Ash Wednesday Poem  

Almsgiving, fasting, prayer:
An invitation to fall deeper into God’s presence.
To be poorer through our charity 
hungrier in our fasting
And quieter in our prayer.

We are to make ourselves smaller
And face our humbling need of God.

First Sunday in Lent          Mark 1. 12 

John begins his life in the barren womb 
of an older woman: 
the desert is a familiar place. 
He is preparing the ground 
for his cousin 
who has been born from vitality 
but today enters 
dryness and conflict. 
 
John, always a fore runner 
will meet death before his kinsman 
but both align together at the Jordan, 
wade into the water of baptism 
and exchange places  
as the story of Jesus begins.