Travels on my front porch: Have a blessed Sunday

It rained off and on Saturday, so we enjoyed the woods from our front porch. Sometimes a great adventure can be had without going too far.

The trees are ablaze in yellows, reds and orange; the openings in the clouds between rain squalls bring flashes of sunlight that make the trees seem on fire.

I am not preaching today, so no sermon from me here (The Rev. Dr. Ann Willms is preaching; her sermon will be on-line later in the day on our main website).

Rather than more sermonizing from me, I thought I'd pass along a poem by Mary Oliver, courtesy of our friend Karen in Tennessee, and a few photos taken from our front porch. Have a blessed Sunday...

Sunrise
by Mary Oliver

You can
die for it --
an idea,
or the world. People

have done so,
brilliantly,
letting
their small bodies be bound
to the stake,creating
an unforgettable
fury of light. But

this morning,
climbing the familiar hills
in the familiar
fabric of dawn, I thought

of China ,
and India
and Europe , and I thought
how the sun

blazes
for everyone just
so joyfully
as it rises

under the lashes
of my own eyes, and I thought
I am so many!
What is my name?

What is the name
of the deep breath I would take
over and over
for all of us? Call it

whatever you want, it is
happiness, it is another one
of the ways to enter
fire.