Poem for 19th Sunday after Pentecost Mark 10:2-16

We live in a world

less that it should be,

with division, hatred and war.

The reality of this is harsh,

is brokenness

and pain

and from time to time

we try,

try to look past the pain

into the law

and justify

for ourselves and all the others

who are trying to handle the pain

by ourselves,

to handle in our own way

the reality of pain in our lives

making it

we think

less painful.

And sometimes we succeed.

Until

some breeze of fresh air clears the clouds

and we see.

See

the reality for what it is

despite all our attempts to understand

--and rationalize

----and explain

------and study

--------and even glorify

our pain,

but it’s there.

The children know,

their eyesight is keener than ours

they have not been tainted by the years

and hurts

--and “realities” of life.

They know,

the children are the ones who look

and see

the emperor standing there naked

and wonder

why we like his clothes so much.

They see the pain of divorce

and wonder

how we understand it so well.

They feel the pain

and are driven to the cross

with the God who knows our pain,

and standing there

with Jesus for comfort

in their pain

and wonder

why

we don’t see