Rewilding church

Matthew 13:14-15

With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:

‘You will indeed listen, but never understand,

and you will indeed look, but never perceive.

For this people’s heart has grown dull,

and their ears are hard of hearing,

and they have shut their eyes;

so that they might not look with their eyes,

and listen with their ears,

and understand with their heart and turn—

and I would heal them.’

Information overload

and so little discernment of truth

2020 vision

clouded by normalising the abhorrent

It seems we’d rather live with lament

than live with protest

Focusing on loss

relieves us of being a blessing

Accepting the awful

absolves us of working for change

The seeds of restlessness

sown in anger

have been domesticated

trapped within the hothouses

of our churches

released gently

in superficial platitudes

neatly contained

to prevent giving offence

Buried deep

not so that life will blossom

but so that the darkness

will arrest change

and slow down reaction

And as we, who have been given much

remain silent

the invasive march

of shallow sown policies

rampage into all of life

trampling and subduing

tender shoots 

of truth

and justice

and love

and kindness

cutting off the breath

of voices that speak dissent

pervading and naturalising

what is anathema

Rewild us, O God

Open our eyes to see

and our ears to hear

and our lips to speak

and our hands to do

the work to which you call

Dismantle our collusion 

that tacitly accepts systems

that benefit some and diminish others

Rekindle our dreams 

of realising commonweal *

Awaken our courage

to challenge authority

to protest

to subvert the policies

of the rich and the powerful

to resist the normalising of injustice

Rewild our hope 

that your ways of peace will prevail

against violence and oppression 

Make us persistent

in calling out evil

and in working with compassion

alongside all who suffer

So may your church once more

sow seeds of dissent

and propagate shoots of opposition

that blossom into actions

that transform lives

in the garden economy of God.

Rewild us, O God.

(*Commonweal: the well-being of a whole community)