Narrative Theology #1: lyrics
Today’s word is Teacher, Kaiwhakaako, the title given to Jesus in the gospels. I think I spend more time unlearning than learning these days this great poem by Padraig O Tuama speaks to this, you can hear him read some of it here.
And I said to him
Are there answers to all of this?
And he said
The answer is in a story
and the story is being told.
And I said
But there is so much pain
And she answered plainly
Pain will happen.
Then I said
Will I ever find meaning?
And they said
You will find meaning
Where you give meaning.
The answer is in story
And the story isn’t finished.
The question is not where but now
there question’s never finished
or exhausted
and the answers in the asking
not the answer
the answer’s in the breathing of the question
in the love of holding onto
what was never whispered never seen
but what we dreamed of in the morning
then forgot while venus hid
the answer’s in the living not the knowing
the answer’s in the telling of the story
in half forgotten memory
and all unfinished stories
the answer’s in the showing time of senses
the answer’s in the question
in the learning
in the fading page of writing
in the letter sent to lovers
in the paying for the other
the answer is the generous
is the truthing
the absolutely truthful anger
and forgiving is the giving of what you don’t deserve
it’s what I’ll serve because you’re hungry
even though you may not know it
the answer’s in the living and the dying
in the trying for redemption on an empty hill of crosses
it’s the shoring up of hope and the gathering of losses
it’s the looking for companions in the hills and in the glens
it’s the waking up and walking up and starting up again
the answer’s in the living
and the trying.
And I said to the wise man,
what is the answer to all this
And he said the answer’s in the story
and the story’s just unfolding.
credits
from hymns to swear by, released March 17, 2010all rights reserved
A modified version of this poem can be found in ‘Readings from the Book of Exile’ (Canterbury Press, 2013)
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