The Matthew 25 Initiative exists to equip and sustain Anglicans who are working across justice and mercy organizations and parishes. We see godly, wise, strong practitioners who are called but at times tired, filled with purpose yet lacking ways to recharge. One small way our team desires to refresh those in the trenches of broken places, is by sharing a well-written poem offering beauty in words and imagery.

Why poetry?

All poetry begins with a question — obvious or hidden. It looks at something that is curious, grievous, or mesmerizing. The poet writes and offers readers a specific moment to carefully consider, and if the poet is a master of the written language, they help us purify and refine our common language. Language is so important to preserve and get right, because it’s how we understand, work with, and serve one another.

In the work of justice and mercy, we are threatened with burnout when we lose our ability to see the way things could be and for what we are hoping. Holding a space for poetry makes way for prophetic imagination, or a way of thinking about what needs mending. When we pay careful attention to a poem in a community, we learn to pay closer attention together and to one another.

Join us as we allow poetry to help shape us, giving us space to deal with our grief, hold back cynicism, and hold onto tenderness. In the space of words carefully chosen and edited down to only what you need, we train ourselves to see moments more clearly, and more fully.