Ancestors – A Thread You Follow

gathering of crows

grandfathers tell us to wait
for the spirit to descend 
upon our hearts
not like in sanctuaries
where the order of worship
must be followed
but in the cawing of crows 
gathering in the limbs
above our heads on a winter day

Not familiar with your life?

Begin with the entrance of your family story
or, perhaps, with the origin of giving thanks.
Has the world changed that much?
Can all be included in circles of trust
covenanting to agree on the use of the public?
What does it mean to place your personal 
history into a larger narrative that includes
the Pequot Massacre of 1637?  Or any other
massacre or mauling, decreed or undecreed.
Ask, Who's hand holds the other's hand, today?

The people of long ago are not remembered. – Ecclesiastes 1:11

Recollector,
who promised Abraham descendants
as numerous as the stars and the sand,
stuck in the middle of posterity,
descendants become ancestors,
numerous become nameless,
today becomes yesterday;
as we tread the next step
send the named ones
to surround us.
Amen.