Unexpected

After the darkness.
After your living death.
After your brokenness,

so obvious strangers cried with you.
After your fall,
something unexpected:

Color.
Light.
Spirit renewed

by the God
of second chances.

==========================

About the Poem

I’ve been waiting for 15-20 years, since hearing Branan Thompson, then pastor at Colonial Avenue Baptist Church, use the phrase “the God of second chances” in a sermon, to use it again somewhere. Finally the right place arose.

The picture was taken at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, VT.

About these Lenten Poems

My friend Cathy Benson is on to something. Instead of doing without for Lent, she is doing MORE with a prayer project that is thoughtful and caring.

Giving up something for Lent is a church tradition, not a biblical command. It was designed to get our minds and hearts right as we approach the holy week and Easter. It’s a good spiritual discipline.

But I think a spiritual discipline of doing something more is also a powerful way to prepare our hearts for Easter. The Methodists, through their “Rethink Church” initiative have come up with a photographic way to do this (see below). I am going to add a poem with each image for the lent season to help prepare myself. Feel free to glom on to the idea, visit the blog and read, or share your thoughts and prayers.