From 4/7/14
These grapes, she said, were crushed once,
Crushed like the hearts of lovers whose loves
Never return from a desert storm or a wreck
On the freeway or a deep dark sadness.
Still these grapes, she said, become sweet now,
Sweet like the tears I weep for you
And you, for me.
In a circle here, around this cup,
In a sacrament of losses and loving.
And the cup she lifts is Jesus' blood,
Crushed in every loss, mixed with every heart,
Made holy in the terrible tears of mothers
Whose children have cancer and dreamers
Whose homes have burned to the ground.
And she reminds us that to drink from this
Is to believe in the power of all this weakness,
All this tenderness, and the one who is crushed
With us and risen in our simple care for one another.
(With thanks for the gifts of Bishop Yvette Flunder, in worship at Peace United Church, on Sunday, April 6, 2014.)
