09/5-6/2020 Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 6, 2020
Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ at Hope Lutheran Church,
A dear lady from a former congregation I served posted this beautiful poem from Kathleen O’Meara. It was written in 1869-but it is so relevant for us today!!! It is entitled “And the People Stayed Home”. And the people stayed home. And read books and listened, and rested and exercised, and made art and played games, and learned new ways of being and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently. And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless and heartless ways the earth began to heal. And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed. I am guessing that many of us share this same hope for us and our world-that someday we will find a new normal where we can more easily gather together to mourn and to celebrate, to make bold and faithful choices, dreaming the vision of God into being, and finding that both the earth and each of us are better for it-healed, renewed, and refreshed after this incredibly long pause button that we have endured in this society. While God didn’t cause this pandemic in any way, shape, or form because our God loves us, God DOES hope that as the disciples of Jesus we will work diligently during this time to continue to do God’s work with our hands in Jesus’ name, never neglecting our Baptismal call to be Jesus to others. In the midst of the changes within which we are living we can see God’s presence, God’s support, God’s forgiveness, God’s beauty, and God’s love in so many wonderful ways. Keep your eyes open for the gifts in the midst of the chaos-even if we are “the people who stayed home”, God’s gifts and God’s presence are there if you only allow yourself to see them! I am praying for each of you with love. Pr. Jen+
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