Blessing When the World is Ending
Along with many of you, our hearts are grieved over the death of George Floyd, the heaviness of the way he was killed, and the many other instances of oppression and racism, the majority of which remain unreported, happening every day.
The inmates in the jail are often painfully aware of these realities, dealing with their effects on an ongoing basis. We ask you to join us in prayer and meditation for our country and those in pain, to listen well to those who have suffered and are suffering, and to humbly and reflectively respond.
Liz and Staff at CIC Ministries
Imam Yilmaz Basak, CIC's Muslim Chaplain, shared a poem written by Jan Richardson, an artist, writer, and ordained minister in the United Methodist Church with our staff team. We pray these words full of honesty and struggle can bring you comfort and hope.
Look, the world
is always ending
somewhere.
Somewhere
the sun has come
crashing down.
Somewhere
it has gone
completely dark.
Somewhere
it has ended
with the gun,
the knife,
the fist.
Somewhere
it has ended
with the slammed door,
the shattered hope.
Somewhere
it has ended
with the utter quiet
that follows the news
from the phone,
the television,
the hospital room.
Somewhere
it has ended
with a tenderness
that will break
your heart.
But, listen,
this blessing means
to be anything
but morose.
It has not come
to cause despair.
It is simply here
because there is nothing
a blessing
is better suited for
than an ending,
nothing that cries out more
for a blessing
than when a world
is falling apart.
This blessing
will not fix you,
will not mend you,
will not give you
false comfort;
it will not talk to you
about one door opening
when another one closes.
It will simply
sit itself beside you
among the shards
and gently turn your face
toward the direction
from which the light
will come,
gathering itself
about you
as the world begins
again.
Read Jan's full article here https://paintedprayerbook.com/2016/07/18/blessing-when-the-world-is-ending/
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons © Jan Richardson. janrichardson.com.
