The betrayal

After Hebrews 11:29-31 

Of all the people

inside the city who

might have understood

and betrayed, who would

have expected a prostitute,

the one who concealed

the spies, lowered the scarlet

thread, protected herself

and her family, with fires

burning around them,

the cries and screams

of people being killed

in their houses and in

the streets. They huddle,

safe but terrified, expecting

the door to fly open

at any moment, chaos, and

destruction flooding

around them. The door

remains closed, unmolested,

because the prostitute 

believed and had faith.

 

Photograph by Hannah Busing via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Do Our Churches Understand Faith & Work? – Hugh Whelchel at the Institute for Faith, Work, & Economics. 

 

Your Rights as a Christian in a Public School in 2023 – Joe Carter at The Gospel Coalition.

 

Poet Laura: The Butterfly Effect – Year of the Monarch – Dheepa Maturi at Tweetspeak Poetry.

And we wait

After Hebrew 11:31 and Joshua 2:1-14

And we wait.

We can hear the sounds

of the multitudes approaching,

the feet of thunder,

the shields of cracking lightning.

The city is closed, tightly.

My house, filled with family,

family who shunned me before,

my house is tightly closed.

The sign hangs from the window,

the sign of red like blood,

the sign of thread to bind.

Our lives hang by a thread,

by that thread of scarlet.

And we wait

as the sounds of thunder

circle round the city.

the noose tightening.

I see fear in the faces

around me, the soft cries

of the children,

the fear of imminent death.

I hear my mother’s quiet sob.

But the thread hangs

from the window,

binding us,

binding them.

Photograph by Circe Denyer via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

Rahab’s sign

After Hebrew 11:31 and Joshua 2:1-14

They knew to come to me

though how they knew

is unknown.

I’ve waited for their hordes

to approach, knowing God

was with them, knowing they

would prevail, knowing

my city would fall.

So they come, these two,

and I hide them on the roof,

and I lie for them,

and I help them escape.

The scarlet rope is our contract,

the sign of our salvation.

Photograph by Dawn Hudson via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

Waiting for forgiveness

It trails from a window,

scarlet talisman of hope

or promise wrapping

around the promise

of safety and deliverance,

a vine entwining souls

and hearts and spirits,

binding two strands

into one not easily broken,

tying Jericho to Bethlehem,

as she waits inside,

faithful.

Today is the second Sunday of Advent. In churches observing the season, the second of four candles will be lit, today’s candle signifying the waiting for forgiveness. If you’d like to know more about the season of Advent, Mark Roberts, the spiritual director for Laity Lodge, has an e-book entitled Discovering Advent that is both succinct and thorough (and I highly recommend it).

Painting: The Scarlet Rope by Hannah Haesook Lee.