Pastor Caroline's Weekly Update

October 16, 2008

Dear Members and Friends of First Church,

One of the many things I have been enjoying about these past couple of weeks is the drive from New Haven to Bethany. I don't think I could have picked a more beautiful month to be with you all! The fall foliage lights my way along Route 63 with a blaze of orange, russet, and yellow glory, and continues to beckon to me cheerfully from the window of my study here at the church.

All this autumnal beauty brings to mind one of my favorite poems, by the 20th-century Welsh pastor and poet R. S. Thomas. In this poem, entitled "The Bright Field," Thomas evokes the power of the natural world around us to bring us more fully into the present moment - even into the presence of the Holy. The "miracle of the lit bush" is not simply an event from a dusty and semi-mythical past, a larger-than-life story about Moses in the wilderness. If I take a moment to turn aside toward it, I may see that miracle taking place this very day, just outside my window!

This poem so captivates my imagination that I included it in my ordination service seven years ago this month. I share it with you today in the hope that you, too, may find inspiration in it:

I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the pearl
of great price, the one field that had
the treasure in it. I realise now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

Speaking of inspiration: Colby Plaskowitz has been inspired to help keep some of the most vulnerable members of our local community warm this winter, through the "Quilts of Caring" program in support of the Columbus House shelter in New Haven. Please bring your donations of new or easily worn blankets and winter coats to church on Sunday, or drop them off during regular office hours (M-F, 9:00-11:00 a.m.). There is a collection box in the fellowship hall.

See you in church!

Blessings and peace,

Caroline Murphy

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