Who has created these divisions? Who has sewn distrust deep into the soil of my homeland? Who has convinced me that we would not harvest together, laughing at failed attempts to identify familiar flowers, and patiently waiting for rain?
All shall be well.
Who has unraveled our community? Who has decided that your neighborhood is safer, cleaner, more stable than mine? Who has convinced you that we would not holler hellos from respective rocking chairs? That we would not patch each other’s quilts and mend each other’s fences?
Still. All shall be well.
Who has contaminated us? Who has blinded us to the incarnate God alive in them, and in her, and in him? Who has convinced us that we would not remember abundance, that we would not all rejoice before the presence of the Lord together, as one Church, united in Spirit?
Christ made flesh.
Love embodied.
Hope made manifest.
Joy, dear friends,
is no scarce resource.
“All manner of things
shall be well.”*
Lament.
Rejoice.
To the one who is able to protect us from falling, we cannot help but rejoice. And, we cannot help but mourn. Give us the strength, Incarnate Word, to build, pray, keep, wait, save. Amen.
Cate Cunningham
Student, Duke Divinity School
Alum, UKirk Memphis
Director for Children & Youth, Mt. Bethel Presbyterian Church
* Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love.
Words for Waiting 