Page 200 - Eggs and Ashes pages

Good Friday 199

She sheltered her neighbours,
whose children had played with her children;
but then she became afraid for her own family –
she told them they must leave.
Father, forgive …

He was a priest.
The people gathered in his church
to pray for God’s help and to beg for sanctuary;
his Archbishop reminded him of his duty –
he let in the soldiers.
Father, forgive …

He was a UN peacekeeper.
He saw what was happening;
he reported to people in offices far away;
they said ‘Do nothing’ –
his hands were tied.
Father, forgive …

She has shares
in a company that sold arms
to the government in Rwanda.
She heard the distant news;
the money still goes into her account.

And she and we must give account
for our complicity in the cruelty
and the cold violence of our world.
Father, forgive us …

Jan Sutch Pickard

At the cross

I see Christ crucified still – today:
where the hungry cry for food,
die for food,
though there’s plenty.
Where people are yelled at,
jeered at –