Red carpet reflections

Tell me, did you see the Oscars, did anyone stay up all night
Not something I could accomplish (next day I’d look quite a fright)
Did anything grab your attention, make you sit up just a bit?
Last year’s was hard to compete with; no one saw red or got hit

One thing that made it distinguished, helped it stand out from the pack
Was women being better rewarded, the status quo starting to crack
Another thing worthy of comment, that lifted the star-studded night
Was seeing the roll call of winners, not so ubiquitously white

‘Everything everywhere’, the multiverse one, scooped up the best picture gong
Seems to be saying, beside all its thrills, all’s not lost when it’s all going wrong
You might have some skills quite undreamed of, waiting to see light of day
A message to lift and inspire you, and drive all those self-doubts away

The thing that it prompts me to wonder, the thing that it moves me to say
Is what if you’re not an A-lister, partying it up in LA?
If you’re a Joe or Jill Average, juggling five kids on the go
What can you take from the musings, of Tinseltown darling Ms Yeoh?

There’s a small piece of overlooked wisdom, a nugget that always surprises
This: in another kingdom, heaven, is a whole different order of prizes
You might be a cook or a cleaner, maybe none know your name or your face
What’s valued right there isn’t stardust; just ordinary lives, shaped by grace

Image by Tom from Pixabay

Advent reassessed

I’m-not sure we’ve got Advent entirely right
In-a-culture where its meaning has slipped out of sight
If it signifies-just chocolate and calendar doors
Then it’s time to revisit it, slow down, and press pause;
We think of this season as cosy and pretty
It’s anything but, it’s surprisingly gritty
Maybe it’ll help us to view it afresh
If we see how its themes with the world are enmeshed
With-what’s going on right now, this moment, right here
A world marked by violence and anguish and fear…
Think of people who-are sinking under spiralling costs
I think of Mary and Joseph, in a census town lost
Price of living, eat or heating, the clamour and din
I picture them struggling, ‘no room at the inn’
And when I see tyrants, their bitter seed sow
I remember God’s promise to-bring the proud ones so low
The only way I can handle the horrors of war
Is remembering that the mercy and grace-of-God are sure
‘Woman, life, freedom’, when I hear that brave cry
I-think how God honoured Mary – and the humble, lifted high
Even the World Cup, stirring frail hopes and dreams
Makes me think of a hope that is greater, and streams…
Of justice, that bubble in the desert, and flow
Cos God’s longing to love us and bless us you know
So don’t imagine Advent is cosy or tame
It’s fierce and it’s fearless – it won’t leave you the same

Image by Amber Clay from Pixabay