Creator God, stooping

To scoop the ash and dust

Making us in your mould

Stamped with the divine image

Given life as you breathed

Intending our perfection

But not achieved quite yet.

Creator God, robbed

Of the earth you produced

Mined of its iron and silver

Thirty coins minted

For one man's treachery

Nails forged for fixing

Hands to the cross-beam.

Creator God, planting

A tree fashioned by a carpenter

For the place of a skull

And crucifixion

Where divine intention merges

With human sinfulness

In the final connection of love.

Creator God, entombed

In the darkness of inner earth

Pupils dilated in death

Stiffened flesh cold

That only a miracle enlivens

As dust and ash revive

Poised for resurrection.

21 March 2008

Written after attending the St Mary Cray Good Friday meeting, where we were encouraged to pick up a silver coin and an iron nail placed at the foot of Christ's cross, and to use these in meditation.

Images by kind permission: Indy Magnoli