Aspects of Faith

 

Very pleased to be selected for Paddlers Press Volume 15 with my poem Aspects of Faith 

- https://paddlerpress.ca/product/paddler-press-vol-15-faith/

 

Aspects of Faith

 

I

His faith in me is unwavering

Why, I shun the gift ?

 

II

The world shouts, pleads, whispers -

What I need

is to be taught, inspired and comforted

To navigate not succumb

Give me headphones, not blinkers

 

III

It’s there in the storm, my spine

holding everything together

But where does it go on days of success ?

Abandoned in noise and colour

as if the two were oil and water

Until the lonely grey descends

and I’m holding fast again

 

IV

Taking risks, not reckless

Aligned with purpose

step by step

 

V

A rise of fortune and I forget

a God who blesses at a stroke

If only I could remember, all things change

and yet eternity hasn’t moved an inch

 

VI

I’m anchored on a chain

which I lengthen, ‘til I reach dangerous waters

still connected as I turn away

 

VII

Sometimes you carried me, I saw the footprints

And sometimes you led me, through minefields,

always my shield and guide

I wandered

then felt the damage done

mercy teaches compassion

 

VIII

From this scaffold I see the contours of history,

And the tussle for my soul

The path to paradise and the wolves at the door

Where this me came from and where he could go

 

IX

The Spirit who gifts faith, acts by faith, and holds faith to account

says stop trying to be, and draw closer.

 

 

 

paddlerpress.ca

Paddler Press Volume 15 – Faith

Take A Moment (Carol Service Christmas 2021)

 

 

Just take a moment to breathe

As Jesus took his first breathe

And take another

as he gave up his last

the whole of God’s love, holiness and mercy

lived out between those two breaths

 

Take a moment to see

See how he came

The humblest of origins

No privilege for this Prince, of Peace,

The Word of God made flesh

 

Relinquishing the glory of heaven

And the intimacy of the Father

Dependent on the Holy Spirit

Born to a disgraced young woman

And her humbled husband

Lain in a feeding trough

To be honoured by night workers

 

Take a moment to wonder

Where were the other relatives of Joseph

Called to the census in Bethlehem

Could they not find room in their lodgings,

in their hearts for Mary,

No bed, no dignity, no compassion

Take a moment to see

who today has no bed, no dignity

Is afforded no compassion ?

Don’t let Christmas obscure the truth

 

And wise and educated men came

But not from the palace or the priesthood

But foreigners from the East

with their symbolic gifts

Led by a star,

followed with faith and understanding

Let us be led

by signs and wonders too, followed by faith

 

And take a moment to see

the family’s flight to Egypt

Refugees with a child, stateless and status-less

Running from persecution

To the land of the Pharaohs

who had enslaved their ancestors

As we were once enslaved, by sin,

by greed, by pride

 

See patient Mary, waiting,

Thirty years of knowing who he was

Pondering how this could be

Let us ponder how this could be

Knowing we all should die, all except he

that’s how he saves us, undeserved

the only one who needn’t die

 

Take a moment to see

the violence that followed his birth

for threatening power and prestige

would return and put him to death

for threatening power and prestige

such are human hearts

blind to his selfless love

to his healing and miracles and acceptance

man’s contempt for the life that has been granted

and He who gives us life

 

And the life of the Jesus,

between those two breaths

was a gift of love, that brings us life

The star shining in the darkness

Proclaiming everlasting life

 

Just take a moment to consider

so many people in the world this Christmas

They all need what you have

– hope in Jesus