At last Wednesday’s pastoral staff meeting I began our time together with some silence and a reading of one my favorite Mary Oliver poems, In the Storm, in which Oliver takes a tender scene from nature—acts of kindness between birds in a storm—and uses her keen observational powers and poetic brilliance to bring it home to the lives we are living.
Ron Pennington (Julie’s brother), Barbara Pennington (mother) and Julie.
Perhaps it’s a case of poetic timing that, one week later, I’m sitting at the dining room table in my mother’s snug little home on the outskirts of Orlando, watching rain pelt the windows as we await the eye wall of Hurricane Ian to pass over this area.
While it’s been years since I’ve experienced a major storm, my Floridian mom, at 83, is a veteran “hurricaner.”
We made a quick trip to Trader Joe’s for bottled water on the way home from the airport on Monday, which was fortunate since store shelves are empty today (along with Orlando International Airport, Disneyworld and all major theme parks).
Yesterday, after we brought all of Mom’s potted plants and garden doodads indoors, she said, “Well, we’re as ready as we’re going to be. Let’s watch The Waltons.”
Several FBCDC folk have loved ones and/or property in Florida. My brother lives in St. Petersburg, in the Tampa Bay Area. His home is situated less than a mile from the ocean and is vulnerable to storm surge. Let us hold them in prayer today, along with our siblings in Christ at William Carey Baptist Church in Havana and all the people of Cuba as the government tries to reactivate the power grid.
Circling back to dear Mary Oliver and her ode to kindness in the poem, In the Storm, I have witnessed multiple acts of kindness in Florida just over the past few days. The Orange County Homeless Coalition is operating around the clock; neighbors are checking on neighbors; store clerks have been offering a “Y’all stay safe!” to every customer; loved ones from around the country have reached out to check on my mother and me.
In these days of natural, political, and personal storms, surely kindness is one of the most needed fruit of the Spirit and a tangible expression of Christ’s two-fold commandment to love God and all the neighbors in our path.
I do plan to be with you for World Communion Sunday and the Mid-Atlantic CBF gathering in the afternoon. Thank you for your prayers, church family. I’m holding all of you in mine.
In peace,
Image created using Ai tool Midjourney, edited in photoshop.