Another HUGE DOWNER! (a great poem)

Posted: November 18th, 2009 | Author: Peter | Filed under: God, church, emerging church, inequality, reparations, sin, suffering | 2 Comments »

So, I’ll have to reiterate, I’m doing just fine – but I think it’s important to create space for sorrow, suffering, and transparent struggle. Christianity, at it’s best, is weak and unassuming – a corporate manifestation of beatitude-leastness. That’s where transformative, subversive power comes from (power “made perfect in weakness”).

My friend Adele (www.ExistentialPunk.com) posted yesterday’s poem, “A Prayer of Anger” on her blog with a raw and painful glimpse into her struggles. I’m so thankful for how real she is.

In the comments of the post, Marika posted another beautiful, gut-wrenching, horrifying, painful poem about Christianity and colonialism (and I’m sure about a lot more than that) that I just HAD to share with you…

Marika posted…

‘The Island’ by R S Thomas:

And God said, I will build a church here

And cause this people to worship me,

And afflict them with poverty and sickness

In return for centuries of hard work

And patience.

And its walls shall be hard as

Their hearts, and its windows let in the light

Grudgingly, as their minds do,

and the priest’s words be drowned

By the wind’s caterwauling. All this I will do,

Said God, and watch the bitterness in their eyes

Grow, and their lips suppurate with

Their prayers. And their women shall bring forth

On my altar, and I will choose the best

Of them to be thrown back into the sea.

And that was only on one island.

3792 Comments2009-11-18+06%3A38%3A00Peter on “Another HUGE DOWNER! (a great poem)”

1 Existential Punk said at 7:49 pm on November 17th, 2009:
That was raw, huh?!!! i just came across Marika recently on twitter and have her blog in my reader. Another important female voice!Thanks for the shout-out, Peter!Adele
2 Peter said at 1:25 pm on November 18th, 2009:
Raw, in a good way!EP keeps it real.

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