Crying in the Wilderness

A piece that I will be using in worship tomorrow, that owes its substance to (Deutero-)Isaiah, John the Baptist and Janet Lees who wrote a piece with a similar vibe for a Christian Aid resource many years ago. I have used and posted earlier versions previously but this revised version is the product of having a bit of reflective time during my sabbatical to collate and reshape some of my earlier doodles with a view to publishing them in some form in the not too distant future.

There’s still a lot of crying in the wilderness

In the post-industrial wastelands

The housing estates once lauded

As places of new hope

The slums had been levelled

And the high rises raised up.

Peace had come and prosperity

Would follow in its wake.

But the hope has now run out,

The jobs have been exported,

And peace brings little prosperity

To those who always pay

the highest price for conflict.

The streets need straightened up,

The potholes need filled in

and the pavements re-laid.

Who will cry out with comfort for the hurting?

Who will call out the purveyors of pain?

Topple the towering monuments to division

And use the rubble as the foundation

for God’s new motorway

straight into the hurting heart of this city,

into the heart of the problem,

into your heart and mine.

Bend and break the proud and the powerful,

Raise up those who are bent and burdened,

Lift up their eyes from all they have known

The painful past and present impotence

So that they can see that God is coming

Bringing real peace, tangible hope

and justice that cannot be bought.

Cry out...

Shalom

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