In my sermon on Sunday April 26th I referenced a poem from Rev. Jan Richardson called “For Those Who Have Far to Travel.”* I assume you know by now how much I love poetry. While I do not presume that I have made anyone fall in love with poetry during my ministry here with you, I do somehow hope that you have come to tolerate hearing poems from time to time. After all poems have a unique power to share universal human experiences.

Anyway, Rev. Jan Richardson is a writer, artist, and ordained minister in the United Methodist Church. Over the years I have come to love her poetry, and I shared the opening lines with you.

If you could see
the journey whole,
you might never
undertake it,
might never dare
the first step
that propels you
from the place
you have known
toward the place
you know not.

Call it
one of the mercies
of the road:
that we see it
only by stages
as it opens
before us,
as it comes into
our keeping,
step by
single step.

What I didn’t share is that this is a poem she wrote as a blessing for Epiphany. Of course that is a natural time of year when we think about journeys. Though journeys have obviously been on my mind of late given my personal time of discernment as my family prepares to move from Colchester to Orange.

This poem came into my mind as I was writing my sermon on Psalm 23 and the need to rely on the guidance of our Good Shepherd. Because it struck me that we are on journeys as individuals and as a community of faith. We have also experienced loss in our congregation and we may be contemplating the journey from life to death to eternal life. The beginning of this poem seemed important to share for all of us.

The thing about journeys is that we cannot see all that lies ahead of us.
We do see only by stages as the path opens before us.
We journey step by single step.

When I have been on silent retreats at Gonzaga Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester, Massachusetts I often wander the grounds.
The paths have become more familiar by now, and it truly is a wandering journey.
The path is sometimes through the woods with spongy moss underfoot.
Then the terrain changes as one gets closer to the cliffs of the ocean.
The path becomes rocky and more uneven.
You really have to look down and watch your step, even as you are tempted to lift your eyes to see all that lies ahead of you—to glimpse the glimmering water ahead.

So it is with life.
So it is with faith.
We journey on step by single step.

Blessings for all of us as we travel from the places we have known to the places we know not (yet).

Love,
Pastor Lauren

Photos by Rev. Lauren Ostrout of Gonzaga Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester, MA.

*Jan Richardson, “For Those Who Have Far to Travel, An Epiphany Blessing,”

Epiphany: Blessing for Those Who Have Far to Travel

Thursday Thoughts 4/30/26