Dear Christ Church Friends,
This coming Sunday, we will fill out and bless pledge cards to reflect back the generous gifts God has given us. One of the many themes of Christian life is showing God our gratitude. What is our mission and purpose is a question answered by our Catechism in this way– “To reconcile all people to God and to one another.”

I like to think that the poet Mary Oliver answered the same question with the same answer, just said in a different way in this poem.

Messenger
by Mary Oliver

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren,
to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.

Tell over and over again, friends, how it is we live forever. May we show our gratitude to God in all our words, in all our actions, and in how we live our lives.

Blessings and love,
Rev Rebecca+