Our God Is A God Of Glass Poem by Jeff Hobbs

Our God is a God of glass.
Through him, with him, in him - we see the world - all that is seen and unseen.
We stare yet see right through.
Our God is a God of colour - shards of yellow, red, green and blue
Through a cosmic texture of silence.
Our God's symbols are transparent
Stare at them and see them disappear -
Listen
Hear the water of our baptism trickle away
It is only water
Listen
Hear the words of our forgiveness be recited
They are words
Look
See the corpus Christi - the body and the blood
Bread and wine
Remember
Vows made long ago on an altar of youth
Promises of hope
They are as real as glass - they open up to us a world beyond
And at the same time form a barrier to that world.

"Now we see through a glass darkly,
Then we shall be known face to face.
The knowledge I have now is imperfect,
But then I shall know as fully as I am known."

Our God is a God of glass
Fragile, delicate, smooth yet so sharp
Our God is a broken God
Shattered, pierced, cut
We are made in the image of our God
So often we are seen yet appear transparent
So often we offer views to others
So often we are fragile
Look around, those for whom you are given care
Do you look through them?
Each a symbol of confused ignorance?
Or are they a window to a new world of knowing?
Do they give you visions of life beyond the room you have created?
Are they shattered?
Is it the brokenness in them which is their reflection of our God?
Is it their wounds, their hurt, their suffering
Is that our God yelling to us - I am here!
Do we look through it?
Our God is a God of glass
We pray in silence, yet hope our words are heard

Lord hear us.

(6 October,2004)