Sacred Ground Ministries

Have you heard of Wendell Berry? He’s an author, poet, and farmer (my kind of guy). I stumbled across his name and jumped into some of his writing and was captivated. One of the hallmarks of good writing is if it resonates or rings true, and his work surely does that. One favorite poem has become the inspiration for this new ministry that has been born because it so deeply inspired and reaffirmed a tender truth I believed.

I want to share a few lines from Wendell Berry’s poem “Sabbaths – 1979, IV”

“The bell calls in the town
Where forebears cleared the shaded land
And brought high daylight down
To shine on field and trodden road.
I hear, but understand
Contrarily, and walk into the woods.
I leave labor and load,
Take up a different story.
I keep an inventory
Of wonders and of uncommercial goods.

I climb up through the field
That my long labor has kept clear.
Projects, plans unfulfilled
Waylay and snatch at me like briars,
For there is no rest here
Where ceaseless effort seems to be required,
Yet fails, and spirit tires
With flesh, because failure
And weariness are sure
In all that mortal wishing has inspired…”

For myself and so many of us, isn’t the question often, can I leave labor and load? Can I leave this heaviness, this sinfulness of myself and others, this weariness behind? In Jesus, the answer is yes. Yes, there is an invitation into quiet places of rest and renewal where we can choose to live by another narrative, or as Wendell Berry puts it, take up a different story.

It won’t come without difficulties, though. Sometimes life is full of reminders of what could have been or should be. To-do lists and tasks or goals that lay beyond our capacity shout to us and vie for our attention. One thing I’m continually learning is that the oft-repeated line “It’s always something, isn’t it?” is actually very true. Wendell Berry says ceaseless effort seems to be required. Jesus said “in this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). And yet, even in all of that is an invitation to press on, to make our life one that keeps an inventory of wonders.

But what is required of us? Jesus tells in that same verse to “take heart.” Taking heart has the connotation of acting, doing something decisive. It is both an act of the will and a willingness to follow the path of king Jesus who took heart by opening his, not closing it or shutting it off. Taking heart has to allow space to access our hearts and the feelings that are within. Jesus overcame the world through letting his heart beat, beat, beat with tenderness and emotion. Oh, that we could have the bravery to be ones who journey on for a “walk into the woods,” even if contrarily at first. And that walking in the woods of honesty and rest would open up to us hope of a world in which there is “joy without defect.”

“Sabbaths – 1979, IV”