Outrageous Grace - Kiwi Poet

</p>

This poem is written in the style of found poetry — where existing prose is re-presented as poetry. Except for the opening two stanzas, the words are drawn from Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations, who in turn quotes; Serene Jones’, “Call It Grace: Finding Meaning in a Fractured World” (Viking, 2019), xvii, xviii, xix-xxi. Arranged here to highlight the rhythm and insight of Divine Grace.

Grace Reaches
All Circumstances
Equally

While driving through the countryside,
viewing farms,
schools and houses,
I hear reports of war and terrorism
throughout our world.

I come across words which explain
that alongside the reality
of sin and evil
is the reality of Divine Love,
as true grace.

The proposed challenge is conversion:
conversion to see, to hear,
and to respond
with heart and mind
to the ever-presence
of Divine Love and grace.

Divine Love
is not at a distance from us.
The mysterious,
the sustaining creative Life force…
Creator God…
is alive, all the time.

“The challenge for us humans
is perception;
to refocus,
like adjusting the camera lens,
to experience life differently,
not seen before,
awakening to what is already true:
to see anew.”

The reasoning is this:
when we carry the wrong story in our heads,
it is compressed into
cultural lies and patterns.

So again, the challenge
for humanity is to recognise Grace
as unmerited favour.

Grace saturates all existence.
Grace is alongside
the realities of sin and evil.
This constant tension
between Grace and sin
does not mean they are equal.
Because Grace is of Creator God,
and we are forgiven,
however dark our deeds
and broken we may be,
Grace is free!

We do not try to earn or deserve Grace;
it comes unbidden to us all,
even on this ANZAC morn, 2025.

War is the human attempt
to rein in the power of sin and evil,
to equal the imbalance.
But broken humans cannot right their wrongs,
cannot forgive freely,
for we all operate from an egoistic source,
not an untainted, pure Love source.

Our challenge is living life
refocused,
renewed,
recapturing the ever-present
and transformative Love
and Grace of Creator God.

Jones highlights the paradox:
awakening to Creator God’s Grace
alongside the realities of sin and evil.
Sin simply refers to all
aspects of life where
the reality of Grace is not manifest,
and evil flourishes.

This found poem uses text from Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations (Centre for Action and Contemplation), Week Eleven: Radial Grace, Eternally Present Love (Tuesday, 11 March, 2025)