I do not think that you are 
a harsh and grasping God, 
and there is nowhere to reap 
that you did not sow, 
whether with promise or 
with judgement; what, 
then, to make of this 
weeping and gnashing? If 
you are to be believed, 
the one who doesn’t recognize 
your mercy suffers most; yet 
the Son of Man was seen last
on a Saturday picking through 
the smoulders of the rubbish heap, 
salvaging the remnants of 
a body most thought broken 
beyond repair, and laughing 
at the green shoots and dandelions 
sowing seeds of new life 
even in the soil of hell. 

This week’s Parable of the Talents is a problem. There is no way to reconcile the story to the mercy of God – unless the story is that we too often miss it, that we forget that God is not like us, in our harsh and grasping ways. That joy abounds in the knowledge of God’s generosity. And that even if we fail to see it, there is nowhere from whence God cannot save us. Year A Proper 28; Matthew 25:14-30 #preparingforSundaywithpoetry