Last Thursday we had our annual “Blessing of the Animals” service at the Hurley Farm, here in Jackson Springs.
I shared the story of a Catholic brother who had a vision during sleep one night. He was in the front row of the cathedral looking at the scene before him during a service of Communion.
He saw the priest passing bread to the first person kneeling at the railing. As he looked, the next figure at the railing was a snake! It was curled at the bottom with its back arching up over the rail and with head straining forward to receive the grace of Christ. The next figure was another person. Next was a raccoon with paws up on the communion rail, leaning forward to receive the grace of Christ. Then he saw a bird perched on the corner of the railing eating bread crumbs.
As he finished surveying the scene in his dream, suddenly the side walls of the cathedral fell away and outside was thick foliage of forest and jungle on each side, with all manner of wild animals roaming about. In this moment, it seemed as if walls of separation had been removed and there was a seamless web of all creation praising God and exalting the grace of Christ.
I read from Job 12: “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky and they will tell you … or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this. In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all humankind.”
I’m grateful for the blessing this service is from year to year. We must always remember that we humans share the earth with millions of different creatures and there’s much we can learn from each other.
Elizabeth
Fall is here, bringing the last of this year’s peaches and the first of this year’s apples and cooler days, with leaves turning their true colors and beginning to fall.
When I was a little girl, one year I tried to “save the leaves!” I found an old tin box with a lid and set about collecting the colorful leaves falling all around us in that little mountain town. When I had “saved” enough, I poured water in the tin to keep them – or so I thought. I put the tin in a shelf in the garage and told them to “wait for Spring.” When I checked on them right before Thanksgiving, I could see only black sludge, and I in my child-like way began to understand that “for everything there is a season.” If only I’d had the book, “The Fall of Freddie the Leaf” to guide me at this time in my life!
Anyway, this memory has led me down a path through many beautiful poems by Robert Frost.
“Nothing Gold Can Stay”
Nature’s first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf … Nothing gold can stay.
Frost is saying that nothing good or precious can last forever by using nature and The Garden of Eden as metaphors for cycles of life and death and the loss of innocence.
That led me to another old favorite:
“The Mending Wall”
“Something there is that does not love a wall ...”
Two neighbors meet annually to inspect and repair their shared wall. They walk the length of it, each one on “his side” of the wall. Their meeting contrasts two approaches to life and human relationships. There are gaps and openings in the walls, left intentionally – perhaps an opportunity to form a stronger connection? Other questions come to mind: What are we walling in and what are we walling out? Do good fences (walls) really make good neighbors?
And another “old favorite:
“Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening”
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
to watch his woods fill up with snow …
The woods are lovely, dark and deep
But I have promises to keep.
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
The poet has a lot to achieve in life before his comes to an end. He’s taking time to enjoy in the moment the quiet beauty of the world around him and to reflect as he continues on life’s journey.
And one last old favorite:
“The Road Not Taken”
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood …
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by.
And that has made all the difference.
The two roads that the poet-traveler faces in his journey are symbolic of the choices that we encounter in our lives. He decided to take the “road-less- traveled,” accepting its challenges and uncertainties.
I’m grateful for times like this that help me remember and celebrate other seasons of life. These poems were “pure gold” to me as an English major at Centre College. And to think that this journey down memory lane came from remembering a little girl in the mountains who tried to save the leaves.
Elizabeth
I sat out on the front steps of the manse this beautiful Fall morning to listen to the church chimes as they welcomed the new day. An important Monday tradition for me is being “present” when the chimes play throughout the day, and usually I’m able to sing along!
This morning’s special hymn was “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy.” I remember singing it often at First Presbyterian in Harlan, and found I could recall the words even at 75 years!
“There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea. There’s a kindness in God’s justice, which is more than liberty. There is no place where earth’s sorrows, are more felt than up in heaven; There is no place where earth’s failings have such kindly judgment given. For the love of God is broader than the measures of the mind; And the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind. If our love were but more faithful, we would gladly trust God’s Word; And our lives reflect thanksgiving for the goodness of our Lord. “
This hymn would have been perfect in yesterday’s service!
Yesterday’s sermon was “Living on God’s Terms”, considering the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. We were challenged to “step into” the parable and see where we find ourselves standing. Do we stand with those arriving later in the day, filled with joy at the unexpected generosity of the landowner? Do we stand among those who have worked all day, angry at the unfairness of it all? Do we stand with the landowner, celebrating his generosity, and affirming his desire to see that each worker is paid the needed daily wage?
We learned that God’s gracious generosity- God’s grace – is extended on God’s terms. The unfairness that seems so obvious in this story indicates not a problem with God or the story itself, but a problem with us!
The truth of the matter is that we’re all 11th hour workers, recipients of a blessing far beyond our own effort or deserving. When we truly allow ourselves to recognize and experience the generosity of God’s grace, we have some understanding of the Giver of that grace.
Giving thanks for the “wideness of God’s mercy” and for this beautiful Monday morning.
Elizabeth