Listen
Truly this man was God’s son
Mark 15:39
Here is the world.
Beautiful and terrible things will happen.
Do not be afraid.
Frederick Buechner
Pray
Lord
you who trade
beauty for ashes
Let not my anger
burn down the field
where wonder grows
You were a Jew
under Greco-Roman rule
tied to a wooden beam
killed by the state
on a Friday afternoon
And it was the guard
spear in hand
Caesar on his chest
who whispered aloud
what the temple could not:
Son of God
How
does mercy
outlive
the machinery
of cruelty?
Oh God, my God
God of the torn veil
You know the weight
I carry in my chest
the hard grain
of my resentments
Meet me there
As I honor my grief
Lord, pour out
your Holy Spirit
until I am softened
to the shape of Christ.
Let your Kingdom come.
Amen
Abide
Dear Friend
This world can be
a narrow room
where power decides
who gets to breathe
Yet Christ stands
in the dust
weeping
refusing to turn away
May you hear his grief
moving through the noise
of our streets
May you hear his intercession
on the cross
May you join him
May you be the salt of the world
In the Name of the One
who told us to take courage
Amen