Adam and Eve could be seen as the first refugees, driven from their earthly paradise with the door shut behind them. What happened next? Christina Rossetti’s reflections are interesting and scriptural. Think, in Genesis, of God-sent creatures that move the story along. Think of Noah’s dove (8:6-7) – think of the lamb, stuck in the brambles, that was substituted for Isaac (22:13) – and many other doves and lambs through the rest of Scripture.
But over to Christina Rossetti.
BIRD OR BEAST?
Did any bird come flying
After Adam and Eve,
When the door was shut against them
And they sat down to grieve?
I think not Eve's peacock
Splendid to see,
And I think not Adam's eagle;
But a dove may be.
Did any beast come pushing
Through the thorny hedge
Into the thorny, thistly world
Out from Eden's edge?
I think not a lion,
Though his strength is such;
But an innocent loving lamb
May have done as much.
If the dove preached from her bough
And the lamb from his sod,
The lamb and the dove
Were preachers sent from God.
Christina Rossetti
Let us pray that the Dove of the Spirit and Jesus the Lamb will inspire us to be gentle preachers, brothers and sisters, to refugees in our midst.
agnellusmirror 