Read the full issue of this week’s newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal Oct. 13.

Rev. Justin Schroeder writes:

On Sunday, I shared this poem from Rilke, from the Book of Hours (excerpted):

…Just give me a little more time!
I want to love the things
as no one has thought to love them.

To my ears, this poem ends with an invitation to show up and be present to what is, to let love and attentiveness help take down the “walls we’ve built,” to help repair the damage we’ve caused.

It’s curious how a poem can work on you. During the second presidential debate, at the very end, when the two candidates were asked to name something they admired about each other, the posturing and the attacks disappeared. Two flawed, vulnerable human beings honestly named something they respected about one another. I was shocked. Hearing this exchange, something in me shifted. The debate ended, but I found myself thinking,

Just give me (us) a little more time!
I (we) want to love the things
as no one has thought to love them.

Perhaps, in these challenging and troubling times, this is our true calling: while we have breath, our task is to love the hell out of this world and one another.

I’ll see you in church,
Justin