through the cracks of the old

God is doing new things, Jesus proclaimed, but only those with new minds and hearts can see a new world breaking through the cracks of the old.

                     Ilia Delio, The Hours of the Universe

______________________________

 

here I am

dangling over the precipice of the new

hanging on for dear life

 

oh Lord

you are calling me to let go

to open my mind, my heart, my soul

you are calling me to let go

 

and to plummet

into that fearful newness

to die as it were

 

so that I might be born again

 

I am a creature of habit Lord

I like what is familiar and comfortable

I cling to old thoughts

old habits

old systems

 

I cannot see

I do not want to see

Where things are broken

 

I do not want to examine closely the foundations

of my society

my life

and see where things are rotten

 

instead I cling

I patch over the cracks

I ignore the rot

 

And I cling

Perpetuating not just that which is good and noble

but that which is destructive and life-denying

 

I ignore my privilege

my bias

my greed

my anger

 

I ignore systematic racism

and injustice

 

I celebrate inequity

 

Still I cling to the old

Still I pretend that it is “not that bad”

That with a little effort I can, we can, patch things up

Hold things together

 

But you know better

You know how desperately we need to let go

To die to the old

To fall into your grace

 

So that we might rise

And begin again

 

You know how radical the change

Inside

Needs to be

You know that a minor facelift simply won’t do

 

So help me to let go

 

and to plummet

into your fearful newness

to die as it were

 

so that I might be born again

so that I might rise

 

help me accept (as Richard Rohr puts it)

the unraveling, breaking, and cracking

 

that I might be the part of a movement

that helps the whole world rise up

and ushers in

the Kingdom of Love (God)