A Gift of Poetry

Each ministry student has their own unique gifts and skills. Part of learning at CCS involves discovering and nurturing one’s gifts, as well as recognizing and affirming the gifts of others. One of the gifts that Ross Shearer brings to learning circles is the gift for poetry and prayer. Peers have often commented on the Ross’s ability to weave words together in surprising and insightful ways, drawing on imagery that can be equal part comforting and disturbing. Here are a couple of prayers that Ross has shared with us…

To Live Into the Dirt

Oh God 
How valuable you made the dirt
There is nothing else we can use to stand on 
There is nothing else we can build on
We can try to fly to escape your dirt but we always must come back
You gave us this dirt to plant gardens 
To grow villages 
To be inhabited by our children for generations 
Some of our children see your dirt as nothing but a trap
An endless pit we are placed in
They seek to grow out of their hole 
Proclaim that they are wealthy 
That they have successfully ushered in a new age were we all float above the ground
But they do not realize 
They are a made of dirt 
And as they grow to escape the pit their weight makes them sink
Help us to climb the dirt whole 
Grabbing onto roots and branches 
Not to escape but to explore 
To live into the dirt 
The muggy brown dirt
To experience the beauty of creation 
As a part of creation 
Heavenly mother nursing us even now 
Amen

I Am Held

I am held
Held in your love 
Held in community with arms outstretched
I am held
Held by society putting in what I take out
Held by the land I am standing on
I am held
Held by the expectations of the people around me
Held by my own wants to live up to them
I am held
Held by the screams around me, in my head and outside
Held by my own worries about the future knowing I want to do so much more
I am held 
Held so tight that I feel like cracking 
Held so that if I shatter I will hurt what holds me 
But 
I am held
Held in my savior’s teaching
Held in your healing arms