This poem has been shared in many places over these past weeks. I share with you today to reflect on. Holding you all in prayer. Tracy 

Pandemic

What if you thought of it

as the Jews consider the Sabbath—

the most sacred of times?

Cease from travel.

Cease from buying and selling.

Give up, just for now,

on trying to make the world

different than it is.

Sing. Pray. Touch only those

to whom you commit your life.

Center down.

And when your body has become still,

reach out with your heart.

Know that we are connected

in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.

(You could hardly deny it now.)

Know that our lives

are in one another’s hands.

(Surely, that has come clear.)

Do not reach out your hands.

Reach out your heart.

Reach out your words.

Reach out all the tendrils

of compassion that move, invisibly,

where we cannot touch.

Promise this world your love–

for better or for worse,

in sickness and in health,

so long as we all shall live. (A poem by Lynn Ungar who is a minister for the Unitarian Church in San Francisco. 3/11/20)

Reflect: 

How are you reaching out with your heart and with your words?

What new connections are you discovering?

What learnings will you bring forward as we move beyond the pandemic?

I would love to hear from you tracycrickbutler@yahoo.ca

Prayer:

O God, there are so many new experiences, new realities, new needs. It can feel overwhelming. And yet we are being invited to cease, to sing, to pray – all ways that we can express who we are and Whose we are.

As we discover new ways of reaching out, may we also experience the ways in which you reach out to us. Amen.

To listen:

A choral arrangement of the poem, composed by Martin Sedek and performed by CONCORA, under the direction of Chris Shepard.