Create a peaceful space to pause, and allow yourself to feel God’s presence alongside you, as near to you as your own breath. In following the reflection below, as a church we will draw closer to God and to one another as we grow in faith and deepen our sense of belonging to God.
Romans 15:13
‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’
Kitty O’Meara is a former teacher and chaplain, who worked for many years in palliative care, from Wisconsin in the States. Like many ordinary people she regularly shares some thoughts on the internet and usually gets just a few responses. When the coronavirus pandemic began, she watched the beginnings and the spread across the world, and – like many of us – she was feeling helpless and somewhat dispirited. Kitty O’Meara decided toshare her new poem with any internet readers who might pick it up. The result of that decision is quite remarkable: the poem has, like this awful virus, gone around the globe, drawing comments and reflections from people in every kind of place on earth. Kitty O’Meara has suddenly become the poet laureate of the pandemic. I share it with you now.
And the people stayed home,
and read books, and listened, and rested,
and exercised, and made art, and played games,
and learned new ways of being,
and were still, and listened more deeply.
Some meditated, some prayed, some danced.
Some met their shadows.
And the people began to think differently,
and the people healed.
And in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless,
and heartless ways,
the earth began to heal.
And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again,
they grieved their losses, and made new choices,
and dreamed new images,
and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully,
as they had been healed.”
‘And the People Stayed Home’ a prose poem by Kitty O’Meara
Prayer:
Creative Spirit,
amidst the challenges, changes, and chances of our lives today,
give to us the hope that transcends and transforms despair
enabling new beginnings in us, and in our world. Amen.
‘And the People Stayed Home’ © 2020 Kitty O’Meara.
Reflection and Prayer © 2020 Gordon Harrison.
A printable version of this Daily Devotional can be downloaded from here
All material within this order of worship is reproduced by permission under CCL 1226356