Come to the water , all you who are thirsty.
Why spend money on what is not bread.
The way surely is mercy.
Our minds are after all read.

What is baptism.
But the annihilation of previous sin.
Or is all this mere escapism.
I think it’s more a way to win.

Water is soothing.
It washes away imperfections.
The past diffusing.
A sense of new directions.

But like John do we accept.
Or question and reject.

……

When baptism comes
Do we accept the witness
Or question it

…..

See Isaiah 55: 1-11

The nations come to your light.
And Kings to your dawning brightness.
And yet often he seems tantalisingly out of sight.
As if it was too great , his very lightness.

Sometimes a  nagging depression  descends.
Of course we can go for a good walk.
We can realise that life doesn’t give, only lends.
Or we can meditate more and give up the talk.

But still like the Kings on a journey.
We seek a distant star .
The road twists and is all too thorny
We are like the three kings of Orient are.

Born is the King of Israel.
Let’s be content in the now, the future we cannot tell.

…….

When depression comes.
We can talk less and think more
And follow our star

…….

See Isaiah 60: 1-6

God is greater than our conscience.
And he knows everything.
What is this strange sense.
Is it everything or nothing.

Is our conscience the voice of God.
Or is it the mere rattling of nervous  electricity.
Let it be a spiritual lightning rod.
Guarding against all  mendacity.

I wonder if we can have a Tom Bombadil type freedom.
Just taking delight in nature.
Not constrained by time , accepting all as a Te Deum.
Taking solace in song., not worrying about what is  the lessor or greater.

And as Nathanial just accepted.
We will have received.

…….

What is conscience
It’s truly the voice of God
Or that’s what we hope

……..

See 1 John 3 : 11-21

Rabbi, they answered , where do you live.
Come and see Jesus replied.
It doesn’t  give much away as to whether we thrive.
Where we reside.

But a better question to ask.
Is how do we live.
That is our task.
Can we pass through the spiritual sieve.

It may be in the smallest things.
That we pass the test.
Not grand gestures are needed to complete these rings.
Nor whether we worry more or lest.

But at the call, did we stand up and follow.
Out of our comfortable hollow.

…….

How do we answer
The question posed to us
As to how we live

…….

See John 1 : 35-42

What is promised to you by his own promise.
Is eternal life.
When it comes to all this I am a doubting Thomas.
Doubts surge but hope is rife.

We worry about our body’a demanding lie.
Resting it, feeding it , obeying its demand.
But one thing is certain , it will die.
Very soon now annihilation is at hand.

We hope that the soul will survive.
But we spend so little time pampering it.
We’re obsessed with whether we will thrive.
But what is I or we , what is it.

We really do not know.
So we go undemanding , unquestioning with the flow.

……..

What is his promise
It is nothing less than life
And it’s eternal

……..

See 1 John 2 : 22-28

May the Lord Bless you.
And keep you.
And I hope all others too.
And my family too.

From Numbers, a good greeting.
All we really need for this New Years  day.
As we ponder the year while resting.
And hope for a blessing.

If we ask her.
Does Mary ever say no.
She knows what’s fair.
And will always help us go with the flow.

But we have to ask.
And she will help us in any task.

…….

May the Lord bless you
And keep you with all others
That’s what we hope for

…….,

See Numbers 6: 22-27

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