Poetry and Prayer—Day 23: March 23

Written by: Julia Smolucha

Marked by Ashes by Walter Brueggemann

Frazzled, we wait. Frightened, we wait. Forgetful, we wait. Forgotten, we wait. Fearless, we wait. Forged in the fire of misfortune, we wait. Fatigued, we wait. With failed hope, we wait. Unforsaken, we wait. As we wait, you enter in. Unexpected. Sometimes unwelcome. Often unseen. In our waiting, find us, renew us, bless us. Amen.

Cabinet of Colloquial Curiosities, VII: Eucatastrophe

April 4, 2021

So here’s a eucatastrophe for you. The son of holocaust survivors grows up to lead the push to create a vaccine which will save the lives of millions of Germans, many of them sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, of Nazis. Good thing the Nazi didn’t kill all those Thessalonican Jews. God has such a twisted sense of humor.

Cabinet of Colloquial Curiosities, VI: Interfulgent

April 1, 2021

We've read the whole story many times, so we know how this ends. That helps a little bit, that's interfulgence in itself. But even besides that, in the story itself, in the story of Jesus passion, John gives us these little rays of hope. For instance, the shadow of grief. Mary of Bethany, one of Jesus’ best friends, understands the importance of his life and the imminence of his death...

Cabinet of Colloquial Curiosities, V: Dolorifuge

March 28, 2021

Are our hearts truly, genuinely, wrenchingly broken by the things that break the heart of God? One dolorifuge is to do something meaningful with your dolor so that the dolor never happens again to someone else.

Poetry and Prayer—Day 23: March 23