Dear Friends of SSUMC,
I'm going out to clean the pasture spring;
I'll only stop to rake the leaves away
(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):
I sha'n't be gone long. You come too.
I'm going out to fetch the little calf
That's standing by the mother. It's so young,
It totters when she licks it with her tongue.
I sha'n't be gone long. You come too.
That is the poem entitled “The Pasture” by Robert Frost. It is an invitation to observation of life – together. Can’t you picture the young calf standing by her mother beside the barn on that Vermont farm? I sense from the beauty of these words an invitation also to companionship for a space of time. It’s as though Frost is saying, “I won’t be long, why don’t you join me? I’d enjoy your company.” Some may see in it also an invitation to a longer comradeship than just a space of time. But it speaks invitation of companionship to me.
In this season of Lent there is an invitation from Christ. He walks by us in the work-a-day world that we live in and says,
“Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Matthew 4:19 NRSV
Some decided to follow and found a kingdom of God that astounded them. They saw with new eyes, thought with new minds, and lived with new lives. Their names became new names. Their destines became new destines. They were poor but became rich. They had one job but found another. They found new abilities they thought they would never have. All because a man named Jesus said to them by the sea side one day, “Follow me.”
He comes to you today and invites you into companionship with him. You never know where he will lead you. But if you listen carefully this Lent you will hear him say to you in the words of Frost: I sha'n't be gone long. You come too.
In Christ,
Pastor Paul A. Fryman
State Street UMC
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Quote for the Week: “The most significant change in a person’s life is a change of attitude-right attitudes produce right actions.” - William J. Johnston
