As meetings consider how to reimagine worship, Friends have written movingly about the value of traditional in-person Quaker worship. As I consider these heartfelt thoughts, a song comes to mind from my Methodist days: “This Is My Father’s World.”
This is my father’s world
And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
With full respect for the thoughtful ideas of many Friends, here are some variations on those lines. I’m writing in January. July might invite different couplets.
In the rustling jackets,
We hear God’s racket
In the scuffling feet,
It’s God we meet.
Cell phone is ringing,
That’s God who’s pinging.
Through snooze and snore,
We God adore.
That creaking chair,
May be God’s dare.
We shuffle our gear,
And hear God near.
I dropped my book!
God’s here to look.
Turn crinkly pages,
And God engages.
In sneeze and wheeze,
We hear God’s breeze.
Through breath and sigh,
We know God’s nigh.
And finally, some lines that don’t quite fit the verse pattern above but may be relevant for each of us at some time or another.
I’m not asleep!
Just spiritually deep.
– Carl Abbott, Multnomah Monthly Meeting (NPYM)