Copy deadline for the January 2004 issue is Monday,
December 29. Please send inquiries and comments to leaderpub@votf.org
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In
the Vineyard
December 2003
“The
Wise still seek Him.” Anonymous
In
this issue, we wanted to consider the past year as a
mound of wrapped gifts – of time given and received,
of new faces and renewed friends, of fresh commitments
and enlivened goals. For the January issue as well,
our affiliates have been asked to package their reflections
on their parish and diocesan lives; our working groups
will “present” their gifts; our national office will
bring to these pages their “keepers.” This month, too,
Paul Kendrick takes us to Haiti. And the editorial page?
I’ve decided to gift you with words that will resonate
far more clearly than any I can write. As in E. B. White’s
“Distant Music of the Hounds” – do read this some time
in December – you may find yourself looking for a quiet
wood. This small Edwina Gately poem was “discovered”
on just the right, weary weekend of VOTF challenges.
It has become my “keeper 2003” – as have all of you
and the gifts you share with the Vineyard month
after month. Merry Christmas to all.
Peggie
Thorp, Editor
Disciple
of Jesus
Disciple
of Jesus, weary and silent,
Aware in the darkness, of challenges failed
And longings unfilled,
Remembering the passion that sent you forth,
Young and bright and fired with hope
How is it with you now?
Disciple
of Jesus, weary and silent,
World unchanged, its darkness still deep,
Dreams dispelled and visions blurred,
How is it with you now?
Trailing
behind me the spark of fire
Of early passion,
Bruised and tender from love’s long thrust,
Now is the finest, greatest moment,
And now the ultimate death,
For I, disciple of Jesus,
To stand before my God,
Weary and deeply silent,
Claiming only,
I was there.
This
poem appears in Edwina Gately’s book I Hear a Seed
Growing, published by Sources Books.
In
this issue
Voice
of the Faithful, VOTF, "Keep the Faith, Change the Church,"
Voice of Compassion, VOTF logo(s), Parish Voice, and
Prayerful Voice are trademarks of Voice of the Faithful,
Inc.
Voice
of the Faithful is a 501(c) 3 tax-exempt organization.
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