Posts Categorized: Pastor’s Ponderings

ESPECIALLY IF   One is near God’s heart in a garden, Especially if The garden is a bit chaotic, Random, Splashed with color, Part gone-to-seed yet Volunteers sprouting all about, A place where birds bathe And children laugh And bees buzz, A place that will surprise you and delight you And invite you to join… Read more

Day by day the weirdness of humanity Confronts me and astounds me And complicates my life But this morning, at 9:36, I experienced the delight of our multiplicity- The short and the tall The shabby and the eloquent The somber and the gleeful The queer and the not-what-you-think The confused and we who think ourselves… Read more

Sun so bright this morn It makes me squint, A tiny little bit of it Goes a way very long- 93 million miles, To be exact.   And here, Where it penetrates the forest And lights upon a small leaf It sets to work, making berries. And you? When it penetrates your soul- When the… Read more

LO!   These woods are full Of poison ivy, And ticks Crawl all over me And the trail is longer than I thought And My map is inadequate- Lo! Daisies, Queen Ann’s Lace And Black-Eyed Susans Waiting beside the trail To cheer me on.         George R Pasley May 29, 2017 Shawnee… Read more

If You Would Ponder If you would ponder The patience of the grouse, Sitting on her nest- The dance of the honeybee, Returned to her hive- The wanderings of the fox With kits in her den- The labor of the oak, A thousand acorns in her arms- Or the vision of the eagle, High in… Read more

One Day   One day- A very fine day, Otherwise- I found myself In a strange place Filled with people I did not know, Each one carrying on As if it were a perfectly normal day And perfectly normal That I should be sitting here Bewildered And maybe even a tad bit dizzy (And a… Read more

This week I’d like to share a commencement speech given by my friend Wayne Meisel at St Andrews college in North Carolina:   With my apologies to Mr. Kipling, I came up with my own Ode.   “If, then… An Ode to the class of 2017” If you’re thirsty, drink water If you’re hungry, eat… Read more

WALKING THESE PATHS Walking these paths, Studying these trees, I see old friends I’ve not seen for years- Tulip, Poplar, Dogwood, Black Walnut. I meet acquaintances From decades past- Magnolia, Redbud, Maples galore. I meet strangers, and ask their name But they only whisper Something lost in the breeze. All this is a tad bit… Read more

Here is a poem I wrote on what was nearly the shortest day of the year. As our daylight now exceeds the dark, let’s all stretch our spirits as well as our legs, and pray for healing and shalom in the world as well as our bodies.    There are some cold dark days In… Read more

Here’s a creed by a stranger that strikes me as the exact thing we disciples should be striving for in Eastertide, which after all is ALL the time since that first Easter morning. – Pastor George       “Wage peace Conspire justice Plot goodness. Devise forgiveness. Scheme mercy Incite reconciliation. Foment inclusion Practice resurrection.”… Read more