This poem appeared in my life as I’m dreaming about post construction programming at the church.  Soon the construction will be over and we’ll have an accessible sanctuary with accessible bathrooms all set on a firm (at least under the steeple area) foundation.  How will we live out our call to be A Place for All?

Could it be that one of the important things for us to do is to provide a place for people of all faiths and no faiths to gather in a sacred and quiet place with music and poetry, readings and prayer?

One of the things that Jesus taught was to create clearings in the busyness of daily lives as he sat and ate with those on the margins?  And when the crowd was closing in on him, he often went alone to pray.

The Clearing

Do not try to save
the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create
a clearing
in the dense forest
of your life
and wait there
patiently,
until the song
that is your life
falls into your own cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know
how to give yourself to this world
so worthy of rescue.

Martha Postlewaite