Several of you asked about the poem that Marlene so adeptly read during worship last Sunday. The poem was “To the Fig Tree on 9th and Christian” by Ross Gay. You can listen to Gay read the poem himself here.

I’m holding this poem in my heart as we move into Thanksgiving week. This year, like many in recent memory, it can be difficult to summon an uncomplicated gratitude. So many in our communities are struggling and fearful. We are tending our own hurts and losses and lamenting the many injustices we witness in our country right now. For me, Gay’s poem is not a forced or saccharine kind of thanksgiving that ignores the suffering of the world. Rather, it represents an authentic and spontaneous experience of delight, generosity and community amidst the ever present realities of pain and division. Gay is someone whose poems often remind us that joy and gratitude are not fleeting feelings, but rather practices and disciplines. They provide us a way of orienting ourselves in the world so that we stay grounded in something deep and lasting throughout changing seasons of grief and happiness—so that we too can delight in unexpected grace when we find ourselves under the canopy of a fig tree.

May these words bring a small measure of joy to your week. Please know that your presence in this beloved community is one of the things I am most grateful for during this season of thanksgiving.

In faith,
Rev. Danielle