Saturday, December 19, 2015

What we witnessed

What we witnessed

For my godchild,
Ben Flom,
on the occasion of his confirmation
at St. Paul’s-in-the-Pines Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, North Carolina
December 20, 2015



When the waters of life
on that late autumn day
 washed over you,

a flame within you
blazed 
suddenly and even more brightly

than the Paschal flare
above us.
I saw it!

and rejoiced in it!
as we all did
who stood there

amazed
at this moment
of absolute grace,

reflected
in the waters
beneath you.

And as that water
dried, we all
gazed into your eyes


and saw divinity
staring back. You were—
as we all are—

a child of the unstoppable
unrestrained Love
that came to us

in these same waters,
in this same anointing,
in this same candle flame

that made us—
and you—
in turn

to be
unstoppable
unrestrained Love.


 --Jamie Parsley

No comments:

A Prayer to get through this Monday

  By Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber, ELCA   Dear God, There’s so much to fear right now that I’m sort of losing track of what to worry about mo...