During the interminably long
sermon, the parishioner’s mind
wandered off to thoughts of the
origin of the universe thirteen
billion-plus years ago and he

wondered if that seemed like
an interminably long time for
God who is the Alpha and
Omega in the whole process.
Closer to home, he considered

the geology of his continent
and just north of where he lives
along the Big Lakes — hot
boiling lava under Superior
and yet the water is almost

always too cold to swim, over
to the Grand Canyon and down
three million to sand, some
more to an inland sea, down to
semi-precious stones, slices

of creation preserved for
runners to go from the South
Rim to the North and back
again, mile after mile after
interminable mile probably

without much of a thought of
all those beautiful layers,
those tan, red, gray, black,
seemingly interminable layers
from the river to the ever

blue sky. And then he thought
about his short life and how
fast it is going. Amen. And
now the offering will be
received.