40lentprompts – elisabeth pike

dawn

It starts off as the slightest lightening in the colourless dark, almost imperceptible at first and then, a little bolder, and soon enough the rose-gold glow colours the sky from east to west. It starts out so small, just a scratch of light against the darkness, but you know the might of the sun, andContinueContinue reading “dawn”

#40hope

Hope is that quiet shining thing, hidden at the very centre of us. It might be forgotten sometimes, or covered in dust and debris, it may be looked at with cynicism by others, by ourselves, even, but it remains; a coin, glinting in the soil, catching the light, catching your eye again, reminding you ofContinueContinue reading “#40hope”

#39wait

The two men on the road to Emmaus had forgotten how to wait, they had moved on too quickly to despair; ‘We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel’, they said. They had already given up hope, had tossed it by the wayside, in favour of despair; perhaps itContinueContinue reading “#39wait”

#38darkness

I see God bowed and brooding, his arms falling around his dear earth, after cruel jeers condemned his son to death. Doubled up with grief, he came close to the jagged earth, his arms around, almost touching. And it reminds me of this year; of all the loneliness, the people in their boxes, staying safeContinueContinue reading “#38darkness”

#37mourning

Mary, bowed by grief, goes early to the tomb and finds it empty. Her tears spill as her mind races; ‘Where have they taken my Lord?’ But her tears have left her blind, for as she turns in the garden, she can’t even make out the figure in front of her, alive and breathing, herContinueContinue reading “#37mourning”

#36doubt

I’ve always loved Thomas, the way he acts like a petulant school boy. ‘Show me then’, he says, ‘I won’t believe unless I see it.’ And then a week later, Jesus is there, and all of his undoing is there too; ‘My Lord and My God’, he says. Better to be true like he was;ContinueContinue reading “#36doubt”

#35hidden

you were hidden in death, in grave clothes, waiting for the right time to take your first breath of rebirth. and now I am hidden in you, safe as houses, where moth and rust cannot break in and destroy, because all my treasure is in you and you are all my treasure.

#34tomb

Sometimes, we too, bury our hope in darkness, shove it beneath the soil with a hollow heart, but even death itself was no match for my King; life-giver, death-defier. The truth of spring coming, though we saw only black mud, truth of the blazing heat of the sun, though we felt only the chill. OutContinueContinue reading “#34tomb”

#33cloths

Their very presence speaks to what is no longer there; the way that they fall, or are folded. There is the dance of life about them; the way they move themselves aside, lift themselves up, to let Life take its first breath. ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is noContinueContinue reading “#33cloths”

#32veil

he made a way, his body a bridge, his death and awakening a doorway between this lowly land and the pathways of heaven. way-maker, future-forger, eye-opener, the veil was torn in two, the sea split apart, death was undone and the separation was finished, finally, once and for all. so we could come boldly, asContinueContinue reading “#32veil”

#31cross

a single seed lay down in the soil, and from it sprang life, a tree, reaching to the heavens. a single tree, cut down, fashioned into planks and then a cross bearing the weight of the blameless King, a man, who was a tree of life himself, who walked the path into death and thenContinueContinue reading “#31cross”

#30sorrows

there are the secret sorrows, that we carry with us; the unanswered prayers, the quiet longings that have never been spoken, but we are told our King is a man of sorrows and well acquainted with suffering. he knows it well, this life, the way it twists and turns, blesses and then breaks us underContinueContinue reading “#30sorrows”

#29sacrifice

these gifts we hold lightly, their warp and weft, their stretch and sway as they wend their way through our lives, threading them with just a touch of heaven’s fire. we live through them, and through them make sense of this world. we see you, God, we even draw you, in green and grace, inContinueContinue reading “#29sacrifice”

#28crown

And so we crown you over and over, in the small ways of our lives, and in the quietness of our hearts. But perhaps it matters more, then, because you are the only one who sees it, and you are the only one it’s for. But I can’t put it any better than Frederick BuechnerContinueContinue reading “#28crown”

#27thorns

the thorny crown, a bead of blood spills, shame falls. he carries, then, all the weight of sin, and the mark of it on his body.

#26Majesty

Because you said yes to the path that would cost you greatly but bring us all freedom, a new power was unleashed and a new kingdom began. One of servanthood and love; love that had power enough to undo and remake our whole world. I went with the definition of majesty that meant authority. ThenContinueContinue reading “#26Majesty”

#25silence

the pause between that other world and this. the one before the cross, where the weight of sin was too heavy to bear, and the new one that is about to dawn. ‘But now, with eager expectation, all creation longs for freedom from its slavery to decay and to experience with us the wonderful freedomContinueContinue reading “#25silence”

#24king

Broken-down, trampled over, weeping. Alone, heart-broken, spat upon. Does this make a King? Spending himself freely on all who came to him. Present to all the hundreds who pressed in to him, wanting his healing, his teaching, or even just to look into his eyes. Obedient to his Father’s plan, because he knew it wasContinueContinue reading “#24king”

#23abandon

What would it have been like, being fully god and fully man, and to feel that your father had abandoned you? Maybe that is why Jesus trembled in the garden; he knew the price of walking this path. All the world’s sin, hurled upon his back, the weight of it, unthinkable. But in that darkestContinueContinue reading “#23abandon”

#22-Keep Watch

Could you imagine being fully God and fully man, asking your friends to stay a while with you, to keep watch with you, even though you knew they would fail, and even though you knew you would have to walk alone the path that was laid out before you? A death sentence that would unleashContinueContinue reading “#22-Keep Watch”

#20body

I tried to write about yesterday’s prompt but with the news of Sarah Everard yesterday, everything I wrote came back to her. And this is what I ended up writing. For Sarah I too, have walked home faster than normal, with a raised heart beat and the sound of my own footsteps loud in myContinueContinue reading “#20body”

#19room

He said to wait and so we waited. For what? For him again, for the light to come back and show us what to do next, and how to live. And so we waited, the eleven of us, in the room, small and cramped, filled with a thin kind of emptiness – what were weContinueContinue reading “#19room”

#18lamb

the sacrifice of a lamb could not carry away the people’s sin, however much they tried. It was not strong enough to smash the weight of it, nothing was. And then Jesus came, who was led meekly but not weakly to the cross, for he knew that in his quiet death, he would lift the weightContinueContinue reading “#18lamb”

#17kiss

the very word itself is leaning in, touching: the way that k pushes up close to that i; a close and personal thing. I think of the way I kiss my baby in the morning; I breathe her in and my lips meet her warm brow with a burst of endorphins. and I remember tooContinueContinue reading “#17kiss”

#16betrayal

I know what it is like to mourn a friendship, a seismic shift that leaves nothing unaltered. you can’t see the whole of it, only this part now, where it hurts, and it undoes and remakes you, like any common tragedy. you are knocked back to the bare bones and you try to build yourselfContinueContinue reading “#16betrayal”

#15promise

The little tree, (I don’t even know it’s name) knows the promise. It’s buds push out, they are ready to bloom with pops of colour because it holds within its DNA the promise of spring. Though it tarries, wait for it. And I wonder what we carry to show that spring is coming, and howContinueContinue reading “#15promise”

#14- follow

Follow, not as the sheep follows, unthinking and mindless. Follow rather as a listener on foot in a vast and lonely hill country, paying attention only to the placing of the feet, one in front of the other, on the soft and craggy ground, listening to the small voice that speaks, that says, this way,ContinueContinue reading “#14- follow”

#13-walk

the simple act of putting one foot in front of another, even if you are not sure where you are going, and the truth that you are not alone, there is another who walks alongside, or even carrying.

#12- See

‘My life is the light that pierces the world’s darkness’, he said, as he spat on the ground. He knelt to scoop up a handful of spittle and mud and rubbed it in his palm to make a paste. He smeared it gently on the man’s eyes. ‘Blind from birth’, we whispered between ourselves, ‘hisContinueContinue reading “#12- See”

#11 Cleanse

I think of washing something so hot and so thoroughly that it comes out like new. I think of the white lambs down the lane again, untarnished by this muddy life, (all except for their bony knees, for they must kneel to find their mother’s milk). And just like this, life has a way ofContinueContinue reading “#11 Cleanse”

#10 Hosanna

Like today, when you wake to a celebration, a cacophony of noise in the valley. The birds sing, their voices a rising chorus, the sun is hot as it blazes its glory all over the place, and the sheep call out, loudly. Does it not seem to you that the whole earth is shouting outContinueContinue reading “#10 Hosanna”

#9 servant

Sometimes it feels as if all of this could fall apart, as if we are all hanging on by a thread. How often did it feel like that to you, I wonder? How often did you wonder if this master plan would work? With all the washing of feet, the talking of forgiveness and eatingContinueContinue reading “#9 servant”

#8 journey

each of us somewhere along the path. scattered, some resting, some running. some holding the hands of the very young, and some, the very old. but it isn’t a race, it is companionship. it is pacing ourselves, walking well, because this whole life is a journey, from the time we first wake until theContinueContinue reading “#8 journey”

#7 truth

there was a lamb down the lane lying on the cold grass, its mother standing helplessly by. we have seen the farmer before now, lift a stiff lamb and hurl it into the back of his truck. it is survival of the fittest, no time to care for the weakest ones. if they make it,ContinueContinue reading “#7 truth”

#6 solitude

solo. alone with a dream, but listening, always, for a change in the plan. learning to walk at a steady pace, one step in front of the other, in front of the other, not wishing any of this away. peace in the way that I walk, for, at the end of it all, my lifeContinueContinue reading “#6 solitude”

#5 weak

If I am weak, then there is more room for you to pour through, water through my desert, rain over the dry riverbed of my soul, and in its wake the miracle of tiny buds, blooming all over this desert, hidden gifts bought to life by water, and it makes me think, if I amContinueContinue reading “#5 weak”

#4 bread

even today, our lives circle around it; the warm dough, it’s salt crust. toast and marmalade, dipped into soup, mopping up sausage stew, but it is not enough, we hunger again, and as essential as it is, you say, ‘There is more. Come.’

#3 sustain

Oh Lord, sustain me when I am weak when I cannot carry on. Give me food, safety, rest, the knowledge that I am enough, that my life matters to you, that I am not just a product of chance, a whim of the world, but a living daughter, dear to your heart, that my dreamsContinueContinue reading “#3 sustain”

#2 temptation

it would be easy to think that hope wouldn’t last, that it could be stamped out, that a little frail thing like that shoot wouldn’t be strong enough to last through the droughts and storms. tempting to imagine that it was all in your own hands now, that you had been left alone, and youContinueContinue reading “#2 temptation”

#1 wasteland

my hands scratch at the dust, this crumbling ground. they feel their way around this void, try to fathom it, to make sense of it. I dig in desperation to work out what we are doing here in the dust, when we are meant to be sons and daughters. but in the desert we needContinueContinue reading “#1 wasteland”