SAINT JULIAN PRESS

Ron Starbuck ~ Poet

A PILGRIMAGE
OF CHURCHES
THE GREAT PLAINS

Vesper, Kansas

VESPER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
1 CORINTHIANS 13:12 – (NRSV) 12 For now we see in a mirror,
dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part;
then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
John Knox never imagined
How future Presbyterians would
One day arrive in the New World
To steward and till the land
Where children and grandchildren
And their offspring would grow
As high and resilient as wheat
Planted under a winter sun 
Bright with a promise of America
By their forbearers from distant
And troubled nations without
Peace or plenty or choice
Raising when they first arrived
White wooden churches 
Across a sea of prairie grassland
Blown clean by God’s breath
Across fields fertile in mercy
And what was to be a renewing
And abundant generosity
Where they could see both 
Near and far past all doubt
In a grander hope aspiring
To the utmost curving heaven
Where at night a perfect light
Would gather and bend inward
As stars congregate to observe
Within a hushed stillness
Answering with a mighty
Chorus from which creation
Bravely expands even now
Reflecting a celestial splendor
Of this concealed mystery
Imperceptible to humankind
Wondering if we will 
Ever know and be known 
By such an intimate force
Believing in this longing
An aspiration of moral lives
Cultivating the countryside
As another generation
Adopts a heritage of faith
Ascending from blessed terra
Receiving from John Knox all
These blessings made with prayer​
Picture
VESPER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH — Now a Community Center
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