Last night as I drove home from church, I nearly had to pull over and just look at the moon…did you see it? It was an immense bright yellow with a brilliant arc of light that surrounded it. As I drove across the High Bridge, the Mississippi River below me, the moon was so close it felt as if I could reach out and touch it.

The experience reminded me of a book the women’s book group at church read called To Follow the Moon. It is a story set in 17th century England and one of the central characters is Basuba, a midwife who is the keeper of the ancient wisdom. Throughout the book she gently passes that wisdom down to the younger people. The beginning point of that wisdom is to admit that she doesn’t know everything and that learning is a life-long experience. "I will keep on learning ’til I die, and I still will be far from knowing everything. It’s part of the Mystery; we each know some things and are blind to others. That makes us seek the holiness of each other. I’m ready to learn from Moon about change. Moon changes every night. She grows larger ’til she’s full and then smaller ’til she disappears. And then she does it again."Seeing last night’s moon,I went to my book shelves, found the book, reread those words.

This Sunday we will celebrate the Confirmation of several young people and their entry into a fuller relationship within the church. I have to admit to being confused and sometimes frustrated with confirmation, how it can sometimes feels like graduation instead of one phase of the Moon of their lives, and ours. I am mystified that some people will not come to church because it is Confirmation Sunday. How might Confirmation be different if we affirm and re-affirm how as a faith community we are all in the business of keeping on learning until we die? That we are all a part of the Mystery……that we know some things….and may always be blind to others. And here is the really important part…that throughout the learning, the searching, the knowing, the inability to see, see must seek the holiness of each other.

Seeking that holiness,held in the Mystery….being with one another throughout the phases of growing larger,fuller in our faith and also during the times when our faith is small and almost non-existent…..isn’t that what it means to be the Kin-dom of God? Waxing and waning comes at all ages. It is important that we hold on to one another.

I believe I have mentioned that outside my office window is a very large oak tree. All winter I have watched what I believe is a squirrel’s nest made from dead oak leaves. I have seen at least one squirrel-can you actually tell them apart?- taking morsels of food to the nest.I had hoped to see if there were babies in there or if the nest was just the winter cabinet for abandoned food the squirrel(s) wanted to keep safe. Yesterday I noticed that the nest had lost its full form and now looks like a few straggly leaves that just forgot to fall during the proper season. So, I either missed something…..or nothing. Who knows?

The giant oak is now busy forming leaves which will entertain me through the summer and into the autumn, reminding me of the gentle movement of time. But while it is slowly greening up it is being overshadowed by its neighbor the crab apple tree. Brilliant hot pink blossoms light up the backyard of the parsonage. They scream "Look at me! Look at me!" Like a young girl dressing up for prom, pink petals drape the branches for a brief, beautiful walk in the world. For these short days the pink dances outside my window and distracts me from the mundane of white paper, silver paperclips, gray carpet, even grayer walls.I want to be able to express my thanks for the beauty of it all……

Sorry….Mary Oliver again…."When I am among trees, especially the willows and the honey locust, equally the beech, the oaks and the pines, they give off such hints of gladness. I would almost say that they save me, and daily. I am so distant from the hope of myself, in which I have goodness, and discernment, and never hurry through the world but walk slowly, and bow often. Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out "Stay awhile." The light flows from their branches. And they call again, "It’s simple,"they say, "and you too have come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine."

I am  filled today with gratitude for the trees…for show-off-pink…for the poet who can express with words for me what my heart feels, oh so beautiful, and the reminder to go easy and to shine.

I met a man yesterday who said,"I love change!" Wow…not something you hear very often. He is an interim pastor so loving change is a very good thing in his line of work. His work is to come into a church that is in the midst of change, resisting change, grieving change, desiring change. How wonderful that he truly loves what most of us fear. He spends his days listening to people’s stories, helping them cope with and triumph through the inevitable……. change.

Change is difficult. It asks for patience. It requires giving up control. It begs for creativity. It insists on letting go. It demands faith. It implores us to listen…..to others, to ourselves.

But change is also the way of the Universe. We know now that the Universe is expanding which means it is changing all the time, becoming something different than it was…not yet what it will be. The way of the Universe is also the way of our lives, our relationships, our communities, our nations, our churches. We are all on a path that is changing….we are becoming something different than we have been….and we are not yet what we will be. Thinking of change that way is very exciting to me…..how about you?

How are you changing? What are you being asked to change in your life? What are the things you need to get rid of so change will happen? What are the things you need to acquire so change will be realized?

"The plow has savaged this sweet field…Misshapen clods of earth kicked up…Rocks and twisted roots exposed to view. Last year’s growth demolished by the blade. I have plowed my life this way…Turned over a whole history…Looking for roots of what went wrong…Until my face is ravaged, furrowed, scarred. Enough. The job is done. Whatever’s been uprooted, let it be…..Seedbed for the growing that’s to come. I plowed to unearth last year’s reasons-The farmer plows to plant a greening season."  Parker Palmer