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Day is done
A riff on Taps for Robin
What a shame Robin is not here with us.
A shame, because Robin was a friend too precious to lose.
A shame, because she loved us all and hated to miss a good party.
A shame, because our lives are less because she is not here to push us;
To prod us -- to not accept second best, for ourselves or for our world.
Twilight is that magical period after the sun has set.
A time when the earth itself is still glowing with the light of the sun.
It is a time for fishermen to take a final cast into the limpid darkening pool
It is a time for lovers, who have sat in silent awe
As the sun slips behind the hills, to rise slowly,
To pick their way up the bank, moving into dark togetherness.
Robin's light has slipped under the horizon.
But as we keep our eyes open,
We see that her brightness endures
Like the miracle of months and days for which she fought.
Like the glow that follows sunset on some liquid summer evenings.
Her light fills our hearts and shines along our way.
A twilight time that, by God's grace, will last -
Last longer than any might dare predict.
Lasting to our own final steps and then .....
What a joy, that Robin is still walking beside us!
I would like to thank the many people of the parish and beyond who have been praying faithfully for my sister-in-law Robin Goodrich, the wife of my brother Geoffrey. Robin died ten days before Christmas, after a tough fight against a ferocious cancer. Robin requested that the service not be a Christian funeral service, but a celebration of the things she loved. She suggested poems by Mary Oliver and stories. The service was held on January 14th in Ottawa. My contribution was a poem that tried to capture Robin and Robin’s outlook on life and death.
Rambling along the Roads
A Thanksgiving reflection
The roads around the lake and the view from the dock in North Hatley are just wonderful at this season. We have had some rain, and then some more, but despite a serious frost last night, the Thanksgiving weekend is looking like it will be fair and warm.
It is easy to drive the roads back and forth to Magog (to pick up or drop off Chris) or to run into Lennoxville for a clergy meeting and to see the roads as barriers to arriving that have to be conquered, defeated, and brought into tight control. However, at this season particularly, the roads pay a great dividend if they are savoured and delighted in, The fall of light on a brilliant branch of maple, the young fawn that is grazing by the road just past Hovey when coming into town, or the stillness of the Magog river as you drive alongside the bike path.
It all puts in mind the pronouncement of God at the end of six days of creation. And God looked at the world and all that He had made, and it was very good. Whether you get to come into town this weekend, or whether you read this sometime later, the chances are that you have memories from the roads around North Hatley or some quiet views looking over the lake that are etched in your memory. Take a moment, if you will, to stroll through these roads and to lower your heartbeat to the gentle rhythms of the waves on a calm day. Breathe in the freshness with just a slight tang of fallen leaves.
This is just one part of the goodness that God has given to us and we need to live into the wonder of the world God has created. Please allow your heart to fill with joy and peace. Breathing it in, may you then exhale with a quiet pulse of praise.
Happy Thanksgiving 2011
The Vicar
Massawippi Grace (to the tune of “From the shores of Montezuma”)
From the bandstand at ole Dreamland to the beaches at Black Point,
We will swim and sail and wander 'long the Massawippi shores.
We will thank the Lord and praise him, His beauteous world adore.
We sing and dance and praise him, 'till we reach St. Peter's door.
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