Learn to do good.
Seek Justice.
Search for the Holy Rood.
Resist injustice.

You are not a sinner like us in every land.
You have never done anything wrong.
It is I with sins countless as grains of sand.
Who have bought down on you this host of sorrows for so long.

I was listening to St John’s Passion.
These words moved me unbearably.
At last I had understood our mission.
My tears rolled down irresistibly.

It was the haunting words of the tenor evangelist.
That my heart could not resist.

…….

You not a sinner
You have never done some wrong
You take our sorrows

…….

See Isaiah 1 : 10, 16-20 and Bach St John Passion

For to all that I send you.
You shall go.
And whatever I command you:
You shall speak so.

Captured.
Enslaved .
Maltreated
Escaped.

Studied.
Returned.
Travelled.
Converted.

And then missionaries to all the world.
They helped convert the world.

……

To all I send you
You shall go to all nations
And you shall then speak

…….

See Jeremiah 1 : 4-9

His face was altered.
And his clothing became dazzling white.
On the mountain tops we feel exalted.
In the valley floors we lose our very sight.

Life goes from mountain to valley .
From rose to thorn.
We lose sight of our up and down tally.
Between  feeling fresh and worn.

But I listened to the common pigeon’s song.
I watched the sun dip below the hill.
Nothing good or bad needs to last long.
Exciting or run of the mill.

Remember Christ transcendent.
Our life one day will be ascendant.

…….

His face was altered
His clothing became dazzling
Remember all this

…….

See Luke 9 : 28b – 36

Blessed are those.
Whose way is blameless.
A budding rose.
No less.

Who walk.
In the law of the Lord.
No more talk.
Just a spiritual sword.

Blessed are those.
Who keep his decrees.
Another rose.
Who has paid his fees.

They seek him with all their hearts .
And find new fresh starts.

……

Blessed then are those
Whose way is truly blameless
Are we those people

……

See Psalm 119

O let your ears be attentive.
To my pleadings.
But are we attentive.
To his readings.

In a city we seldom look at the sky.
Our attention focused on what’s passing.
So we don’t look at him in the eye.
But in the country the sky is constantly delighting.

If you pause and look at a cloud.
You are in this moment.
There is silence, nothing loud.
Changing yet constant.

The clouds have no future , no past.
No regrets or hopes , content not to last.

……

Are my own pleadings
Being listened to by him
But am I listening

…….

See Psalm 130

A broken and humbled heart.
O God, you will not spurn.
Here is a start.
If we start to learn.

I am the light of the world.
Anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark.
I read these words lighting a candle for the next world.
Trying for those passed to make a mark.

He , I read will have the light of life.
We are not walking alone.
We have eternal life.
Believe and you will not be alone.

The candle is lighting
And we are surviving.

……

Broken humbled heart
Will not be spurned by our God
That’s what we believe

…..

See  Psalm 51 and John 8 : 12

There is no distinction between Jew and Greek.
For the same Lord is Lord of all.
After all don’t we all seek.
All of us waiting for the call.

He is bestowing riches.
On all who call on him.
We can build bridges.
We are all one body , one limb.

Pray for Christians in  Syria
Persecuted , numbers declining.
Even today killed in Latakia.
Fleeing, hiding.

All God’s people are one.
That is the prize to be won.

…….

No distinction
Between all religions
The prize that we seek

……

See Romans 10 : 8-13

Teach me O Lord your way.
That I May walk in your truth.
We search , is our path right, who can say.
To our old age all the way from our youth.

Did God create man.
Or did man create God.
Who knows for sure , how narrow is our scan.
We are so flawed.

But one thing is certain.
God’s love is real.
We just need to draw aside the curtain.
It is there all around us, this we cannot know, only feel.

We know this through the joy we feel.
And that certainly is real.

…..

Teach me Lord your way
That I may walk in your truth
Now and for ever

……

See Psalm 86

Cry aloud, do not hold back.
Lift up your voice like a trumpet.
Truly there is little we lack.
We are indeed well met.

Declare to the people their transgression.
To the house of Jacob their sins.
This too is our mission.
Although there will always be losses and wins.

Yet they seek me daily.
And delight to know my ways.
Certainly if we pray daily.
Seeing God in our thoughts like the sun’s rays.

Always searching.
And we pray believing.

……

If you cry aloud
And if you do not hold back
You make some progress

……

See Isaiah 58 : 1-9a

Consecrate a fast.
Consecrate the  congregation.
To the last.
In sorrowful meditation.

All this will pass away.
Not just ourselves fast or slow.
But even the sun’s ray.
Everything will go.

So fast.
Pray.
Give alms to the last.
This and every day.

Lent is here.
But there is no need to fear.

…….

Consecrate a fast
Consecrate congregations
For all this will pass

…….

See Joel 2 : 12-18

He who keeps the law makes many offerings.
He who heeds the commandments sacrifices a peace offering.
Maybe we indulge in too many mutterings.
Too concerned with our own suffering.

He who returns a kindness.
Returns a fine flour.
An end to restlessness.
Living in this hour.

And he who gives alms.
Sacrifices a thank offering.
Absolved from harms.
In grateful giving.

To keep from wickedness.
Is to forsake unrighteousness.

……

If we keep the law
We will make many offerings
And heed commandments

… …

See Sirach 35 : 1-15

Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful.
Because he had great possessions.
Are we too mournful.
Wondering if we will enter his mansions.

I too am disheartened by this Gospel reading.
Not that I have great possessions.
But the little I have , I am slow  in giving.
To hang on to what little we have , we all have reasons.

But I paid five pounds for a candle today.
In gratitude.
Not really enough for today.
In rectitude.

We give a little.
We live a little.

……

He was disheartened
For he had great possessions
But then we do not

…….

See Mark 10: 17-27

When a sieve is shaken, the refuse appears.
So a person’s filth in his thought.
But we are never forsaken.
Never permanently in despair caught.

The kiln tests the potters vessels.
Likewise the test of a person’s filth is in his reasoning.
In our hand we have our mental pestels.
In our mind too much is happening.

We spend too much time worrying about the  I.
And too little about the infinite.
We are not truly the I.
Our true destiny is  the infinite.

This is the only path to happiness.
Turning away from exclusiveness.

……..

The sieve is shaken
And then the refuse appears
As with reasoning

…….

See Sirach 27 : 4-7

If salt has lost its taste.
How can it be restored.
Nothing needs to be put to waste.
For we are called.

You are the light.
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
As long as we keep this in sight.
We are bidden.

Nor do people light a lamp.
And put it under a basket.
We climb happily our spiritual ramp.
As we remember that one day there is but a casket.

Let your light shine.
As we tread our life’s finite line

…..

You are then the light
A city set on a hill
And then we are called

…….

See Matthew 5: 13-16

When you gain a friend gain him through testing.
And do not trust him hastily.
Knowing , advising, supporting.
Wearily yet still merrily.

For there is a friend who will stand by you at his own convenience.
And never stand by you in your day of trouble.
Not one for steady maintenance.
Friendship can be mere rubble, a struggle.

Brought low this friend will be against you.
And will hide himself from your presence.
Thus true friends are all too few.
Not made of true essence.

But a faithful friend is a sturdy shelter.
He that has found one has found a treasure.
In our life’s helter skelter.
And we know his true measure.

……

What’s a faithful friend
He is a sturdy shelter
And a true treasure

…….

See Sirach  6 : 5-17