Repost (Jon Humphries): So Much ...

Painting by Myuran Sukamaran*

So Much, God.

In this world, Lord,
So much death
So much sadness
More compassion is needed.

So much waste
So much suffering
More justice is required.

So much grief
So many tears
More support is welcomed.

So much to do
So much to offer
More love to be lived.

So much we have in you
So much you call us to
More may we follow the Christ

So, let it be.

Amen.
- Jon Humphries

* Myuran Sukamaran and Andrew Chan were executed, along with 6 others, by Indonesia on 29 April, 2015.

The Immigrant

One of the themes that captivates my imagination comes from my own story - that of immigration. Occasionally I come across songs or images or poems that hold a part of that theme. Starting again, carrying all we own in a couple of suitcases, daily encounters with fresh, strange and odd situations. Almost everything needs to be relearned and negotiated.

Today I picked up this link from Norm Strauss (via my friend Jan Fischer), for his song "The Immigrant". 

"This land is so big you can finally be yourself.
Let these open fields free your captive soul 

or let those wild mountains swallow you whole.

Follow your heart, even to unfamiliar places.

Follow your heart, writing your story on these pages
 

The land that I called 'Father'
still comes to me in dreams
and sometimes I wonder
where would I be?"

While the song is set in a different place and time, some of the lines rang clear for me - telling our story, as well as that of my grandparents. "Follow your heart, even to unfamiliar places." "Starting over at 46 (47) years old", "and we held our breaths and hoped that all the stories told were true, a frontier land with promises of more..." 

I've lived between these lines. Thank you Norm Strauss.