"You do not have to be good.

You do no have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you about mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prayer and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things."

- Mary Oliver, Wild Geese

This week we welcome Jeremy Langill, our new Director of Faith Formation and Outreach, to the pulpit for the first time.

Special thanks to Nancy Nicholson, our guest organist this week.

Beloved