Who Comes Before

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
   who will prepare your way;
³ the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
   “Prepare the way of the Lord,
   make his paths straight” ’,
⁴John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. ⁸I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’ Mark 1:2-8

Gandalf's Gallery

Robert Weir - Embarkation of the Pilgrims [1844]

who comes before
who prepares the way
is where you are now
because of all that came before

who comes before
my family story
is of a displaced people
  their faith pushed against the boundaries and limits
  of how you were to be religious
they were invited, pushed to leave
they were an uncooperative sort
   self righteous, high on God
these ancestors sailed the channel
   looking for a place to live
   to practice their faith
   they were not easily welcomed
   they were invited to leave their first home
these ancestors sailed the ocean
   looking for a place to live
   but while making their way straight
   they killed, enslaved, forcible removed
       the people who already inhabited the land
       their way meant pain for others
       trauma and genocide

Erika Smith

Roger Williams Park

yet these ones who came before
   who pushed faith to new limits
   were rejected in the new land
   they were told to tow the line
   when they couldn't
   they moved away to start again
   a new colony, a new place
   to practice faith freely
those who came before
  they were a little rough around the edges
  their clothing was coarse and modest
  not camel hair but not pretty
  they survived on the land
  pulling stones that became fences
  markers, boundaries
  for who is in and who is out

those who came before
prepared the way for me
they pushed me to challenge faith
   to challenge convention
   to seek new light and truth
   to live the word with God
   to love the word, be inspired and challenged by the word
   to speak when it is hard
   to speak when tears are in your heart
   to speak a word of truth and light
to listen and wait for one to come
   to wait for the one who is more powerful
   to wait on God's messenger
   to wait on God's savior, redeemer, deliverer, anointed one
   to wait for light and truth, today and always

We Limit Not the Truth of God