Sharing a poem today by David Sparenburg, which was printed in the January-March 2010 Baptist Peacemaker. This poem is for voices who protest, for people of faith whose way is not easy, for everyone who longs for the courage to live a life of intentionality and purpose.
Blessed are you thirst
that teaches me the piety of water.
Blessed are you hunger
that teaches me the generosity of bread.
Blessed are you prejudice
that leads me in righteousness
to embracing strangers.
Blessed are you despair
that creates me again
through strength of prayer.
Blessed are you hatred
that opens my wounds
to the healing of peace.
Blessed are you, my ordeals of suffering—the shiver of cold
the grieving of loneliness
the bureaucracy of oblivion—
that teaches me through pain
skills of survival.
Blessed are you dreadful darkness
that murmurs to my midnight heart
the promise of returning light.
Blessed are you terror of death
that binds my soul
to the passion of life.
Blessed are you who are numb
who do not see or hear me
for through you
have I learned to lift my voice in protest
and turn my eyes to God.
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