Prodigal Lent

John 13:5

Then Jesus poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.

The dust with which Lent began is

Prodigal

Lavish

Wasteful 

Extravagant

Everywhere

Dust of life and of death 

Dust of loss and uncertainty

Dust of fear and despair

Dust in the rubble 

of hopes and dreams

of cities laid to waste

Dust in the ashes

of indiscriminate missiles

and in the soil of mass graves

SO MUCH DUST

And in the dust

communities gather

united in their sorrow

defiant in their grief

refusing to give up on love

Out of dust

tear-streaked dust

they have gathered up dignity

and moved to mobilise hope

and sought to overcome evil 

And the God who fashioned humanity out of dust

kneels in the dust

with those who weep

with those who mourn

and with those who stand against might

breathing life and hope

as in the beginning

And the earth cries out

for another miracle

to be wrought out of dust.

Unholy Trinity

Remembering Archbishop Oscar Romero, assassinated this day in 1980

 

Prophets

Willing to speak truth to power 

Willing to call out injustice 

Willing to draw attention

to the plight of those on the margins

whose voices are not heard 

and whose cries go unheeded 

Accomplices of Poets

who describe and prescribe a better way

Who put into words

a vision of inclusion

A vision in which nothing is right side up

and where influence is found 

in the least and the last 

Alongside Dreamers

who remind us

that transformation is possible 

for those who believe 

who reimagine a future 

that is not yet

but will be.

An unholy Trinity

those three

Prophets, Poets, Dreamers, 

who mark out the thresholds 

and stand in gateways

and remind us of the margins 

where the rejects 

and the outcasts 

and all whom we exclude 

gather together in hope

and in certainty of the knowledge 

that God’s favour rests

on those who are overlooked 

Prophets, Poets and Dreamers 

showing us where and how 

the Kingdom of God is

in every place and time.

Enough

 Luke 13:6-9

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”

Lord how often have I felt

like that fig tree in the vineyard

Using up all my resources

simply to cling to life

You did not abandon me

You nurtured 

and caressed

provided and sustained

the thread of life

that kept on going

You honoured the breath that remained

You did not condemn

but asked me to wait

To wait

To wait

To wait in hope

Honouring survival

as a beautiful gift

that is enough

for life

Let's hear it for the women

On this International Women's Day, I commend to you this book, recently published, that takes a look at some of the women on the Bible. Some of them are named, some unnamed. In the canon of Scripture, all were presented through a patriarchal lens - and their story is diminished by the stories of the men around them and their framing of history. Attempting to recover HERSTORY, this is a collection celebrating their love and passion, their courage and conviction. 

An extract from the book:

Giving thanks today
for all those women who paved a way
and on whose shoulders I have stood...
Those of the past and those of the present
Wise women
Witches, hags and crones
Birthing communities
Birthing stories.
Birthing faith, hope and love
And blazing a trail for women
throughout the world.