Category Archives: church

No Price

Matthew 27:3-10

It turns out
thirty pieces of silver
is no price for a life.
Not for his,
and certainly not for mine.

What have I done?
I was trying to help,
move things along.
How wrong could I be?

I have betrayed a man
who never did anything wrong
and now
I can’t take it back,
they won’t let me.

What can I do?
I don’t want this money,
I was a fool,
easily bought,
too quick to go along
with someone else plan.

How can I ever make this right?
How can I atone
for the life I have wasted,
the life I have betrayed,
sold short?
Nothing and no one
can save me.

I have no hope left,
I sold my hope,
my peace,
my opportunity for a new life
and it wasn’t worth it.

When I have no hope left,
no hope in myself
or the world around,
may I remember Lord
that my hope is in you
and you alone
and hold to it.

Taken from my book Voices through Holy Week and Easter, available from Moorleys VoicesThroughHolyWeekandEaster-1

Matthew 26:26-30; Mark: 14:22-26; Luke 22:14-20

Bread,
an everyday staple,
nothing flash,
just what was there
on the table
amongst us.

Then he took it,
made it something incredibly special,
turned it into something that would remind us of him,
– each time
we took it
and ate.

Something always with us,
always using,
a daily part of our diet,
now reminds us of Jesus,
his time among us
and his presence with us now.

Wine,
rich,
red,
flowing,
warming,
deep within,
his presence
here now.
In me,
with me,
through me,
from him.

I am invited to take,
to eat,
to remember

who,
what
and why

this has become a symbol

his love
poured out
for me,
for us,
for a world in need.

I am invited to take.
Urged to share.

Taken from my book: Voices Through Holy Week and Easter available through Moorleys

Last week we were fortunate enough to be at the Centro das Artes Casa das Mudas (Calheta) – in itself an amazing building in a stunning location.

Inside we discovered this gem of art and it seemed entirely appropriate for Ash Wednesday.

Christ, table and ashes by Graca Pereira Coutinho