Minister's Moment

Let’s be honest – a lot of us have a lot of big feelings right now. We are witnessing violence, we are grieving, we have questions that don’t seem to have answers. And yet, we continue to go about our daily lives, doing whatever we can to find something “normal.”

Liturgically, the time between Pentecost and Advent is called Ordinary Time. It is very

long and can feel tedious. But, in a way, it is finding “normal.” We come into worship, and we know we will (or at least we hope to) encounter the Holy. And, even if just for a moment, we can rest.

I don’t have all the answers, and I can’t take the pain away that we are collectively feeling.

In times like these, I often turn to one of my favorite poets to offer both rest and prayer. So, I want to offer you another one of her poems. This poem is called “Blessing for the Brokenhearted” by Jan Richardson, and it can be found in her book, “The Cure for Sorrow.”

Blessing for the Brokenhearted

There is no remedy forlove but to love more.

– Henry David Thoreau

Let us agree

for now

that we will not say

the breaking

makes us stronger

or that it is better

to have this pain

than to have done

without this love.

Let us promise

we will not

tell ourselves

time will heal

the wound,

when every day

our waking

opens it anew

Perhaps, for now

it can be enough

to simply marvel

at the mystery

of how a heart

so broken

can go on beating

as if it were made

for precisely this –

as if it knows

the only cure for love

is more of it,

as if it sees

the heart’s sole remedy

for breaking

is to love still,

as if it trusts

that its own

persistent pulse

is the rhythm

of a blessing

we cannot

begin to fathom

but will save us

nonetheless.

May God be with us in our brokenness and may God bring healing, aswe work to heal the world around us, in God’s name. Amen.

Ann