Reprinted from The Common Good, No 32, Lent 2005
Pack nothing.
Bring only
your determination
to serve and
your willingness to be free.
Only surrender to the need
of the time – to love
justice and walk humbly
with your God.
Set out in the dark.
I will send fire
to warm and encourage you.
I will be with you in the fire
and I will be with you in the cloud.
You will learn to eat new food
and find refuge in new places.
I will give you dreams in the desert
to guide you safely home to that place
you have not seen.
The stories you tell
one another around the fires
in the dark will make you
strong and wise.
You will get to where you are going
by remembering who you are.
Touch each other and keep telling stories.
—Alla Bozarth-Campbell