Pilgrim

Thunder clouds loom Threatening, enveloping Injured children in fear crouch down Fear of death consumes God’s chosen Darkness surrounds the righteous Clouds suffocate the children A church quakes and reels People are lost Where are you O God Lightning fractures the sky Hail batters the ground Rocks fail, earth splits Edifices fall Have you forsaken us O God As all else is reeling A cross stands true Testament to love Foundational; enduring God bursting through A rising church Children healed Resurrection in action New Faith, new life Immanuel, God is here

When Forgiveness Knocks To be read as a conversation between two parties. How many times should I forgive my neighbour Lord? Don’t you know how much I bleed? Why don’t you make a stand? Punish the wrongdoer – Praise the righteous How many times have I forgiven you my child? Don’t you know how much I bleed? If I punish the wrongdoer, what about you? Are you without sin? What would you have me do? Forgive me Lord, for I have sinned. Shame fills every corner of my soul My heart runs cold. Instead of my neighbour, I now see you. What have I done to you my Lord. My child, I have forgiven you. I will fill your soul with my Grace Warm waters will refresh your heart Life flows through me to you my child Come to me and I will give you rest. How many times should I forgive my neighbour, Lord? How many stars are there in the sky? That’s how many times and then again. For my neighbour is my brother to me

“ Arise my darling, my beautiful one, come with me.”   You don’t often think of Holy Scripture as necessarily sounding like a love letter, especially perhaps the Old Testament where we find a fair amount of blood and thunder, jealousy and murder.   And yet we have a set of poems evoking a gentle love story that despite efforts to see it in purely theologically terms is unabashedly romantic, some would even say erotic.   So right at the beginning there is a hurdle to overcome.   If sexual imagery is being used then why have we in the church got ourselves into such a mess over the years.   Certainly both in churches and outside I think it is fair to say that we have not really figures out sexuality very well.   All too often we veer from one end of a spectrum to the other.   We see the homophobic rants of conservative Americans, torture in Egypt, beatings in Russia, to the Gay pride marches in London and New York.   On another theme, of problems with sexuality, I am sure that recent eve

What is love, A good feeling? Feelings are as fickle as a breeze Here one minute, gone the next. What is love? What is love, A pain in my heart? Pain is but a symptom Another word for a feeling What is love? What is love, A diamond necklace? If the necklace is lost, what will remain? Anger, loss Can that be love? What is love, An act of will? A choice for life? A gift of time and self Is this love? What is love, Heavens Glory wrapped in humility, Emptied out for our sake, Arms spread wide on a broken tree. This is love. This is love To live with the Three To love one another To be set free. This is love