The following poem was written by Chenayde Anrahams, who is a student in the Love Thy Neighbour(hood) School in South Africa (alifetogether.org) that uses some of the courses in IRPJ's Certificate in Religion, Peace and Justice as part of their program. More specifically, this poem was a powerful, beautifully provocative, and moving response to a guest lecture by Dr. Matthew Lynch on the topic of Noah, human violence, and divine re-creation in Dr. Brad Jersak's course, 'Peace and Violence in the Old Testament' (visit irpj.org/certificate).
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it is easy to believe that You are violent
because of the scars on my knees from the day
that my joy was brought down to them
words spat upon my back
worthless, ugly, unwanted
if You had made me beautiful
made Your people to be peaceful
then why did their words sting my eyes like acid on the face of a kind wife in India
it is easy to be believe that You are violent
when death bit through the flesh of my flesh
it stood proudly as i watched him go down
to the darkness of the cursed soil
watched it envelope our lives simultaneously
with no residue of a life ever lived
if You had made him beautiful
call Yourself our Healer and Friend
then where were you on the day I knelt next to his body and pleaded with You to
show up
please, just show up
oh, Healer and Friend
where were you?
it is easy to believe that You are violent
when i held her in my arms
spoke the blow of the Wind of Life over her
while she walked home
to take the blows to her tiny face
to feel the Wind of Wrath come upon her
as her hands grasped to the Hope
that i had
lied to her about
if You had made her beautiful
call the little children beloved
then why not this one?
why not all of the ones with brown faces and hard lives
it is easy to believe that You are violent
when long cold windy journeys from dusty scary lands
makes women choose between which son to send into the water
which son will demand less on her fragile body
on all the other bodies
in that wooden creaky boat
if You made them beautiful
made Your people to be kind
then why are there refugees?
why are their bodies offered up to the waves like sacrifices of the un-Worthy
while we watch them on our flat screen TVs
pass bread rolls around
as we feel the disgust of their demise
oh, Lord
they are drowning
oh, Lord
i am drowning
oh, Lord
we are drowning
give me the mercy to remember
that You, oh Jesus
calm the water
instead of raging it against them
against me
against us.