'Run with the Fire' poem

Run with the Fire

Stripped down - free of weights and encumberance -
muscles taught and trained, eyes on the prize -
on track, no turning back - forgetting what is behind,
straining toward what is ahead, winged feet
bearing tongues of flame - inextinguishable flickers
of hope, the torch passed on through generations,
message of victory - peace, goodwill to all.

How lovely are the feet - run red-raw, blistered
and calloused, dust-encrusted yet lithe as leopards
and fleet as foxes - which pound the mountains,
hills, valleys and plains, echoing through history
from Marathon to London via Jerusalem.

Jonathan Evens

Ideas Relay (8)

“I believe that God uses small tiny acts or words as well as big spectacular ones to set of a chain of events, which can bring other to Christ, even as a small flame can dispel the darkness, and can also set the forest on fire. In line with this idea, my vision is of a small insignificant person carrying a candle or small flame of some sort, in a forest. The flame particularly illuminates a tree, which is in the shape of a cross. Also a flame may be already catching on one or more of the trees.”

Jen Smith

Ideas Relay (3)

“Going to church on Sundays was a regular part of my childhood. I loved the stained glass windows that seemed to surround our church and flood it with multiple gems of light. A reoccurring image in many of the windows was a white dove. The white dove was an image I would see repeatedly during Pentecost. At the time of Pentecost our church would be decorated with colorful banners. One such banner depicted a dove flying over flames. In a child’s simple mind, I thought the flames would burn the poor dove. I would learn in Sunday school that the dove represented the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit was not being burnt by the flames, but was bringing the flames to us to ignite our spirits. The Holy Spirit is gentle and can come into our life softly, yet swiftly- like a dove. But like a flame, the Holy Spirit can build within us and consume us; transforming us into the person God would have us to be. It is the image of the Holy Spirit as both dove and flames that inspired this rosary. With this rosary, I pray that those who have been touched by our Lord’s flames - consumed by the Holy Spirit - go gently and swiftly into the lives of others and allow the light within them to be a beacon to show others the way to God.”

Michelle Mattingly