24th Jan 2010 SOUL WEAVINGS

* 24th Jan 2010 SOUL WEAVINGS

Six years ago, in exile from my homeland, a stranger in a strange land, (England) I used to carry this around in my shirt pocket, and every time I was overcome with a wave of homesickness, so sharp and poignant that I couldn't speak, I'd move apart from everyone and pull it out and read it; always trying to make sense of the last verse.

Finally, about a year ago, I knew that I understood that last verse and could live it.

SOUL WEAVINGS
by Kate Compton

O God, who am I now?
Once, I was secure in familiar territory,
in my sense of belonging,
unquestioning of the norms of my culture,
the assumptions built into my language,
the values shared by my society.

But now you have called me out and away from home
and I do not know where you are leading.
I am empty, unsure, uncomfortable.
I have only a beckoning star to follow.
Journeying God, pitch your tent with mine
so that I may not become deterred
by hardship, strangeness, doubt.

Show me the movement I must take toward:
a wealth not dependent on possession;
toward a wisdom not based on books;
toward a strength not bolstered by might;
toward a God not confined to heaven;
but scandalously earthed, poor, unrecognised.

Help me to find myself as I walk in others' shoes.

Published in “A Gathering of Women’s Prayers”, 1990