Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Hibernation
Wednesday, 8 February 2023
Holocaust Poem - The Survivors' Verse
Ghosts
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
Wednesday, 13 July 2022
Memories and Secrets
This is an old one, that has taken decades to finish, although I suspect it will never be finally finished and will always be a work in progress. When you’re young, and if you can stay young, there is always danger, originality, first discoveries, imagination and dreams in your heart for the future to deal with, and occasionally literal cliff edges, beauty, deep blue waters and places to escape to.
Memories and Secrets
Back then we all had secrets,
private and treasured
when we were young and new
with impetuous hearts
wide-eyed at life, drinking in hard
secrets of cliff edges that held our breathe,
hidden beauty we thought only we could see,
of secret places to swim in deep blue waters,
and to fly to at night, while others slept
secrets of fires, and fears and foolishness
some shared, confessed with strict boundaries,
loosened out at the end of exhausting days,
all those secret places are in another country now
does the recollection of summer bring a glow to your skin ?
do you have enough memories to keep you warm through the winter ?
now we are older and those secrets are lifeless, even the raging fires
without memories what is a man?
without knowledge of his own history
his anchors, his secret places
his pivotal moments and formative years
the crutches when his heart was broken, deceived,
or lifted in victory and triumph
without memories what is a man?
is he free, or merely a shell?
Unbound, or lost forever?
