This last week, our school hosted Luther Hostel, an annual continuing education event. The theme was “The Beatitudes” and our Dean of Chapel issued a call for art based on Matthew 5:1-12. I submitted this photo which I took two years ago in the study of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran pastor whose resistance to the Nazis resulted in his martyrdom. Along with photo, I read the following poem, which I include here for the interested reader.
Blessed are the peace makers
pieced together
in faith,
they hold hard to
a vision of inclusion
in times of occlusion.
Stepping forth fiercely, they
wager a world made new while
others wither in banal obedience.
Blessed are the peace makers
grasped by an Elijah Harper hope
they drum seven generations in.
Seized by an Eagle Feather – by this
sacred totem carving covenant anew;
by this feather bowling over
principalities and powers in stubborn memory – they
bear witness that our past is ever
with us.
Blessed are the peace makers
conceived in love, they love concretely.
Caressing crises and kissing trauma, they
step into the fray,
so to stay
convenience.
They will not love
without scar, without cost, without care.
Blessed are the peace makers; blessed are you.
blessed are those who write about peace and advocate for change.
thank you for your thoughtful poem.
Thanks for commenting. Being grateful is, indeed, a way of living the beatitudes too!
I really do like your new photo of the boat and the way you’ve worked the design of your blog around it.
And that photograph from Bonhoeffer’s study is superb. As for peacemakers – you’ve reminded me of a group of women in a Houston congregation who piece quilts for missions, babies and so on. Their name? The Piece Makers, of course.
Hi Linda, I’m glad you enjoy the images. Piece-makers is a brilliant name. I have a sister in law in Houston who is a avid quilter. I’ll have to tell her about this!
Allen – I love the new design of your blog. I can almost feel the breeze and hear the creaking of the mast! And your poem about peacemakers is dense with meaning – I’m enjoying reading it again and again. I wonder, do you realize all the different ways your poetry speaks? Are all the layers intentional? I suspect these lovely thoughts are labored over with great love before they are gifted to all of us out here. Thanks!
Hi, thanks for your kind thoughts and words. I don’t, always see what comes out in my poems, and really never feel they are ready,so I am glad to know you enjoy them so!
Wonderful poem! Peacemakers are blessed because it is more difficult to promote peace rather than expressing rage at the wrongs in this world.
Thanks! I agree that peace is harder than war, and so more fulfilling.
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Thanks Ken.