'O' For a Thousand Tongues to Sing'
Reading & Collect
This week's readings can be found here Mark 7.24-end
Our weekly reflection will be part of our Online Service on YouTube on Sunday
Poem
Called to Say Yes From Edwina Gateley (1996, 2013)
We are called to say yes. That the kingdom might break through To renew and to transform Our dark and groping world.
We stutter and we stammer To the lone God who calls And pleads a New Jerusalem In the bloodied Sinai Straights.
We are called to say yes That honeysuckle may twine And twist its smelling leaves Over the graves of nuclear arms.
We are called to say yes That children might play On the soil of Vietnam where the tanks Belched blood and death.
We are called to say yes That black may sing with white And pledge peace and healing For the hatred of the past.
We are called to say yes So that nations might gather And dance one great movement For the joy of humankind.
We are called to say yes So that rich and poor embrace And become equal in their poverty Through the silent tears that fall.
We are called to say yes That the whisper of our God Might be heard through our sirens And the screams of our bombs.
We are called to say yes To a God who still holds fast To the vision of the Kingdom For a trembling world of pain.
We are called to say yes To this God who reaches out And asks us to share His crazy dream of love.
To Pray for
Children who are facing cancer, give them and their family strength and courage
Students returning to school, college or university
Our farmers as they continue to gather in their harvests
For those affected by the terror attack in New Zealand