Letter from Lindy July 25

Pastor Lindy has stepped back from her regular schedule after her husband Lanny passed away suddenly this summer. This is a poem she shared with our congregation — it was sent to her by a friend:

Breathing Under Water by Carol Bieleck, R.S.C.J.

I built my house by the sea.
Not on the sands, mind you;
not on the shifting sand.
And I built it of rock.
A strong house
by a strong sea.
And we got well acquainted, the sea and I.
Good neighbors.
Not that we spoke much.
We met in silences.
Respectful, keeping our distance,
but looking our thoughts across the fence of sand.
Always, the fence of sand our barrier,
always, the sand between.

And then one day,
and I still don’t know how it happened –
the sea came.
Without warning.
Without welcome, even
Not sudden and swift, but a shifting across the sand
like wine,
less like the flow of water than the flow of blood.
Slow, but coming.
Slow, but flowing like an open wound.
And I thought of flight and I thought of drowning
and I thought of death.
And while I thought the sea crept higher, till it
reached my door.
And I knew then, there was neither flight, nor death,
nor drowning.
That when the sea comes calling you stop being
neighbors
Well acquainted, friendly-at-a-distance, neighbors
And you give your house for a coral castle,
And you learn to breathe underwater.

with love,

Pastor Lindy (she/her) why pronouns matter

Living and working on occupied Shakori land.
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