A Positively Poetic Priest

Among her ideas to expand the reach of the food pantry, Sara Miles wants to start a food pantry on Sunday afternoons at St. Gregory's. She was hoping that people would come for church and lunch and volunteer at the food pantry as an outpouring of love from Sunday morning. "I believed the food pantry represented the best of St. Gregory's practices and values: its openness, its inclusion, its beauty, and its invitation to participate in creating something together." (251)

In the last twenty or so years, psychologists and sociologists have been studying a new cure to depression issues: gratitude practices. Social scientists have been finding that if a person writes down a few specific things for which they are grateful for each day, they find their lives being more satisfying, fuller, and happier. In Christian tradition, we have a long history of giving thanks through worship and praise. Unfortunately in some senses over the years, the personal nature of the Eucharistic act of gratitude has been lost. People don't associate going to church with being thankful for other aspects of their lives. However, there are ways of bringing this association back and making gratitude a daily part of Christian life. Keeping a gratitude journal or jar, sharing gratitudes with other members of the congregation, and reviewing your gratitudes help cultivate a new attitude and make it easier to give thanks to God for all the gifts He has given us!

I am well practiced at the Art  Of walking around in the dark Watching the possibilities of the day Dissipate as so much summer heat Rising off the blackened road And the coolness of the night sink in While gazing into other people's lives Seeing minute differences that gather questions  In the questioning of the back of the mind Am I happy the way I live Should I be storing my clothes in other ways And I, I, who have hated every moment Every breath and fiber of my life Am now punch drunk in love With every question every dirty dish  Polluting my kitchen sink with requirements And every silly random act of kindness along the way Reminding me of my mother's saying Practice does not make perfect Only perfect practice could make perfect and we are everything but perfect But as the moon rises to greet us Those who pay attention to its quirky smiles And I giggle about trying to find the one mistake  In every Turkish rug hand-lovingly-made The wind sighs and whispers It do...