Always Yes is a spoken word piece written by Lenora Rand, originally for the Ohio UCC Heartland Conference.
Always Yes
A poem by Lenora Rand
Inspired by these words from 2 Corinthians 1:19-20:
“In Jesus it is always “Yes!” In him every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.”
There’s a whole lot of No going on around here.
And you don’t have to look hard
to see it,
to feel it,
to say it.
Oh, it slips off the tongue so easily, have you noticed?
But why not?
It’s one of the first words we hear.
And one of the first ones we say.
It’s like a thin layer on our skin.
Closing our mouths.
Covering our hearts.
Keeping our hands…tied.
And when we’re not saying that No out loud
We just thinking it. And living it.
No, no.
No, no, no, no, no.
It’s hard to let go of No.
No is what we know so well.
But yes?
To say yes is to open doors and windows, to let hope pour in like sunshine and fresh air when you didn’t know how long you’d been holding your breath.
To say Yes is like diving off the high board when you never believed you could do such a thing and all the way down you’re flying and defying all the No’s you’ve carried so close to you for so long.
Yes is that splash of cold water and your body alive swimming in it.
Yes is the antidote for scarcity, the cure for the tightness around our hearts that holds us back, the medicine for the fear that courses through our veins and tries to keep us quiet and safe and alone.
So alone.
Yes is always a party of more than one.
And yes,
Yes is the word of God.
The word Jesus spoke to the woman at the well,
And the woman they were trying to stone,
The wounded ones by the side of every road.
And rich rulers at night,
The tax collectors and children.
The word Jesus spoke to the hurting and to those who had harmed them.
Be healed. Be well.
Turn in a different direction.
Say yes.
And when she came in, the woman with the
alabaster jar of perfume...
she poured it out like there was no tomorrow,
Like there was nothing more important than this.
And the fragrance of Yes filled the room.
Because yes,
Yes, is a feast for the starving,
justice for the discarded
Yes is another word for grace…
Another way of saying free, free, free at last.
Yes is the name of the key that unlocks hope.
Yes is God’s extravagant love.
Yes is us,
here, now,
Ready.
Say it and watch the world split open.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.