April 8, 2020

Shelter in Place





















You are
missed

Alone for now
Quiet these weeks
The sunlight still beams
through my morning panes
purples and blues and browns and greens
but your faces are not here now
to beam back illumination
I've seen that shine
all these years
I miss it

I miss your voices
your singing great or glad
I miss bells and brass and bulletins
I miss Riley's entrance
and Rex's handshakes
Rhonda's good mornings
Ryden's amens from his back corner
I miss the sound of water
The silence of your remembering
And the chatter of your bustling peace
I miss you hugging
and happy

I miss your
blessing
each other
and me
in that song I like

'May He guide you
through the wilderness
Protect you through the storm'

I hope you are well
I hope your own four walls
are as glad to hear your praises
as I have become every seventh day

Make sure your living room has some sunlight
Turn up your speaker so the organ sounds like mine
Pour some water and pass some bread and shake your hands
Like you do when you are here with me
Like you do when you do what you do

In that way
I am willing to share you
with your own houses
as I wait for you to
come back here
to God's

my
Presbyterians
You are missed
You are loved

'May He bring you home rejoicing
once again
into my
doors'

— your Sanctuary on Wimbish Road