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Dear Friends in Prayer,

Thank you for your ongoing attention to poetry and prayer. Your engagement far exceeds any expectations and delights those of us who are sharing this journey.

Last week both Christine and I hosted “a cuppa’” gatherings to share our experiences of the poems and this Lenten season. Thin attendance, but rich content. Here are a few jewels:

• The overall structure of this collection reflects the pattern of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation also present in the psalms, symphonies, and Grateful Dead concerts. The poems’ organization moves from Mystery and Love, to Stumbling Block, to Conversion, and conclude with Practicing Resurrection. The first poem even opens with “Days pass when I forget the mystery.” Yes, a mystery to explore. Tomorrow concludes the Mystery and Love portion.
• We remarked on the placement of a poem with the word “leap” on Leap Day, February 29. No doubt pun intended. Then we marveled at e cummings’ ability to create speed bumps to slow us down with unexpected word combinations like “blue true.”
• Within this poem, we noticed the presence or absence of punctuation, particularly a full stop, to unfold meaning. Listen for this poem to be sung in worship today by a trio.
• Milton’s poem became more discernable by noticing the rhymes. (But it is still dense.) Vaughan’s poem also invites the same pondering with endings.

If someone counted, there are more than forty days from Ash Wednesday to Easter. So why only forty poems and no prayer today? Lent is observed on Monday through Saturday while each Sunday remains The Lord’s Day, to celebrate the resurrection, even during Lent.

Join either Christine Hides on Monday at 9:15 a.m. in Wilmette’s Panera for a cuppa or me on Wednesday at 8 a.m. in the Culbertson Room. You make our lives richer with your ideas.

In faith,
Jo

Click here for “Online ‘cuppa with Jo Poetry and Prayer” Zoom link.