Poetry

Pray in the tension

September 8, 2014April 20, 2021 Jon Kuhrt

photo by Simon & His Camera

Today

Many of us live

A nation of strangers

Aliens in cities,

Trapped in societies

Of rapid, social change.

Constantly

We face new problems

With no clear answers.

It’s not happened

To us before.

Nobody’s behaved like that before.

We’ve got no tailor-made pattern.

It’s an itsy-bitsy life.

Let’s be quite clear,

No comprehensive lifestyles

No grand, universal designs

Let’s not look for them.

Rather

Let’s get clear the tension

Between heaven and earth,

Between our visions

Of God and the earth,

And the tension

Of fidelity to both.

And in the tension

Pray.

Taken from Prayers from a Searching Heart by Ian Calvert

Published by Jon Kuhrt

Jon Kuhrt has worked with people affected by homelessness and poverty for 25 years. He is a former CEO of West London Mission and is now a government adviser focusing on how faith and community groups address rough sleeping. He lives with his wife and three children in Streatham, south London. He likes football...but loves cricket. View all posts by Jon Kuhrt