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.

 

Out of context

 

Luke 6:17-21

Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

Then he looked up at his disciples and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

“Blessed are you who are hungry now,

for you will be filled.

“Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.

Context matters

Blessing the people NOT the status

It is not blessed to be poor

unless your poverty has come from giving away all that you have

so that another might reach that ethereal bread line

It is not blessed to be hungry

unless your hunger arises out of sharing the food that you have

or out of recognising that you’ve over-indulged in what does not satisfy

It is not blessed to weep

unless your weeping stems 

from the realisation of love lost or squandered

or for opportunities not realised

or from compassion for others who grieve

Poverty, hunger and weeping are only blessed

when they come from choosing

what serves another.

So enough of absolving ourselves of responsibility

Enough of taking these beatitudes out of context

Jesus blesses people not their status

let’s choose to make a difference

for the poor, the hungry and the weeping

by noticing

by sharing

by feeding

by accompanying 

And, in so doing, to know ourselves blessed.

Mary, mother of God

 John 2:1-5

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

When I read this story, I want to say:

Jesus, don’t speak to your mother like that!

“My hour has not yet come”

What kind of response is that?

Like a teenager who always knows better than their parent

not yet at the stage of valuing the wisdom that is often found

in those who have seen a thing or two

and who bear the scars that tell the stories

of how their wisdom was won.

I want to say:

“Jesus, listen to your mother.”

Jesus’ mother, in her wisdom

overlooked her son’s petulance

and alerted the folk at the feast

to prepare for the possibility of a miracle.

Sometimes, just sometimes, mothers really do know best.

And, like the water turned to wine,

there was abundance

Abundance that meant that there was

room enough,

grace enough

love enough

to go beyond dismissal

to carry on regardless

and to resist the temptation to say:

“I told you so”

Mary, mother of God.

Epiphany blessing

 

May your days be filled with Epiphany

Those moments of sudden insight

when light rudely floods in, erasing the dark

And those slow burning awakenings

where tiny nudges persist in gathering

until realisation gently dawns 

Moments of wisdom

Of awakening

Of clarity

Of sense-making

Moments that seduce you

drawing you forward

with joyful anticipation

Moments that propel you

into wonderful new possibilities

And, embracing the light

may you practice generosity

lighting the way for others

and practice resurrection

by transforming the future

in unexpected ways

reaching beyond confines of space and time

perceiving beauty in all, inside and out.

Liz Crumlish Epiphany 2022