It was by faith that Abraham set out,
Not knowing  where he was going.
We though are plagued by doubt.
Pausing , questioning not reaping.

It was by faith that Sarah was able to conceive.
In spite of being past the age.
If only we were open we could all hope receive.
But against fate we rage.

It was by faith that Abraham offered up Isaac.
He was confident that God had even power to raise the dead.
If only we were content with what we have rather than lack.
So much of our unhappiness could finally be laid.

But always we have this nagging feeling.
But we must have confidence in our ultimate healing.

……..

By faith he set out
And yet Abraham arrived
And so too will we

……..

See Hebrews 11: 8

For who is the greater , the one at the table.
Or the one who serves.
Surely, he said, the  one at table.
Yet here I am among you as one who serves.

At times we feel so low.
We achieve so little , we just serve.
But is this not valuable , you know.
Even if so often we are behind the curve.

How strange is scripture.
Just when we judge our lack of success.
We find a reading that answers our own self stricture.
And we lift our head and think more of ourselves not less.

If Our Lord was happy just to serve.
Is this not all that we need or deserve.

…….

Who is the greater
The one who sits at table
Or the one who serves

…….

See Luke 22 : 24-30

God is light.
There is no darkness  in him at all.
But so often he is not in sight.
He may talk to us but we cannot hear his call.

I was lying in the bath.
Staring at the candle.
Something moved , peace, no wrath.
Everything suddenly easy to handle.

But more .
I felt his presence.
Not somewhere distant but in my very core.
An undefinable but very real essence.

But in a different medium , no tension
As gentle sound is to distant vision.

………

God is truly light
And we may be just some sound
The two cannot meet.

…….

See 1 John 1 , 5-2: 2

The other disciple who reached the tomb first.
Went in, he Saw and he believed.
For what do we thirst.
It is surely that faith should be received.

In our mind’s eye.
The tomb is empty , we cannot be mistaken.
But how many times do we question or believe it is a lie.
That the body was resurrected and that it was in fact taken.

Oh, that we could be like John there.
That we could see with our own eyes.
This is one thing we all pray we could share.
But only our tender faith can confront the lies.

If truth could just to us be revealed.
How forever would our lives be changed.

…. ..

We who have not seen
Must just rely on our faith
It is all we have

……..

See John 20: 2-8

Do not worry about how to speak.
Or what to say.
You just have to seek.
And worries to lay.

What makes for happiness against all polemics.
My son replied like the Buddha, right view and right intention( wisdom.)
Right speech , right action , right livelihood ( ethics)
Right effort , right  mindfulness, right concentration ( meditation, )Om.

This he said is the noble eightfold path.
It certainly seems a way to avoid much suffering and wrath.

…..

What’s the eightfold path
Wisdom, ethics, leading to
Meditation

…..

See Matthew 10 : 17-22

He was not the light.
Only a witness to speak for the light.
Here at last today the Lord comes into sight.
Now we begin to understand the meaning of what is right.

The altar was bedecked with candles.
And the candles covered the churches columns.
Here towards the light we found new channels.
Now we could start to forget our problems.

Our whole journey is one towards this light.
The light of salvation , ethereal.
Eclipsing the darkest night.
Even though it is to our eyes, immaterial.

But still we seek the light.
Even if it is out of sight.

……..

Where is the true light
It remains ethereal
But we can find it

…….

See John 1 – 18

Pour forth we beseech you O Lord.
Your grace into our heart.
We were drawn into the country church as a spiritual ford.
Looking for a new start.

I read this collect of the day.
It said all that needed to be said.
A chance troubles to lay.
Realising that all things by him are made.

What if we knew this were our final week.
How focused on the present we would be .
We would know too that always we must seek.
Knock and celestial light see.

Yes let this grace be poured onto our heart.
So that we really can make a new start.

…….

See the Collect of the day.

O Rex gentian et desideratus earum.
Lapisque angularis.
O King  of the peoples, whom they long for , the sum.
The cornerstone that always was and is.

Qui facis utraque unum.
Veni et salva hominem.
Who made the two into one, the sum.
Come and save man and all of them.

Quem de limo formasti.
Whom you made from clay.
Done to a ti.
Which none can gainsay.

Thus we sing the great Antiphon.
Knowing we are all one.

…….

You made us from clay
And you made two into one
King of the peoples

…….

See The Antiphon to the Magnificat at Vespers

Ask the Lord God for a sign.
Coming from the heights above.
We stumble and fail to tread a straight line.
Forgetting that always ultimately there is love.

I am at a Christmas celebration.
Immersed in Bach and Handel.
For a moment I have a clear vision.
All should be clear and well.

And then the doubts surface.
God as a stable baby , really.
Could anyone have looked God in the face.
I wonder questioningly.

But I sort of know , it’s true.
It really is the way for me and you.

……..

Will he give a sign
We wait and we pray for that
It takes a long time

…….

See Isaiah 7 : 10-14

Even from his mother’s womb.
He will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
We must always have hope from womb to tomb.
Whether or not we conceive ourselves to have any merit.

Both were worthy in the sight of God.
But they were childless.
Whatever our fate we are worthy in the sight of God.
Whether we are the greater or the less.

Zechariah , your prayer has been answered.
Your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son.
All our prayers too one day will be answered.
We one day will be enveloped by rays of a celestial  sun.

We only have to pray and  somehow cope.
And we will be vouchsafed hope .

…..

From our mother’s womb
We’re filled with Holy Spirit
But we must have hope

…..

See Luke 1: 5-25

A voice that cries in the wilderness.
Make a straight Highway for the Lord.
Free us, we pray from all bitterness.
Let us draw deeper from our mind’s spiritual hoard.

We worry about when we die.
But it’s only the body that dies.
The soul , we hope, will stay spry.
Flying free from our bodies last cries.

And what of the mind dying.
But ninety percent of that is concerned with the body.
All that is left is our gift of loving.
And that’s enough to keep the soul steady.

So why fear our dying.
Because it’s a start of a new living.

………

Wilderness crying
Make us Lord a straight highway
Now and for ever

………

See John 1

If only you had been alert to my commandments you see.
Your happiness would have been like a river.
Your integrity like the waves of the sea.
To despair you always could have said a resounding never.

When I read these words of Isaiah.
I was bowled over once again by the strength of the poetry.
One sits there reading just thinking ahh….
Exploring in the spirit’s mind ever new territory.

And then again we read down the verses lanes.
Your children would have been numbered  like the sand.
Your descendants as many as its grains.
Isn’t this transporting us to a new celestial land.

And all this was written so long in the past.
But what a mighty poetical repast.

…….

Alert to commandments
Happiness like a river
Integrity waves

…….

See  Isaiah 48 : 17-19

A voice cries.
Prepare in the wilderness.
And we utter too our sighs.
In all our distress.

Make a straight highway.
For our God across the desert.
And we too find our own way.
Removing , we pray, all hurt.

Let every valley be filled in.
Every mountain and hill be laid low.
A chance for our destiny to begin.
So that we may in our spirit, grow.

Let every cliff become a plain.
And let us remove every stain.

………

Prepare wilderness
And make too a  straight  Highway
Every hill laid low

……..

See Isaiah 40 : 1-11

A voice cries in the wilderness.
Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.
A God of compassion and tenderness.
And for him to come again , we wait.

They were baptised by him in the river.
Baptised with water, he will baptise with the Holy Spirit.
I once too stood by this river .
Once a place of hope and merit.

I wondered if I too could bathe, a spiritual  immersion.
The Jordan here is so enticing, like a stream back home,  narrow.
But now it is only a place of division.
A place of staggering heat  and sorrow.

But still you feel his holy presence.
An indefinable echo of the past and his essence.

……..

A faint past echo
Of a holy baptism
And we still hear it

…….

See Mark 1 : 1-8

When he hears he will answer.
He who is your teacher will hide no longer.
Yet how often do we pray yet receive no answer.
Still our praises we render.

When the lord had given you the bread of suffering.
He who is your teacher will hide no more.
Suffering though is often merely thinking.
Into his tender arms we just need our worries to pour.

You will see your teacher with your own eyes.
Whether you turn to right or left
We need to free ourselves from the mind’s ties.
Or we will be left bereft.

Then moonlight.
Will be as bright as sunlight.

…….

Suffering, thinking
Put yourself into his arms
And then just accept

…. …

See Isaiah 30