Turning

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. John 2:13-22

Turning Tables

We find ourselves gathered
a time turning
commerce no more
no business as usual
a time for passion zeal and compassion
a time to make room for God.

The storm blew through
a rage against the corrupt decay
a fervent desire to transform
ushered in by disaster
wind and rain, tears and sorrow
but light is rising
over the horizon
a new day coming for us all.

We are made in the image
of a beautiful creator
we walk in the steps
of a passionate messiah
we are lonely but not alone
isolated but not abandoned
free by bound
by love and service.

We have walked our trails
bent in pain and loss
shamed and rejected we fell away
we thought nothing left
and God's fury God's passionate love
screamed life back in
our lungs expanding eyes opening
wonder and delight
a room full of friends and family
we walk forward together
never again alone.


The painting is by my aunt, Kay WalkingStick