I want to read a poem to you called Blessing In The Chaos by Jan Richardson. And then following that, we’re actually just going to sit for a few minutes and gaze at some gorgeous nature; we’re just going to drink it in. 

We often fill this space with a lot of words and a lot of thoughts, and in that, sometimes we can miss the presence and beauty of God so often found more deeply in silence, in stillness, in the quiet spaces. We don’t want to miss that, today. 

To be clear – there’s nothing for you to do here, nothing to accomplish, in these moments. There’s no specific goal, you don’t need to “achieve” some special union experience. Just let your body, your soul, and your spirit take some deep breaths. Knowing that they probably need them. 

POEM | Blessing In The Chaos 

To all that is chaotic in you, let there come silence. 

Let there be a calming of the clamoring, a stilling of the voices that have laid their claim on you, that have made their home in you, 

that go with you even to the holy places but will not let you rest, will not let you hear your life with wholeness or feel the grace that fashioned you. 

Let what distracts you cease. Let what divides you cease. 

Let there come an end to what diminishes and demeans, and let depart all that keeps you in its cage. 

Let there be an opening into the quiet that lies beneath the chaos, where you find the peace you did not think possible and see what shimmers within the storm.