The Image of Her Father

Date added: 29/05/2020

THE IMAGE OF HER FATHER

For many years in Israel’s womb

The embryo grows, the Church of Christ:

First the Head, then the Body,

The Son of Man includes the many.

For hours upon a Roman cross

The Church’s birth begins in blood:

Crucified with Christ her Head,

Constricted by the love of God.

The third day, from a gaping tomb,

The Church emerges urgently:

Risen again with Christ her life,

Released, relieved, the joy of God.

The fiftieth day, with tongues of flame,

She breathes the Spirit, cries the word:

Conceived, inspired with Christ, she grows,

The heir of all, the child of God.

© Graham Kings, Nourishing Connections (Canterbury Press, 2020).

first published in International Review of Mission LXXX, 317 January 1991, also in Graham Kings, Signs and Seasons (2008) and on Spiritual Journeys.