“Here is a story to break your heart. Are you willing?” With these words, Mary Oliver begins a poem titled “Lead”, in which she tells the sad story of loons who came to a nearby harbor, and who died, “one by one.” She specifically mentions one who “opened the elegant beak and cried out in the long, sweet savoring of its life…” The next morning, she tells her readers, this loon, too, is lost. She then concludes, in Mary Oliver fashion, “I tell you this to break your heart, by which I mean only that it break open and never close again to the rest of the world.” The poet believed that life is intended to be lived with a heart wide open to the beauty and the heartbreak of the world. What about you? Are you willing?
The prophet Jeremiah spoke to a people who had been taken into exile in Babylon in the 6th century BCE. But the days are coming, said the seer, when God is going to do a new thing. A new covenant will be established with the people, a covenant unlike the one that God established with them when leading the Hebrews from Egypt. In this covenant, God will “put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” And all, from the greatest to the least, shall know God. The great search for the beautiful and the true and the good shall not be found in the pilgrimage to the holy place, or on tablets of stone hundreds of miles away. The goodness and the glory will be found where God has placed them…in our hearts and in the hearts of our community. We just have to go there and stay there and listen deeply. What about you? Are you willing?
Let’s talk about this on Sunday morning. The sermon is titled “The One Line Already Written Inside of You,” taken from a line by a poem by David Whyte. The sermon arises from Jeremiah 31: 27-34, which will be read by Cissy Mooney. The sanctuary singers, under the direction of Gerry Sousa and accompanied by Nara Lee, will lead us in worship. There will be a moment for children, prayers and hymns. We hope you join us in this online worship experience.
If you have been part of the St. Mark’s community for decades, or will be joining us for the first time, we look forward to connecting with you on the live stream at 10:30am this Sunday.