Dear Friends in Christ

Today, I am flustered and in a hurry.  

Holy Week begins on Sunday with Palm Sunday and envelops us – you, me, Zion, St Anne’s, the whole church – all of next week.  AND today is our daughter’s, Ellie’s, birthday. 

As she looked forward to a visit from a friend, Emily Dickinson spoke of brushing the summer by, of winding the balls of time to make time move more quickly because it was hard to wait for her friend to come

I have been knitting Ellie a sweater, so the winding and unwinding (sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally) of balls of yarn are opportunities for reflection closer: 

 I find that I am reflecting on how long ago Ellie was born,  on the many Holy Weeks I have observed, the congregations I have served and the ones I am serving now.

I am aware of the importance service, community, the sacrifices we make for one another, and God’s sacrifice of his son.

Reflection and prayer are all jumbled up together.

So here is a little piece of George Herbert’s poem, Prayer, to keep you and me moving toward Holy Week.

Prayer is….

The six-days world transposing in an hour,

A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;

Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,

Exalted manna, gladness of the best,

Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,

The milky way, the bird of Paradise,

Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul’s blood,

The land of spices; something understood.

Faithfully yours,

Rebecca