Earlier this week I was reading some poetry by Rumi, a Persian mystic poet from the 13th century. Although he was Muslim, his poetry often draws on the Christian story, and he speaks of the Divine in ways that resonate across religions. So I wanted to share two short excerpts with you:
Jesus sat humbly on the back of an ass, my child!
How could a zephyr ride an ass?
Spirit, find your way, in seeking lowness like a stream.
Reason, tread the path of selflessness into eternity.
Remember God so much that you are forgotten.
Let the caller and the called disappear;
be lost in the Call.
This poem/prayer struck me both for its naming of contradictions and tensions - Jesus has been a mystery throughout the ages! - and for the longing it expresses for what in the Christian tradition we might call union with God. There is a deep desire here for an intimate relationship with God that makes everything else fade, and experience of Love in which we are freed from the self-focus that follows us everywhere we go. The second excerpt is a type of invocation or invitation. When I read it, I imagined hearing it on a Sunday, at the beginning of our Liturgy. I hope as you read it (perhaps out loud), you hear the hope, the forgiveness, the welcome of God.
Come, come, whoever you are.
Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
It doesn’t matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vow
a thousand times
Come, yet again, come, come.
BF