On January 1, 2022, Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman released a poem on social media “to celebrate the new year and to honor the hurt and the humanity of the last one.“ What follows are a few excerpts from the poem that Gorman spoke.
May this be the day
We come together.
Mourning, we come to mend,
Withered, we come to weather,
Torn, we come to tend,
Battered, we come to better.
Tethered by this year of yearning,
We are learning
That though we weren’t ready for this,
We have been readied by it.
We steadily vow that no matter
How we are weighed down,
We must always pave a way forward.
*
This hope is our door, our portal.
Even if we never get back to normal,
Someday we can venture beyond it,
To leave the known and take
the first steps.
So, let us not return to
what was normal,
But reach toward what is next.
*
Amanda Gorman’s poem reminds me of the familiar scripture passage from Ecclesiastes’s third chapter: “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven…” Meteorologically, winter has given way to spring, although it does not feel like it today (the first day of spring). Lent will soon give way to Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday, and only God knows what lies ahead in the coming months. However, we know nothing remains the same, especially if growth is to happen. A person, a life, or even a church that never changes is stagnant, immobile, not open to, and does not make or allow room for what God is doing.
One of the things that I learned and loved about ELPC when I walked through the doors almost 28 years ago is that Presbyterians are reformed and always reforming. We are not a stagnant denomination that seeks to remain the same. We strive to prayerfully discern what God is doing in our community, the world, and our church, and then we aim to join in and work to manifest God’s will. Even when we do not understand what God is doing or how long God is taking, standing still and doing nothing is not viable and is not faithful.
The writer of Ecclesiastes clearly states that change is inevitable. “God has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, God has put a sense of past and future into their minds…” (Ecclesiastes 3:11a). Looking back to reminisce about the good ole days without a sense of the future or romanticizing either—the past or future—may cause us to miss what God is doing in the present. And God is doing some amazingly wonderful things right now!
We are receiving new members and friends who are eager to join in our church’s work; Pastor Heather and Miss Sara report that the youth in our Confirmation Class are intelligent, curious, already engaged in our church’s life, and anticipating serving in new ways. Many of you are volunteering in new ways at our church—helping with room setups, reimagining our worship environment, returning to the use of dishes and silverware to eliminate waste, and—as others continue to serve faithfully—cleaning and weeding the rain garden, assisting shoppers in The Chapel Market, and teaching church school classes, to name a few ways. We were even blessed by United Steel Workers Union members, who recently volunteered to paint The Chapel Market and weed and mulch the rain garden, saving the church an estimated $5,000. Each of these exemplifies God’s faithfulness and our collective hope to continue to be the Cathedral of Hope in every season.
What new ways do you see God at work in our congregation, our community, and our lives? Are you willing to step up now and “be” the church, as we anticipate what is to come? In the words of Amanda Gorman,
Even if we never get back to normal,
Someday we can venture beyond it,
To leave the known and take the first steps.
So let us not return to what was normal,
But reach toward what is next.
*
—Pastor Patrice