If Christ could weep

If Christ could weep for friends, for death, for grief,

and still call out to one entombed: “Come out!”,

so we can grieve at this pandemic thief,

and still expect to hear or voice that shout,

and in the valley of dry bones, prepare

to fill our lungs with Spirit wind and cry:

“O dry bones, hear the living word and dare

to rise from that parched earth on which you lie.

Connected, lifted up, await the sigh

of Spirit wind to stir to life your breath!

For Christ could weep and pray his fate passed by,

avoiding suffering, sparing him from death,

but sharing all with us, he dared the cross,

and from his tomb, new life sprang out of loss.

                                       Barbara Messner March 2020