Seek division

 Luke 12:49-53

“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptised, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three;

they will be divided:

father against son

and son against father,

mother against daughter

and daughter against mother,

mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law

and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Not a gospel I wanted to encounter today

as I celebrated Eucharist

Not a text I wished to contemplate

as we wonder what on earth is going on in the world

and as we fervently pray for peace

And yet a gospel that tells it like it is

A gospel that doesn’t shy away from the mess of relationships

and the carnage of being human

of living alongside difference

in all it’s vulnerability and power

A gospel that calls us to account

for all the ways we are indifferent

choosing the way of least resistance

that leads to an easy life.

Just maybe we are called

by the God of peace

to side with the poor and oppressed

to stand with the persecuted 

to hunker down with the hopeless

and to wail with the bereft

To take sides in conflict

and not side with the oppressor by our passivity

in the face of injustice.

Perhaps this is just the kind of gospel

I need to hear today

to strengthen my resolve

to be where God is

on the side of love at all costs

and in the divisions that may cause.

Liz Crumlish October 2023

Embracing the Cailleach

Wise women 

have always been feared

their wisdom reviled or discredited

their ‘unconmentional’ ways

seen as a threat to good order

And, though retribution may have moved 

beyond trials and burnings,

witch hunts are still alive and well

They are just more subtly disguised…

Presented as ‘concerns for welfare’,

exclusions ‘for our own good’.

Executed as persistent attempts to keep us in our own lane

and dampen down the exuberance and creativity 

of which we stand accused.

In this witching season

may we look out for one another

May we pay heed to the signs,

call out the hypocrisy

and whip up a storm of resistance  -

linking arms as we keep the sparkle polished

garnering the power of our ancestors -

all those wise women who have gone before.

May we persist in disrupting the ordinary 

with our shocking impropriety

and propensity for mischief 

confounding those who consistently underestimate our power.

And may we continue to bring healing and joy

wreaking havoc wherever we go

breathing new life into the spirit of the Cailleach.

Liz Crumlish October 2023

Praying for peace

Taking time to pray…

while revelling in the sheer beauty of creation

with the sound of wild geese overhead

and the crash of waves on the beach

seems a far cry

from the midst of the storm of conflicts 

raging throughout the world

where lives are rendered as collateral

in incomprehensible power games 

and land is raised to rubble

magnifying fear of the other.

Witnessing injured children apportioning blame, 

clutching with determination 

promises of revenge and retribution,

extinguishes hope for peaceful resolution 

as hatred and division

are passed from generation to generation.

How long, O God?

For what shall we pray

How shall we tell a new story

of justice and mercy

and inhabit the ways of peace?

Make us relentless in our efforts

to change hearts and minds

working tirelessly for reconciliation

embracing difference and diversity

and life in all its fullness

 

The Sycamore Tree

 

Luke 19:1-7

He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.”

Sycamore trees seem to attract attention

and divided opinions

From the folk who grumbled

that Jesus called Zacchaeus out of the branches of a sycamore

so that a man they deemed “less than”

could enjoy the company of the prophet - 

To those incensed today at the destruction

of an instagrammable icon now lost forever.

And while our focus is on condemnation,

we lose sight of all that we ordinarily tolerate

The swathes of trees destroyed for profit

The habitats lost

Land laid bare

And all the everyday ways that we ravage the earth

and exploit its resources

with scant regard for those from whom 

even the basic necessities of life are withheld

Before we condemn, may we reflect and resolve

to play our part in restoration

of the soul of creation

working alongside the creator of souls

The God who sees us and knows our stories

and offers to be our friend

so that, we too, can know transformation

Transformation that enables us to look beyond what we see 

and what we hear

broadening our vision

and widening our compassion

to care for all of creation.

More than crumbs

 Matthew 15:25-28

But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Lord, if you offered us only crumbs

that would be enough

But you go way beyond in your abundance

You fling wide the gates

Dismantle the barriers

Disrupt the systems

Demolish the boundaries

that keep any from your infinite love

And you call us to join you in subverting

everything that seeks to draw a line

or set up exclusion zones

Open our hearts and our minds

to be as inclusive

and affirming

as keepers of faith today.

(Liz Crumlish 2023)

A woman possessed - of passion, perception and persistence

 

John 20:18

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Mary Magdalene

A woman of strength

a woman of faith

A follower and a leader

who bore witness to the resurrection.

Labelling her as “a woman of ill repute”

suited the narrative of the men

threatened by her insight

who couldn’t live with the notion

that she was a prophet who recognised the Messiah

Labelling her as “possessed”

allowed the patriarchy to dismiss her charisma

and her ability to witness to truth and to power

with her gifts of passion, perception and persistence.

And, when it seems that little has changed

with the passage of time

when strong women and their leadership

is played down, dismissed, undermined

still we continue to do what we do

and to be who we are called to be

women called and ordained

to bear the good news 

birthing life in all its fullness.

Morning Prayer in the city

Listening to the Morning Prayer app

on the London Underground

Pressed up close to a man

carrying what looks like an oboe

I look around and wonder

what others wearing Ear Pods are listening to

Novels? Music? Podcasts?

Perhaps there are other Morning Pray-ers.

Later, at the meeting that brought me to the city

we pray in concentric circles

And upstairs a Pilates instructor

calls out directions to her class

Sharing more than perhaps she intended

unaware of the eavesdroppers in the room below

And my wondering takes me to musing

on whether my core is being strengthened

as I pray underneath her studio

Will I breathe more easily

letting go of all that I’ve been holding on to

Relaxing into who God is?

And the words of David Wagoner’s poem Lost

float into my mind

“Wherever you are is called Here”

So - Here is where I pray.

(Liz Crumlish July 2023)