Lost and Found

Today our priest Sandy Casey-Martus read this poem by David Wagoner at the beginning and end of her profound sermon on Luke 15:1-10. Read it slowly; sit and wait.

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still.
The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

~~David Wagoner

"Lost" from Collected Poems 1956-1976 © Indiana University Press.