Which crowd?

Luke 19:36-40

As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen,

saying,

“Blessed is the king

who comes in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven,

and glory in the highest heaven!”

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

This is the time

to work out

who we are

without a crowd.

We, who are so fickle 

often drawn in by popular opinion

often dragged along for the ride

have the opportunity

to question

who we are

and what we believe.

Will we still cry out

Hosanna!

Lord save us!

Or will we keep on colluding

with political forces

that oppress the poor

and allow the rich to prosper?

Silencing the voices of dissent

ignoring pleas for justice?

This Palm Sunday

away from the crowd,

whose name is on our lips

and whose creed

is written on our heart?

Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna! 

Fool’s Errand

 

It started with the search for a colt

a fools errand for the disciples

It ended with a parade

a clown's procession for the common people.

For Jesus used that colt

to laugh in the face of the authorities

taunting them

flexing his muscles of influence and popularity.

He really should have been keeping a low profile.

But, throwing caution to the wind,

he took himself into the city

and, enjoying, momentarily, the protection of the crowd

he pushed his enemies over the edge.

And he knew it.

He looked around, saw it was late, and left.

Late on so many levels.

Late in the day.

Late in the journey.

Too late for him.

His boats were now burned

and the salvaged timber already fashioned

into a cross.

A simple request: Find me a colt

set in motion

a whole series

of truths and dares

of arrest and trial

of betrayal

and denial.

His fate was sealed

and so was our redemption

as palms dissolve into passion.

A fool's errand indeed!

Liz Crumlish Palm Sunday 2012

It’s all about her

 

John 12:1-8

Mary Anoints Jesus

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

It’s not about the poor

It’s not about the dinner guests 

It’s not about the keeper of the purse

It’s about a woman’s extravagant gift

The costly ointment

The fragrance

The unadulterated love exposed for all to see

And the discomfort of 

witnessing such beauty and truth 

becomes too much to bear

And so the focus is diverted

from a woman’s gift

to the men’s distraction techniques

lest we, too, should be moved

to such radical acts of  love

that are searing to witness

causing those not comfortable in their own skin

to look away

to find distraction

in things that, in this moment,

do not matter.

Our discomfort might be transformed

by looking deeply

at the longings

and the fears

the envy

and the loss

that are stirred up in us

who bear witness

to a pure

and spontaneous love.

It’s all about Mary

and her love.

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.