Dear Hyde Park Family,

At the outset of a meeting last Tuesday of the Committee on Lay Leadership, I read Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, which contains the iconic “For everything there is a season” passage. Then I read a lovely poem by Laura Grace Weldon titled, “Compost Happens.” It’s from a wonderful collection of poems I read over the weekend titled How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope, which you can purchase through our church’s Amazon page. 

I think you’ll see the connections between these two readings, along with whatever you might be carrying today. Blessings to us all as we watch, with patience, the transformative love of God in our lives and in the world.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NRSV)

For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die;

a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill and a time to heal;

a time to break down and a time to build up;

a time to weep and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn and a time to dance;

a time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek and a time to lose;

a time to keep and a time to throw away;

a time to tear and a time to sew;

a time to keep silent and a time to speak;

a time to love and a time to hate;

a time for war and a time for peace.

“Compost Happens”

Laura Grace Weldon

Nature teaches nothing is lost.

It’s transmuted.

Spread between rows of beans,

last year’s rusty leaves tamp down weeds.

Coffee grounds and banana peels

foster rose blooms. Bread crumbs

scattered for birds become song.

Leftovers offered to chickens come back

as eggs, yolks sunrise orange.

Broccoli stems and bruised apples

fed to cows return as milk steaming in the pail,

as patties steaming in the pasture.

Surely our shame and sorrow

also return, composted by years

into something generative as wisdom.

Grace and Peace,

Magrey

THIS SUNDAY: HOW TO HEAR GOD’S VOICE

Join us in person or online as we continue our worship series, “The Art of Hearing God’s Voice.” I’ll be sharing three principles through the acronym “S.O.S.” that will help you sense God’s presence in the midst of life’s challenges. Be sure to invite a friend, or share our service with others through our YouTube channel.