September 26, 2021

The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Dear Friends,

Yogi Berra, the late, great baseball catcher and manager is famous for the many puzzling things he used to say.  One of his most famous lines is, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”  What did he mean?  Was he advising that any old path will do when it’s unclear which way you should go?  In Yogi’s defense, the saying makes perfect sense when you hear it in its proper context.  Apparently, he would use it in giving directions to his home in Montclair, NJ.  The Berras lived at the end of a street with a cul-de-sac.  In the cul-de-sac was a cluster of trees that obscured their house.  So you would come to a point of indecision.  But it did not matter if you went to the right or the left.  Either way would take you round to your destination.  Also in Yogi’s defense is another of his famous lines: “I never said half the things I said.”

Does it matter which way we turn?  When we come to the forks in the road that represent major decisions in our lives, will any old direction do?  Does God have a preference, or a will for which way we should go?  Last week the Sunday Forum awakened from its summer slumber with a series on spiritual discernment.  Julia presented the work of Parker Palmer, whose book, Let Your Life Speak is a guide for those in search of their true calling.  This week I will be presenting a framework for Christian discernment that may be useful when we reach the inevitable forks in the road, both major and minor.  I look forward to a robust conversation: 10 am in the reception room and on Zoom.

Also this Sunday is the long-awaited Grace Parish Showcase.  We are a church family with many extraordinarily talented artists.  They did not waste their time during the pandemic.  Come see what they produced!  Tuttle Hall will be filled with displays of their work, as well as tasty treats, beverages, and games.  It will be a coffee hour for the ages!

See you in church.

The Rev. J. Donald Waring
Rector