Still awake and still alive

August 20, 2022

Dear PJs Community,

The end-of-summer breeze and cicada songs are starting to fill the air. Even for those of us who are long out of school, or who are in school but not on a schoolyear schedule, there is a shift in the air leading up to the back-to-school season. For some, it is a time of transition and anticipation, starting new things, shifting into new patterns. For others, it is a more subtle shift in the surroundings as students move into town and kids go back to school.

Here at PJ's, we're starting to look ahead to the future. Our new priest, the Rev. Stacey Kohl, will start after Labor Day! We are beginning to think about our annual Homecoming service that we're planning for September 25th, as well as an official launch to our Capital Campaign so we can make some much needed upgrades to our beautiful building and continue making it more accessible to our community.

In times of excitement, of change, of anticipation, of stress, of turmoil in the world, it can all feel like too much. But may we rest assured that as long as we are here, awake and alive, we have a God who is always with us, always loves us, and always gently urges us to strive for peace, seek justice, and love each other.

I'm sharing with you a poem that came to my email inbox this week that spoke to me. Today we are still here, still awake, and still alive, and that is a blessing.

What We Do—Now

By Ellen Hagan
— after Gwendolyn Brooks

We mourn, we bless,
we blow, we wail, we
wind—down, we sip,
we spin, we blind, we
bend, bow & hem. We
hip, we blend, we bind,
we shake, we shine,
shine. We lips & we
teeth, we praise & protest.
We document & we
drama. We demand &
we flow, fold & hang
loose. We measure &
we moan, mourn & whine
low. & we live, and we
breathe. & some of the time,
we don’t.

Tonight, I am here. Here
& tired. Here & awake,
sure, & alive. Yes here &
still, still here, still & here
& still awake & still still
alive.

“What Do We Do—Now” Copyright © 2016 by Ellen Hagan. Poem reproduced via The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database by Split This Rock.


Peace and Blessings,
Claire Cody, co-warden