home to the sun.
O God, grant me your sense of timing.
In this season of short days and long nights,
of grey and white and cold,
teach me the lessons of endings;
children growing,
friends leaving,
jobs concluding
stages finishing,
grieving over,
grudges over,
blaming over,
excuses over.
O God, grant me your sense of timing.
In this season of short days and long nights,
of grey and white and cold,
teach me the lessons of beginnings;
that such waitings and endings
may be a starting place,
a planting of seeds
which bring to birth
what is ready to be born—
something right and just and different,
a new song,
a deeper relationship,
a fuller love—
in the fullness of your time.
O God, grant me your sense of timing.”
New Year Blessings,
Pastor Barbara |
