Old-Fashioned

*** Revised Common Lectionary *** Lectionary Reading: Mark 9:38-50 CLASSIC POEM: Old-Fashioned Emily Dickinson Arcturus is his other name, — I’d rather call him star! It’s so unkind of science To go and interfere! I pull a flower from the woods, — A monster with a glass Computes the stamens in a breath, And has her in a class. Whereas I took the butterfly Aforetime in my hat, He sits erect in cabinets, The clover-bells forgot. What once was heaven, is zenith now. Where I proposed to go When time’s brief masquerade was done, Is mapped, and charted too! What if the poles should frisk about And stand upon their heads! I hope I ‘m ready for the worst, Whatever prank betides! Perhaps the kingdom of Heaven ‘s changed! I hope the children there Won’t be new-fashioned when I come, And laugh at me, and stare! I hope the father in the skies Will lift his little girl, — Old-fashioned, naughty, everything, — Over the stile of pearl! *** This poem is in the public domain, and may be read in a live-streamed worship service. CONTEMPORARY POEM: Look Out Wendell Berry SNIPPET: … Leave your windows and go out, people of the world, go into the streets, go into the fields, go into the woods and along the streams. Go together, go alone. Say no to the Lords of War which is Money which is Fire. Say no by saying yes to the air, to the earth, to the trees, yes to the grasses, to the rivers, to the birds and the animals and every living thing, yes to the small houses, yes to the children. Yes. [ READ THE FULL POEM ]