Reading from First Universalist Sunday, Nov 13th. The poem “Inventing Sin” by the Kentucky poet George Ella Lyon was the basis for the message by Rev. Justin Schroeder.
God signs to us;
we cannot read
She shouts – we take cover
She shrugs and trains leave the tracks
Our schedules! we moan
Our loved ones
God is fed up
All the oceans she gave us
All the fields
All the acres of steep seedful forests
And we did what?
Invented the Great Chain
of Being and
the chain saw
Invented sin
God sees us now
gorging ourselves &
starving our neighbors
starving ourselves &
storing our grain
& She says I’ve had it
you cast your trash
upon the waters—it’s rolling in
You stuck your fine fine finger
into the mystery of life
to find death
& you did.
You learned how to end
the world in nothing flat
Now you come crying
to your mommy
Send us a miracle
Prove that you exist
Look at your hand, I say
Listen to your sacred heart
Do you have to haul the tide in,
sweeten the berries on the vine?
I set you down a miracle among miracles.
You want more.
It’s your turn
You show me.
poem “Inventing Sin” by the Kentucky poet George Ella Lyon.
