Exult all you who lie in the dust.
For your dew is a radiant dew.
We only have to choose where to put our trust.
And surely life is our due.

We Labour and are overburdened.
We simply seek rest .
We pray we may be pardoned.
And recover some of our zest.

We seek a yoke that is easy.
And a burden which is light.
Perhaps we should be a little less fussy.
And find a way we can keep in sight.

We search for a different country.
And hope thereby to find our entry.

…….

A yoke that eases
A burden that remains light
That is what we seek

……

See Isaiah 26 and Matthew 11: 28-30

I bless you from hiding these these things from the clever.
And revealing them to mere children.
All this helps in our forever.
As we watch our grandchildren.

In their playing, what guileless fun.
What enjoyment in the moment.
As they dodge and run.
They are our greatest endowment.

How we agonise.
Why do we question.
Do we have to rationalise.
And slide into depression.

The children surely have it right.
They just keep the present in sight.

……..

The best is hidden
We just question too much
Best just to accept

……

See Matthew 11: 25-27

 
If your plea is for clear perception.

Seek the Lord, you who are poor.
And your hearts will revive.
Sometimes I feel afflicted by a mental sore.
When I read this , I know I will survive.

A great tiredness falls over me.
There seems little excitement in life.
But I read these words and more clearly I see.
Depression dims , living hope is rife.

There is only one way to happiness.
Day by day to seek the Lord .
Away with numbing listless restlessness.
Don’t despair, take up the sword.

I am only a poor man .
But my eyes can scan.

…….

If we seek the  Lord
We may indeed be just poor
But our hopes revive

……

See Psalm 68

Everything that is covered will be uncovered.
Everything now hidden will be made clear.
Our old life and ways are severed.
All that was ugly will be made clear.

What I say to you in the dark, tell in daylight.
What you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops.
We now know what was wrong and what is right.
We have done the rounds of all the spiritual shops.

Do not be afraid of those who can kill the body.
But cannot kill the soul.
We now know what is good and what is shoddy.
We have done the work and can cease the toil.

There is no need to be afraid.
Our fate is well and truly laid.

……

Do not be afraid
Every hair on your head counted
All will be revealed

…….

See Matthew 10:24-33

I will heal their disloyalty.
I will love them with all my heart.
What price loyalty.
The loyal heart is pierced with a dart

I will fall like dew on Israel.
He shall bloom like the lily.
We will live to tell the tale .
And we will try to go tranquilly.

I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.
So be cunning as serpents yet harmless like doves.
Doubt laid aside on high shelves.
And us following in droves.

We will be renewed.
With an end to all feud.

….

We sheep among wolves
Must be cunning as serpents
And harmless like doves

……

See Hosea 14:2-10  and Matthew 10:16-23

.

You received without charge .
Give without charge.
Let our viewpoint be large.
As we wait for our discharge.

All of Christianity is in those seven words .
Everything came to us free .
Containing all known worlds
We can give without a fee.

We never asked to be here
But here we are .
Completely free to be fair.
So we should not care .

So as we were asked for no charge
We need not ask anyone for any charge.

…….

Just these seven words
You received without charge
Give without charge

…….

See Matthew 10: 7-15

Towards her I send flowing peace like a river.
And like a stream in spate.
I pray I may be less of a taker, more of a giver.
And resigned cheerfully to my fate.

I am sitting here looking across twenty miles .
Nearby meadow and trees , distant blue.
Ready to walk over nearby styles.
Slowly taking in the  verdant view.

I do not feel like the 72 labourers.
Sent out to pray , travel light and preach.
But in peace pass the  shortening years.
A greater perspective given to each.

We do not yet know our way .
Or how it best to lay.

……..

The harvest is rich
We baulk being labourers .
We are the many

…….

See Isaiah 66: 10-14

The harvest will follow directly after harvesting.
The treading of grapes soon after sowing.
Mountains with new wine running.
The hills with it flowing.

I am at Adrian Alyward’s memorial.
A great charismatic headmaster.
Master of every tutorial.
Not just a teacher but pastor.

He gave up a brilliant career in the city.
To devote himself to helping others.
Charming , a one off and witty.
His whole teaching enlightens not smothers.

What a life to portray.
His memory will stay.

……

Will they remember
We live by the good we do
Not by position

…….

See Amos9:11-15

All peoples clap your hands.
Cry to God with shouts of joy.
His name rings out over many lands.
A man of purest alloy.

This alloy of faith and bravery .
Of friendliness and innocence.
Rejecting a conscience held in slavery.
Excelling in calm diligence.

Falsely accused
Put on trial
Pardon refused.
He entered death’s defile.

But the defile opened into glory.
A truly inspiring story.

……

He just ministered
Not involved in politics
He paid with his life

…..

See Entrance Antiphon of today’s Mass.

What is easier to say , your sins are forgiven.
Or get up and walk.
And where is our own vision.
Do we act or are we just talk.

We dislike going to confession.
We wonder whether are sins are worth it.
What will we say in all this confusion.
We don’t want to commit.

But you feel better .
If you open up .
We have cut a fetter.
After a spiritual check up.

And if we have striven.
We are always forgiven.

……

We may not be cured
We are always forgiven
Is that not enough

…….

See Matthew 9: 1-8

Do two men take the road together.
If they have not planned to do so.
Rarely do we all pull  together.
We just go with our own flow .

I was with someone of my age.
He’s full of  lighthearted energy .
He’s not giving up and continuing to engage.
Full of cheeky fun and no lethargy.

Never despair for one instant.
Keep on going as if you were young.
Just ignore all the irritating ageist cant.
Stride out through life as if stung.

We may eventually end up fired.
But hopefully not soon retired.

……

Just keep on working
It’s good for you and for them
And after all why not

…….

See Amos 3

 
Jesus said, follow me.
And let the dead bury their dead.
So we might follow, but we try to flee.
Constantly we attempt to remake the thread.

I was standing in front of the Saint in his case of glass.
Lying there in his red vestments, trimmed with gold.
The same as the priest saying mass.
His presence with us put on hold.

Awed by his courage .
Determined  he was to not prevaricate.
Nothing was he discouraged.
constant to pass the narrow gate.

We will never match him.
We will just sing the hymn.

……..

We so lack courage
Unlike the great worshiped saints
But we can just try

…..

See Matthew 8:18-22

Foxes have holes and the birds have nests.
But the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.
In this world we are only guests.
Wearily on our path we tread.

I crashed my head on the cottage beam.
So hard I was flung to the floor.
I walked as in a dream.
Shocked to the core .

The bang on the head did some good.
I felt really positive in everything next morning.
Not exactly martyrdom or sainthood.
But an end of senseless mourning.

Perhaps a bit of shock
Unpicks the lock.

…….,

Be comfortable
But the perhaps not too much
You have to move on

……

See Luke 9: 51-62

My eyes wasted away with weeping.
My entrails shuddered.
I am mired in endless seeking.
Hope so often is shuttered.

During the long night’s vigil.
I ponder the parable of the lost sheep.
I find my elusive Sybil.
And at last taste calm sleep.

Thus we can take refuge in daily reading.
With every new dawn , new hope.
And positive thinking.
Climbing a celestial rope.

And then  there’s another long night.
And we toss and turn till first light.

……

We cannot find sleep
Then we ponder on scripture
And at last it comes

…..

See Lamentations 2:2

 
Enter by the narrow gate.