Throw away Jesus is found by those rummaging in bins for nourishment...

Jesus in a Rubbish Bin

by James Mercer

An Installation by Diana Thomas

Amidst the festooned Christmas trees

In earshot of the shoppers urgent bustle

Glimpsed in the flickering glimmer of a hundred candles

Greeting the city carollers on their annual return

On the altar steps

Lay Jesus in a rubbish bin

The shock of dislocation

No cosy hay strewn stable

No wise men with their peculiar offerings

Or shepherds with their flock

Outrage at the juxtaposition

Of a saviour cast carelessly aside

And yet the shock is needed

To be wrong footed is good news

Jesus lives amongst us

Discomforting our comfort

Paradox within the familiar

Enraging, embracing, surprising, real