“… an expanded understanding of church as a
sacred launching pad of community engagement
and change.” –Rev. Traci Blackmon

Tina Datsko de Sánchez wrote this new poem for the re-imagined Homecoming Sunday at First Congregational Church, Long Beach.

As summer starts to wane,
this season of jacaranda blooms
and monarch wings will soon
shift to autumn splendor.

The Divine is sheer mercy and grace.

In our isolation, born of this pandemic,
what have we sensed?
A heightened thirst for connecting with each other?
A soul-starved hunger for hugging one another?
Seeing that it is in being together
that we meet the Divine?

The Divine is sheer mercy and grace.

So, in this age of world wide web,
we can plug into community
on our TVs, phones, and computers,
experiencing a homecoming of the heart.

The Divine is sheer mercy and grace.

Through virtual church and sacred Zooms,
we deepen our spiritual connection.
We continue to learn and grow and love.
We renew our commitment
to be transformation and live liberation.

The Divine is sheer mercy and grace.

And we venture forth through the internet
with radical compassion,
a team of change-makers
launching justice and healing
for our planet,
for all our sisters and brothers.

The Divine is sheer mercy and grace.

Tina Datsko de Sánchez serves as Poet in Residence at the First Congregational Church of Long Beach.  She is the author of the bilingual poetry book The Delirium of Simón Bolívar.  Her four-book series of interfaith spiritual poetry inspired by Rumi and Hafiz is forthcoming from The Pilgrim Press.