Uncomfortable Imagery - Poem by Raymond A. Foss

The pastor knitted imagery
that didn’t go quite together
that were a bit incongruous, a bit distinct
images of the word, “uncomfortable”
of Scrooge, of the Grinch, a marriage
in trouble, a depressed elder,
waiting for death, alone,
feeling unworthy of Communion,
lamenting the ills of this world,
this time and place
Musing on the image of John
standing hot and dirty
in the dirty water, in camel hair,
cinched tight to his body,
eating locust, uncomfortable purity
Preaching an uncomfortable word
in the hot desert, the wilderness
fulfilling the prophecy for his own life
the prophecy of the coming
of the child to ministry, to kingship,
of a very different kind
Finding hope, repentance, saving,
baptism, not so much in the dirty water itself
but in the place, the Jordan,
finding hope too in the frank words
the honesty of the man in the nursing home
the hope in the name of Scrooge, Ebenezer,
the stone that Samuel placed
in God’s provision, His saving of the people
long before even Isaiah’s prophecy
Hope for a different future
in uncomfortable wrappers,
foreshadowing the problem
of comprehending Jesus, and his message
in society’s eyes, the eyes of the people
even to this day

December 10, 2007
Based on Matthew 3:1-6 and Matthew 3:11-12
and the sermon “God’s Powerful Promise”,
by the Reverend Peter Hey, December 9, 2007,
Wesley United Methodist Church, Concord, NH