Image: Melanie Kyer
How does Lent work in Australia
When the days are getting dark?
When the promise of new life
Is still seasons away?
How does Lent provide its promise
For the unjustly detained
Who sit wondering if Jesus
Died to set them free, too?
How does Lent make sense to mourners
With nothing more to give up?
For whom Easter joy and rebirth
Is purely theoretical?
It’s easy to see hope in tulips
To have faith in greening buds
To endure the momentary dark
Secure that it’s only 40 days.
But even when the tulips fail to bloom,
And news brings only never ending dread.
The call to us is clear: Believe! Persist!
His day will come. Light always follows dark.
Melanie Kyer
March 2025