Editor’s note: Over the course of this week, in celebration of Epiphany, we have published a series of poems by Bishop Graham Kings, originally included in Andrew Wheeler’s Desire of Nations: The Magi, their Journey and the Child (2015).
Perennial problem
Into Egypt,
Joseph was sold,
rose to the heights,
and saved my people.
Out of Egypt,
Moses was freed,
received my Law,
and led my people.
Out of Egypt,
I called my Son,
brought by family,
renewing my people.
Threat of death passed over,
bypassing Judea,
Galilee beckons,
Nazareth welcomes,
my Refugee.
Tragically, later,
home town rejects
home-grown Prophet,
who cites my acts
for people outside.
Unsightly reaction incited:
my perennial problem.
Graham Kings‘s other posts may be found here. The featured image is Giotto’s Flight of the Holy Family (ca. 1304), and it is in the public domain.
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Graham Kings, in his retirement in Cambridge, is honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Ely and research associate at the the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide, which he founded in 1995. He has served as Mission Theologian in the Anglican Communion; Bishop of Sherborne; and vicar of St. Mary’s Church, Islington, London, where he co-founded Fulcrum.
