All through my
Three-plus a long time
As a Minister of Phrase and Sacrament,
Mary Magdalene
Has typically saved me going.
In seasons when ministry has been difficult,
I’ve considered Mary.
In seasons when I’ve served in locations the place
I used to be “the primary girl,”
I’ve considered Mary.
In seasons when my phrases,
As a girl,
Have appeared to others,
“an idle story,”
Unfit of perception –
(Thanks, Gospel of Luke)
I’ve considered Mary.
And sure,
In seasons when of joys-overflowing
And the privilege of proclamation
Have stuffed my soul
With grace-upon-grace,
I’ve considered Mary.
Now,
On this season,
In lately,
After I discover myself
Overwhelmed
By the state of the world,
Almost paralyzed with
Sorrow
And hopelessness
And, sure,
Concern,
I’ve turned once more
To this apply,
To this behavior
Of meditation
And contemplation –
Giving trying time
In order that I would see,
And hear,
And obtain
After which do.
In turning once more
To Mary,
I’ve dwelt,
And proceed to sit down
Along with her picture –
Penetrating eyes,
Assured posture,
Resolved expression –
White egg in her left hand,
Pointing to it together with her proper,
Assured
In what she has skilled,
What she understands,
What she is aware of,
What she believes –
Assured
Within the Fact –
Assured
In God –
And in who God has known as her to be,
And what God has known as her to do.
Assured.
And curiously,
On this season,
In lately,
My paralysis
Has been penetrated
By means of Mary’s picture,
With Mary’s phrases –
5 of them,
To be actual.
The Christian scriptures
Document solely 61 phrases
When they’re translated into English –
That Mary spoke –
a lifetime of articulation
diminished to
a mere speck of mud
by the patriarchy
of her day –
and daily since –
And but,
The patriarchy be damned –
It’s her phrases
That spoke from her
Eyes
And into my coronary heart,
Thoughts,
Soul,
And sure –
To my lips –
In these overwhelming days.
I’ve seen the Lord,
She stated.
I’ve seen the Lord.
She did,
In fact –
After he had been
Tortured,
Executed,
And buried –
Mary noticed Jesus –
And she or he talked to him, too.
The primary to have this privilege
With the Risen One.
After which,
She did what these chosen of God
Have finished
Since time immemorial –
She spoke
God’s Fact
To a disbelieving world –
And that Fact
Grew to become embodied
In
And thru
And with
Her very self
For the remainder of her life –
And –
And within the witness
Of her life
Since she joined
The Nice Cloud of Witnesses
Surrounding us
In our personal
Journeys of religion.
In listening to,
By means of her eyes,
And into my
Coronary heart,
Thoughts,
Soul,
And sure,
My lips –
These 5 phrases –
I’ve seen the Lord –
God has jogged my memory
Who I’m.
God has jogged my memory
What I’m known as to do.
In listening to,
By means of her eyes,
And into my
Coronary heart,
Thoughts,
Soul,
And sure,
My lips –
These 5 phrases –
I’ve seen the Lord –
God has jogged my memory
Of God’s baptismal name
Upon my life –
To resign
The forces that defy God,
To resign
The powers of this world that insurgent in opposition to God,
To resign
The methods of sin that draw us all from God –
And –
And—
To proclaim God –
The Creator of heaven and earth
To proclaim
Christ –
Love Incarnate,
Crucified,
Died,
And raised
For the liberation of the world –
To proclaim
The Holy Spirit –
Making us,
And the entire creation,
New,
Now.
At the moment.
And daily.
