John O’ Donohue says “there is an unseen life that dreams us, knowing our true direction and destiny. We can trust ourselves more than we realize, and we need have no fear of change.”
Sometimes I despair of ever learning to trust and surrender to the direction and force of that unseen life, a dream that holds more for us all than we can ever ask or imagine. But this time among you, dear St. Clarians, has shown me again how the divine choreography that is God’s love–despite our clumsiness and “back-leading”–is always dancing us home–to God, ourselves, and each other.
What a holy surprise it was to be so warmly welcomed into your arms, and love, and trust. That deep, wide openness, that soulful hospitality, says so much about you. The heart you share is big enough for the whole world to fall in, at least that’s what I see, and I know some stuff! Believe me when I say, the love that you ARE is what you saw reflected in me. It’s you. With your bounty of gifts, YOU, together, already are all that you’ve been waiting for. Thank you for letting me walk among you and witness the wonder of courage and grace of your fellowship.
Thank you, Altar Guild, for your tender and thorough care of all things liturgical, attending to details no one else would think of, including the wrinkles in my alb. Thank you, John Goodell and your choir, for music that weekly took my breath away because it was played and sung with such obvious love. Thank you, Worship Committee, for your willingness to try my ideas. Thank you, Vergers, for so tenderly shepherding me through worship. Thank you, Vestry, for your transparency, and your wise and gentle servant leadership. Thank you, Suzanne, for taking seriously the spirituality of St. Clare’s children, and thank you, children, for being so delightfully yourselves and bestowing God’s peace, week to week, on us tedious grownups. Thank you, Karen, for keeping us all on track – which, I’m afraid, was much like herding cats! Thank you, Kathy Daly for helping me check in with my soul, and always speaking hope to the fears and wounds I stubbornly drag with me everywhere. Thank you, all, for hundreds of kind words and hugs.
Thank you for my book, “Women Rowing North”, which I intend to let guide and sustain me as, in fact, I row east to New York. Thank you for the yummy cake I meant to eat, with a big glass of milk, during “Call the Midwife”, but wolfed down on the way home from church. Thank you for all the good wishes on my poster-sized card. And thank you for your generous gift to Hearts for Homes. We are so fledgling a ministry that every dollar actually does go to helping Macomb County’s homeless kids–over 2000 at last count–get into safe housing.
Just before I left that last Sunday, Jim Downward found me in the sacristy and spoke of our being mirrors for each other, saying, “It’s the quality and clarity of the mirror that matters.” The beloved community that you are so clearly mirrors the light of Christ, a light which has shone into my own heart to heal, affirm, and strengthen me, and for which I am so grateful. I pray that, in this next stage of your life, blessings galore – “in good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over” will wildly pour into your lap and life.