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Dear friends:
Wendell Berry, the Kentucky farmer and poet, took a walk every Sunday morning, and then went home to write a poem. When his mother died he wrote a poem which I think captures the good news of the scripture passage we’ll consider this weekend. Jesus teaches that when we know life is more than food and clothing and let go of our striving/worrying/obsessing, God gives us everything we need. Wendell Berry wrote:
"You see," my mother said, and laughed,
knowing I knew the passage
she was remembering, "finally you lose
everything." She had lost
parents, husband, and friends, youth,
health, most comforts, many hopes.
Deaf, asleep in her chair, awakened
by a hand’s touch, she would look up
and smile in welcome as quiet
as if she had seen us coming.
She watched, curious and affectionate,
the sparrows, titmice, and chickadees
she fed at her kitchen window –
where did they come from, where
did they go? No matter.
They came and went as freely as
in the time of her old age
her children came and went,
uncaptured, but fed.
And I, walking in the first spring
of her absence, know again
her inextinguishable delight:
the wild bluebells, the yellow
celandine, violets purple
and white, twinleaf, bloodroot,
larkspur, the rue anemone
light, light under the big trees,
and overhead the redbud blooming,
the redbird singing,
the oak leaves like flowers still
unfolding, and the blue sky.
“A Timbered Choir”
The Sabbath Poems
1979 –1997
1997– IV
It’s profoundly good news, that God knows our every need and meets us where we are, news that invites us to a life of joy and deep happiness. We’ll explore it fully this weekend. Join us, and invite a friend.
Warmly,
Bob Henderson
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