Chances and choices

Lent Book Club: 2nd April 2022

No need for Bishop Richard to apologise for including one of his own poems in this collection (page 100). As he says, it fits the theme of parental love and explores the relationship between God, creation and human beings. God takes a risk, a chance, if you like, in letting us be. We make right choices and wrong ones; we do both good and evil. The solution? God gets involved in the world to help us out. I am left with the Christmas card he describes which complements the poem. A young woman is depicted against a starry sky. She is holding a baby who in turn is holding a globe. “This is Mary and the Christ Child, but also the Divine Love creating the world and sending its redeemer. Taking a chance” (page 101).

Thinking I might take a leaf out of Bishop Richard’s book, I was tempted to include one of my poems here but didn’t have one to fit this theme. Instead, here is a song from Abba. OK, so it’s a tenuous link, a bit kitsch, but also a bit of fun. https://youtu.be/-crgQGdpZR0

This year #LentBookClub are reading “Hearing God in Poetry. Fifty poems for Lent and Easter” by Richard Harries published by SPCK. In this book Bishop Harries introduces us to a number of poets and poems. Some may be familiar, some are old and some are new. You may follow the # on Twitter or find us on Facebook.