A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church of Prairie Village, Kansas. September 9, 2012. The second of a six week sermon series on The Marks of a Relevant Church.
1 Kings 19: 11-15
and Luke 22: 39-46
***
I want to share a poem entitled Daybreak:
Early Morning. Early spring.
Light comes to the earth’s lip, a taste of day’s dawn.
Coffee comes to my lips, a sip of brewed awakening.
This time alone—the furnace still asleep at its nighttime setting,
the dog unmoving among the muddy boots
piled in the pantry—
I sit in a chair that sighs as I settle.
Outside, a few crows caw plots of thievery.
They are like noisy shadows,
dark harbingers of tomorrow’s troubles.
Outside, thawed soil has recently endured the overturning blades.
It curls back upon itself row upon row, open and receptive.
I drain the cup and pause, struck by the fullness of gratitude within me.
In spirit I am myself a lengthening day, a land furrowed and ready.
And there is work to be done.
* * *
In my house, silence is hard to come by these days.