Gratitude Twenty-Four:
The hymn sing at Freiman Stoltzfus’s Gallery in Lancaster. An annual event, Freiman and his friends bring in wooden benches to line the gallery, fill a table with a delicious appetizer feast, and invite musicians and a song leader and poetry readers for an evening of harvest celebration in this space filled with Freiman’s paintings. Looking a painting of a cornfield feels like the painting is hinting at the secret of the universe. Music and good food and beautiful words in the midst of these sublime paintings is a deeply spiritual experience. I fell so blessed and honored to participate.
May we walk in Beauty!
I wrote this poem for this year’s hymn sing (I need to acknowledge that the title is somewhat borrowed from a Jan Richardson poem, “And the Table Will Be Wide”):
The Table is Wide
(for Freiman Stoltzfus)
May your table be wide,
may your arms be laden
with the bounty of harvest,
may your heart be willing.
May your feast be filling,
may your beloved’s eyes
be filled with laughter,
may your table be wide.
May your doors be open,
may strangers be welcome
to sit at your table,
may your feast be filling.
May your heart be willing,
may stories flow like wine
poured into glasses,
may your doors be open.
May your table be wide.
Mockingbird Chronicles 