Sandbags and tin boats

Listening on a Zoom this week

to a colleague who ministers in Lismore…

listening to stories of sandbags and tin boats

listening to the open mouth shock

and the anger

that this climate crisis gallops apace…

Listening to the news that floodplains which held housing and supermarkets and primary schools may never be built upon again.

Listening to the cry of the heart: how long oh god before we wake up and take real action…

As we enter into Lent

let us repent and turn towards the light…

blessings.

Alex

 

The Opening of Eyes

That day I saw beneath dark clouds

the passing light over the water

and I heard the voice of the world speak out,

I knew then, as I had before

life is no passing memory of what has been

nor the remaining pages in a great book

waiting to be read.

It is the opening of eyes long closed.

It is the vision of far off things

seen for the silence they hold.

It is the heart after years

of secret conversing

speaking out loud in the clear air.

It is Moses in the desert

fallen to his knees before the lit bush.

It is the man throwing away his shoes

as if to enter heaven

and finding himself astonished,

opened at last,

fallen in love with solid ground.

 

By David Whyte