live and pulse and burn,
drawing life from the Stygian dark
and showering it upon mankind.
But a the lake needs a river,
and the river needs the rain.
the rain needs the clouds
and the clouds need the sun,
which burns up its fuel
and, some distant day, will become
nothing but a big, black hole.
The Almighty needs nothing.
He is the All Mighty.
All power and energy begins with him.
He never grows less,
and the lake was but a tear drop in his eye
when he saw what man had done to his earth.
~~~~~~
The Alpha and Omega (Rev 1:8)
A TO Z,
Always A to Z!
If your name starts with A
you will be seen first.
By the time they reach M
they get bored;
so, if you are a Z,
you get left out.
Why don't they start
in the middle sometimes?
Or even from Z
and work backwards?
But that's not the way it's done.
Things begin with A
and finish with Z!
Jesus is the Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end
and everything in between.
He is the Risen, Ascended Lord,
who gets all the breaks,
and also the one who took the form of a servant
and got all the knocks,
So whatever your name begins with –
He's been there
and He knows.
~~~~~~
The Amen (Rev 3:14)
Amen!
It comes at the end of every prayer.
It sort of closes things off,
makes a proper conclusion.
Without it everything is left hanging.
No one knows if you have finished
or just pausing for breath.
Amen, I agree.
Amen, so be it.
Amen, that's Jesus.
Everything heads towards Him.
Wherever I have been in the meantime
He is there at the end.
If He isn't,
I have arrived at the wrong place;
I have become side-tracked;
I am not really at the end,
just pausing for breath.
Every action must be complete in Jesus.
Every thought must terminate in Him.
Every emotion must move me towards Him,
Jesus, the Amen.
~~~~~~
The Apostle whom we Confess (Heb 3:1)
Apostle, sent one.
Sent by whom?
God.
Isn't Jesus God,
the one to whom is given all authority?
Yet He bows to his Father's wishes,
and, in doing so reveals
His filial love and servant heart.
His delight is to do His Father's will.
It should be mine too.
Here am I. Send me!
Sent from where?
From home, the presence of the Father,
from the place of angels' worship and saints' adoration,
eternal fellowship and unending love,
where all others aspire to go, never to leave again.
Yet I cling to homely comforts and that which I know.
It's nice to dream of stepping out in faith;
another thing to do it.
Sent to where?
To a world of hatred, sin and selfishness,
of greediness and pride.
A place where men cling to what they have,
fearful lest, letting go to reach for something better,
they may finish up with nothing.
Sent to where?
To a wooden cross, a lonely hill,
an agonising death, a borrowed grave.
And I confess Him Lord.
~~~~~~
The Arm of the Lord (Isa 51:9)
Like the arm of the law
the arm of God is long.
'Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there.
If I make my bed in the depths you are there.'
My secret thoughts are not secrets to you.
My unspoken longings are an open book in your sight.
Your justice pursues me.
Like the Mounties, you always get your man.
What fear, what hopelessness is mine,
except that your grace and mercy outstrip your justice.
Though you arrest, you have already declared me
'Discharged without conviction.'
The arm of the Lord dispenses both justice and grace.
Yet more, those everlasting arms are there to save.
Reaching out they lift me from the miry pit
dug in the slough of my own willfulness.
They catch me when I fall,
and, when all strength is gone,
they lift me on your broad shoulders
and carry me across the desert.
Though I fled your embrace,
surely was gloom, after all,
shade of your hand outstretched caressingly.
Inspired by Ps 139 and The Hound of Heaven by Francis Thompson.
~~~~~~
The Branch (Isa 11:1)
Jesus, a branch! How come?
He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
He is the True Vine and we are the branches.
He is the Head and we are the Body.
How can he be the Branch?
To us He is the main trunk, the vine,
the source of all that flows to us.
He is the head that controls the body,
the lord who commands the slaves.
He is God.
Yet equality with His father was not something He grasped at,
not a right to be stood upon and fought over.
The Word who was with God and was God
flowed from God,
made Himself dependant,
carried the flowing sap of divinity and bore fruit.
The trunk supports but the branches spread out.
The birds find shelter in their shade
and build nests on their supporting strength.
The trunk stands firm while the branches sway
but on them appear the fragrant blossoms
and finally the fruit.
Yes, Jesus is the Branch,
the extension and expression of the trunk
which, together with the root forms the Tree,
three in one yet one in three.
~~~~~~
The Cornerstone (Ps 118:22)
One starting point, three dimensions,
two walls at right-angles and both vertical.
That starting point must be perfect
or the whole building will go wrong.
Jesus, the Cornerstone, is perfect.
Our lives have three dimensions,
inwards, outwards and upwards.
To be right with ourselves,
to be free of guilt,
we must be without sin.
Jesus is sinless,
the lamb without spot or blemish.
To be right with others
we must love them,
be humble and forgiving.
Jesus is the epitome of love, humility and forgiveness.
To be right with God
we must be obedient.
Jesus always did His Father's will.
Jesus, the Cornerstone, is perfect.
So, to be the building that God wants me to be,
I must line up every part of my life
on Jesus;
not on another Christian,
no matter how good they may seem to be;
r /> not on an elder,
not even on the pastor,
but on Jesus, the Cornerstone.
~~~~~~
Deliverer (Rom 11:26)
Rat-a-tat. Knock on the door.
Run and see what the postman has delivered.
A letter for mum, a bill for dad, a parcel for sis.
Anything for me?
From near and far they come,
across the town, across the state, across the world,
but all arrive through the same deliverer.
Some things we welcome,
like the letters from loved ones far away.
Some we would rather not receive,
like the bills and final reminders,
but every day we await the postman's knock
as if he himself were the provider of all.
All things come to us through Jesus Christ,
who delivers all that the Father has for us,
daily bread, forgiveness, deliverance from evil,
testing, grace, discipline, strength,
justification, sanctification, life.
And, to bring us all this, the Deliverer faced,
not just rain and cold,
not just the blazing heat of noon day sun,
not growling dogs and ankle-twisting paths,
but a hill,
a cross,
a death called Calvary.
~~~~~~
Everlasting Father (Isa 9:6)
Father, you brought me into being.
Long before you created the earth
you conceived me in your thoughts,
made me part of your eternal plan,
and, at the right time,
clothed me in human flesh.
You made me your child,
to be loved and cosseted,
taught and disciplined.
Then, as I grew, you started to entrust me
with things that matter,
like sharing the good news of your love with others,
and healing the sick, casting out demons,
and demonstrating the Kingdom of God.
You gave me the son's right of free entry into your presence,
of coming into your throne room without knocking
and doing things in your name.
When my enemies attacked me
you sent angels to protect me
and you acknowledged me as your son.
Thank you, Father. I love you. I want to serve you.
All that I am and all I shall ever be I owe to you.
I hold your hand and cling to you like a toddler.
I discuss with you as an adult,
and sometimes I disobey like a rebellious teenager.
But, Father, I can only do that
because I feel totally secure in your love.
Thank you, Father God.
I love you.
~~~~~~
Firstborn from the Dead (Rev 1:5)
Adam was the first-born,
a true pioneer,
the first to see the new world,
green, fresh, teeming with life and hope.
No one there to instruct him,
to tell him the do's and don'ts,
to explain and point out and show –
except God himself.
Jesus was the first-born from among the dead,
the first to have died and passed beyond the grave
to eternal life, heavenly life, true life.
It was not just a return to the old,
but now as the pioneer of our faith
blazing a trail into virgin territory.
For Him it was a return to home,
the land of the first eternity of his existence,
yet now, to see it through the eyes of man,
wonderfully strange
yet as familiar as the photograph
carried by the soldier through the years of fighting,
a reminder,
but only a shadow of reality.
And one day I too will pass beyond the cervix of death
and be born into a world imagined yet unimaginable,
only dreamed about in God-given dreams.
And waiting to greet me,
my Father
and my older brother, Jesus.
~~~~~~
The Holy One of Israel (Isa 41:14)
The Holy One of Israel.
Of Israel!
Not of America, or England,
or Rome, or Canterbury.
Not of Los Angeles, or Sydney,
but of a scruffy little country
set somewhere in a wilderness
between Europe and Asia and Africa,
which includes the closest point to Hell,
if Hell is the centre of the earth.
A country of men in black hats and long ringlets,
of bigots and adventurers and sufferers;
which clings to a precarious existence
surrounded by snarling wolves
and surrounding Zion,
the Holy City.
Israel.
To her people were given the adoption as sons,
the divine glory, the covenants,
the receiving of the Law, the temple worship,
the promises, the patriarchs,
the Messiah.
I am just a stranger,
one from the highways and byways,
called to fill the place of someone
who refused the invitation of the king.
It's not my party.
I am not here by birth
but by the grace of the Holy One of Israel.
~~~~~~
I AM (Ex 3:14)
Two words, three letters,
but, between them telling the eternal truth:
God is.
Nothing else is necessary;
no earth or sun or moon,
no universe or heaven or hell,
no people or animals or things.
God is.
He was and He is to come,
but most important of all,
God is.
The god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
of Moses, David and Isaiah,
with infinite love and power
cries out,
'I am'.
When all else fails,
I AM
When all else changes,
I AM.
When nothing else remains,
I AM
~~~~~~
Immanuel, God With Us (Isa 7:14)
I, Shimon, a leper,
sat with my fellows outside the gate,
hungry, alone, untouchable.
Passers-by shot their looks from their quarantine distance,
looks of fear and loathing,
as if by our very existence
we reminded them of their own frailties,
vulnerability and sin.
My bell warns of my diseased approach,
my voice of my uncleanness and untouchability.
Who is this who comes from the gate
and trespasses on my involuntary personal space?
He stretches out a hand and touches my sores.
Is he a Gentile who doesn't know
the laws of my society?
He sits down with me
on my contaminated patch of ground;
comes close where my breath can sear His nostrils;
breaks His bread and, oh joy!
gives to me with a word of blessing
together with His own cup of wine.
The crowd comes with their jeers and angry shouts.
The sharp stones fly, the filth comes in showers,
till my new found friend and I are driven away
to find our shelter together.
Who is this who comes to share my life,
to suffer with me the taunts of man and nature?
Immanuel.
God with us.
~~~~~~
/> Jahweh (Ex 3:14)
(pronounced while breathing out)
Jahweh!
A sigh in the early dawn;
a breath of wind in the dying day.
Not a fire or an earthquake or a roaring gale,
but a still, small voice,
a whisper in the silence,
Jahweh.
I am who I am,
compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love,
faithful and forgiving,
Jahweh.
God of your fathers,
God of your children,
God of the past,
God of the future,
God of the now,
for I was and I am
and am yet to come,
Jahweh.
Yahweh!
The name that surrounds me like a breeze,
lifting the hair,
cooling the cheek,
wafting sweet perfume,
enfolding with peace.
The LORD made man from the dust of the earth
and breathed into him the breath of life,
Jahweh.
~~~~~~
The Rising Sun (Lk 1:78)
All humanity lies in darkness,
and that means aloneness;
not just loneliness but aloneness.
No one to call upon, no one to help,
for there is no one else
apart from all the others
walking their own paths of aloneness.
So each tries to create his own light,
his own guide and god
from stone and wood, silver or gold,
or even a tree or rock or stream.
The sky turns from Stygian black to faintest pearl,
a sign that somewhere,
beyond sight but not beyond knowledge,
there is something or someone to lighten our darkness.
The clouds are tinged with pink,
then crimson,
then with gleaming gold.
And as I watch,
the first, incandescent rim of the rising sun
peeps above the horizon,
climbing swiftly until,
in the twinkling of an eye,
the world is flooded with the light of the Sun of God.
Gone is the black night of utter loneliness,
of desperate idolatry seeking something beyond self.
Gone the dawn of Pentateuchal revelation
and the tinged cloud of the Prophets.
Bursts on the world the rising sun of the Risen Son,
turning the darkness into light
and banishing aloneness for ever.
Slip, slop, slap.
If you are not careful
He may change your life for ever.
~~~~~~
The Rock (Ps 18:16)
When I was sinking in trouble,
when I had given up hope,
He didn't throw me a lifebelt,
He didn't toss me a rope.
No, He reached down to me with His strong right hand;
He grasped me and lifted me up.
He pulled me out of the deep, deep waters
And set my feet on the rock -
The rock called Jesus, the rock of his son,
The rock of salvation and victory won,
The rock that's eternal, can never be moved,
The rock of his presence, the rock of his love.
~~~~~~
Son of Man (Mt 8:20)
They have turned on me, Lord.
I came to reconcile them, to bring them together,
and they were glad, until they found I was not on their side,
that I wouldn't play their silly power games,
and they turned on me like a pack of snarling wolves.
Perhaps one at a time they might have been won over,
but, feeding on each other's fears,
they bit and ripped until, at last,
they have me on my knees.
I know I have done unwise things - don't we all? -
but they have turned the truth into lies,
changed history, garnished fact, impugned my integrity,