Watching the news, seeking how to pray for and love people, in tragic circumstances, both in front of and behind our cameras, is become increasingly unavoidable. Encountering my own and friend’s difficulties in getting older, falling increasing out of touch with a culture running away from us and our aging parents. I am thrown back, again and again on prayer and a God who loves, who is not afraid of death, who is not afraid of life, who calls us up beyond our greeds into Love’s generosity. Lord, take me there. Take us there.
And God says, ”I am”.
“That’s not the way. They shouldn’t do that.”
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People running in the streets
with a selection of suit coats
faces covered
with appliances in their arms
smoking buildings, cars,
hurt policemen
in the background
because peaceful demonstrations are held
against the deep injustice
of killing power
used to extract
more and more
of what they don’t have
to show what?
that we are stronger?
the system has broken
ceased to exist
(if it ever did)
for these
and the only power
they have been given
is to revolt
and take the riches
that they are excluded from
what fuels the gangs in prisons
and on the streets?
we send young men and women
with nowhere to go
to gang school prisons
“to keep us safe”
We acquire more and more
“to keep us secure”
while people have the privilege of working for a living
taken away
for a minor offence’s fee
which they cannot pay
compounded returns
just like we want
in our success drive
as we are leave behind
those than cannot compete
in our Games of Riches
and we laugh
when we get a “Get Out of Jail, Free” card
and we laugh
when they land on a “No Parking, Pay $10” space
which takes away
their livelihood
“they shouldn’t act like they do”
“they should stop it, right now”
a frustrated 2 year old’s mother
tired
has forgotten how to love
her problem
child
Lent 2012 - through death into life 