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‘The Bright Field’ by R. S. Thomas

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
treasure in it. I realize 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.

In this week’s Gospel, Jesus prays that we might know the same love that the Father has shown to him. He is just hours from being sentenced, tortured, and hung on a cross and this is final prayer to God, “And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves” (John 17:11-13). Jesus knows we must have faith that our lives rest in the care of God. When we give of ourselves, wonderful things start to happen. Jesus prays that you will have this incarnate love that moves mountains. Are you ready for what is ahead of us at St. John’s? Our parish can do wonderful things, not because we are powerful or rich, but because God does marvelous things for those who have faith and give of themselves for others. We must have faith that our lives rest in the care of God.

Each weekday morning at 9 am, a large group of St. John’s parishioners join on zoom for Morning Prayer. Each morning we pray for those we love, the sick, the poor, the oppressed, those with birthdays, the church, and for those who have died. We are in unity with one another and God through our common prayer and the remembering of a common story. We are connected through our faith. This week’s collect asks God to send us the Holy Spirit to strengthen us. We need to have a belief that there is something more in this world other than the chaos we see around us. There is a force of love and unity that we can tap into. That is the pearl of great price. It is valuable beyond measure because it came with a price. Jesus will teach, die, and be resurrected in three days that we might know that we are loved by God. The love and unity of God and Jesus are the way and the truth and the life. That is our common story.

Please join us in celebrating Mother’s Day at St. John’s this Sunday. We would love to see you and your whole family. May God’s blessing be upon you now and always.

In Christ’s love,
Fr. Duncan