Issue 27: “The Folks Inside”
"Poetry is a nightingale that sits in the darkness and sings"
-Percy Bysshe Shelley
Our mission at the Matthew 25 Initiative is to equip and sustain Anglicans serving alongside the vulnerable. The work of justice and mercy is often wondrous and also difficult. Holding beauty, naming pain, and contending for hope is what M25i does well. Walter Brueggeman writes, "A poem utters the unutterable and thinks the unthinkable." In places of brokenness, where much feels unutterable and unimaginable, we encounter Jesus. Continue with us in reflection and prayer through this series, "For the Soul," as poetry might offer us Spirit-soaked imaginations.
Before you begin...
When we come near those deemed of lesser value in the world's eyes, we approach the hearth of God's love. His call and invitation (note those two nouns) are clear. Two weeks ago in our Friday email (see link below), Rev. Dr. Michael Niebauer gave us a stool by this hearth, reminding us of the Psalmist: "Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent" (Ps. 71:9).
Enjoy this poem as you read it out loud, even twice. Listen for the Spirit to speak through these words and take a moment to pray for the almost 65%* of those "boys and girls" in nursing homes who never receive a visit.
The Folks Inside
by Shel Silverstein
Inside you, boy,
There’s an old man sleepin’,
Dreamin’, waitin’ for his chance.
Inside you, girl,
There’s an old lady dozin’,
Wantin’ to show you a slower dance.
So keep on playin’,
Keep on runnin’,
Keep on jumpin’, til the day
That those old folks
Down inside you
Wake up … and come out and play.
ANGLICANS ON THE STREET: show before Prayers of the People to shape a Sunday morning prayer.
Rev. Dr. Michael Niebauer describes the joy and the peacefulness of ministering to residents in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other related care facilities. Watch as he pulls the viewer in imaginatively!
At the Matthew 25 Initiative, we hope to shape an ACNA that is known for its vision of those who are most vulnerable in our society.
We help parishes and dioceses strategize, launch new works of justice and mercy, revamp works that have gotten stuck, and offer resources to their churches that can mature what it means to be Anglicans who love Christ in the poor, the imprisoned, the stranger, and the hungry.
*National Center for Health Statistics
