Sacrament

Sacrament

In the awesome name of God,

in the victorious name of Jesus

in the mysterious name of the Spirit

 

By words we acknowledge our God

By prayer we summon our God

And we wait, we are still

And we wait, we are silent

And we wait, wait for the sounds of God

And the sounds of the sacrament

The breaking of bread and the gushing of wine

 

The pain of sorrow, and the pulse of hope

And the echo of our name

And the bread in our teeth, a cup on our lips

Others breathing beside us

A voice in our face “The body of your Lord”

A power in our ears “The blood of your Lord”

And we wait for the sounds of God

The sounds of the sacrament

The breaking of bread and the gushing of wine

 

We hear strange sounds in the distance

The misery of other human lives

The scramble for rice, and the searching through garbage

The shuffle of withered limbs, the breaking of brittle bones

The shiver of a pregnant mother, the scream of a motherless child

The trickle of goat’s milk, the sigh of the dispossessed

The mumble of fear, the murmur of distrust

The grumble of empty stomachs, the splash of spent blood

The sounds of a scramble for life

Amid the breaking of bread, and the gushing of wine

 

We hear the snarl of a bullet, the snap of a trigger

The thump of lead tearing into flesh, the grinding bite of steel into bone

The sudden crump of unseen mines

The constant moan of riddled skies

The hiss and crackle of angry flames

And the staccato cough of smoking ruins

The whisper of desolation

The sounds of civil war

Despite the breaking of bread, and the gushing of wine

 

We hear the bleating of a lamb, and the splitting of a womb

The death of a lamb, and the breaking of a tomb

The beginning of an end, and a word that carries healing

The taste of a mystery, and a God who has feeling

In the breaking of bread, and the gushing of wine

 

Yet we still listen for the bursting of joy

And watch for the bubbling smile of release

The happy laughter of children’s voices

The dancing among willows, and the surprise of freedom

The shout of the mountains, and the scream of a new birth

The leap of our spirit, and the whirl of celebration

We still listen to God

The sounds of the celebration of God

And the breaking of bread, and the gushing of wine

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2021