Category Archives: Selection

Jesus is on the cross

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When brother takes up arms against brother,
Jesus is on the cross.
When children are rejected and abused,
Jesus is on the cross.
When war rages and lives are wasted,
Jesus is on the cross.
When the strong do injustice to the weak,
Jesus is on the cross.
When the poor are neglected and ignored,
Jesus is on the cross.
When a world of plenty leaves many without,
Jesus is on the cross.
When so many are so lost,
Jesus is on the cross.
When hope has gone and despair abounds,
Jesus is on the cross.
When we find the truth that we need a saviour,
Jesus is on the cross.
When we need a way back home,
Jesus is on the cross.
When we want a life worth living,
Jesus is on the cross.

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
John 3:14-15

Not what has been,
but what will be

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In loss, in change,
In time’s decay,
In all the things
That once were
Dreams and now
Are changed,
In scars, in wrinkled
Lines which tell
A story which was
Going somewhere;
The still small voice
Calls out to ears
Now tuned to hear
The softened hush –
Like summer’s silent
Morning breeze.
And on warm currents
Chasing Winter’s cold
And drying Spring’s
Wet weeping, comes
The sound of hope in
Grass-greening refrain,
Drawing the soul
Ever-forward towards
The unwritten tomorrow:
“Not what has been, but what will be.”

The blossoming

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The brown buds
Tightly strain
And swell on wiry
Finger-like branches,
Reaching outwards
And up towards
Spring’s new sun
In hope of bathing
In the invisible glow
Of ultraviolet.
Within awaits a furled
Canopy of pink explosion
Ready for the precise unseen
And unwatched moment
When they will burst open,
Announcing the change
Of season and the coming
Fruit yet a season away.
There is a time for wintering,
Budding and blossoming,
And though the blossom or
The fruit cannot be seen
Today, yet they will come,
In an unseen
And unwatched moment.

Leader

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They say a leader is one who leads
But I say that if no one is following
Then you are a loner, not a leader.
In all my gifts, talents, ideas and charisms
It is the vacant gap behind me—
A huge sinkhole prepared for years—
Which amplifies the truth like a loudspeaker
That I lead no one except myself
And I go into a delusional place where
The lonesome and the ludicrous meet
To play the game and act the part.
Influence! Confront! Lead!
The lines are learnt and awkwardly rehearsed
But no one watches this performance
Ready to mimic; no understudy waits in the wings,
For I am but an actor, a charlatan
Who knows as much about leadership
As the night knows about the day.
Make the curtain call; drop it fast
That I might take my leave of
This pantomime of curated folly
And instead sit in silence; humble, close-mouthed,
And wait until I able to see what a true leader
Looks like, walks like, talks like and is like.
Maybe then I can stand up, dust myself off
And follow.
Maybe if I can learn what a follower is
Then I can know what a leader is.

Come to rest

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Let the falling leaf, work done,
Come to rest where it lands.

Let the weary bones laid out
Come to rest on your couch.

Let the floating ark of family life
Come to rest as the waters subside.

Let the furrowed brow of concern
Come to rest in abandoned trust.

Let the restless, relentless pace
Come to rest in long, slow breaths.

Let yesterday and tomorrow’s tomorrow
Come to rest now in each moment.

Let everything you create and do
Come to rest in everything you are.

Let the questions, doubts and needing to know
Come to rest in being known.

Remember the sabbath to keep it holy;
Come to rest and let YHWH take care
Of the rest.

“Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”
(Deuteronomy 5:12-15)

The princess

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The princessWith grace
She glides
And beauty
Falls and flies
From her train
In effortless
Unawares.
The princess
Is crowned
In garland
Of hope with
Bouquet of
Life’s fresh
Fragrance
Held in perfect
Posy poise,
Lightly held
By floating
Fingers, her
Circular arms
Frame form
And receive
Into their bay
Hearts and souls
Lost, now found;
Lost, now loved.
This is she,
The lady born
To bear orphan
Princesses and
Take them home
With brooding
Love under
Flighty Wings
That reach higher
Than high, and
Be the mother
They need and
Now have; in the
Safety of her
Broken heart.

The truth of me

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And when I stopped
The arms-length
Distancing of
Shadows in me
And saw the Light which
Threw them,
Then I knew
The truth of me:-
That even the darkness
Cannot hide You,
Or obscure Your love
Eternal, true.
For unconditionally
You find me
In my dark
Condition
And throw Your
Light to cast shadows
Out
By the truth of You
In the truth of me.

Deep calls to deep

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From the deep of me
My genesis voice
Calls out to be known,
And in love, enfolded.
In silent roar the Voice
Echoes back from deep
In exultant song of
Everlasting love, enfolding.

“Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.”
(Psalm 42:7 ESV)