mark berry seems back to his blogging self after going easy for a while…

i am making holy fool and francis blessing worship trick 28, which means mark has two in a row as his passion pictures were no 27, which is probably a first! the francis blessing is being used on brian maclaren‘s everything must change tour which is going well by all accounts. to go with holy fool see also what would a fool say?

I am a fool
I look beyond reason
I stray beyond logic
I dance when I should cry
I weep when I should party
I am full of joy for the things I don’t know
I am past caring about the things I do know
I love someone I’ve never seen
I admire people who I know are a mess
I hope things are fragile, I just don’t trust stability
I long for the future and I love each step toward it
I walk the earth but I dream of the heavens
I know I am special because of my ordinariness
I find chaos confusing and confusion creative
I am of no influence yet I strive to make a difference
I have no voice yet I shout from the rooftops
I live a life that’s a joke with a serious punchline
I am a poet whose lost for words
I love the world that turns its back on all that matters to me
I want to embrace the people who want to hurt me
I pray for those who hate me
I serve one who knelt and washed feet
I live for a deity who died for me
I am an innocent because I know what I’ve done wrong
I am free because my hearts not my own
I am strong because I am broken
I found God in a “Godless” place
I am a faithful rascal
I am an ordinary radical
I am a fool for God

[mark berry]

May God bless us with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that we may live from deep within our hearts.

May God bless us with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of God’s creations
So that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless us with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
So that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless us with just enough foolishness
To believe that we can make a difference in the world,
So that we can do what others claim cannot be done:
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and all our neighbors who are poor.
Amen.

off to stamford bridge to see chelsea v fernabace in a few minutes for the second leg of the european champions league quarter final. i watched the first in a soccer bar in new york last week at about 3 in the afternoon. the bar had 14 screens, 12 of which had the arsenal v liverpool game on and the bar was full of arsenal and liverpool fans singing and chanting. then there were about 3 chelsea fans watching that game so when fernabace scored twice the whole bar was cheering apart from 3 of us!!! then with one voice they all sang ‘if you hate chelsea clap your hands’! it was quite surreal… so we are 2-1 down going into this leg – hope we can pull it off…