Eucharist
- Details
- Written November 2015
With a damaged mind trembling
In anticipation of what was
In a life given and gone,
While another shuffles with perceptible tread
In hypoglycaemic hope,
Waiting to snap up the bread of life
That is cake baked in a brand new oven;
Coffee slurped from an angled chalice,
Its sweetness exceeding that of wine
Yet spilt as blood, shed,
Un-wiped and left to dry;
Our means of salvation revealed,
Expressed in the simplicity of love.
Willett House
November 2015
To Iona and Fred Rainer, who often share these experiences with us,.
YHWH
- Details
- Written September 2015
Existent in emptiness before the beginning
Dormant energy poised for exposure,
Ready for release by accident
In a thousand emanations
But at least one planned revelation
Kept for the special occasion.
Absolute diversity, the essence of unity,
Cosmically available, yet down to earth
Incomparable in breadth and depth,
Known, but still incomprehensible;
Ultimate complexity reduced to simplicity
Carrying a name that remains unspoken;
Discarded, though we cannot be without.
September 2015
To Barbara Wannenburgh, with appreciation for her thesis: God is Energy
The Path
- Details
- Written May 2015
Bishopscourt to Willett House,
The weeks and months of in between,
With last year's winter crackling underfoot,
Raising this year's hopes in the burst of spring
Shared with the cuckoo, a kindly rogue,
While the gentle robin befriends the path
Made by those who've gone before.
I follow gently, for fear of breaking
The silence of bluebells in the shaded wood,
So only a whisper of the heart
Breathes thanks in the dialogue of prayer
Which echoes back within: I'm here,
Walking the way that's made for you.
May 2015
Garden Encounter
- Details
- Written June 2015
Breaking up soil of the desert places
Hoping it would yield a hundred-fold;
Chasing away foxes that dig their holes,
Enjoying two sparrows sold for a farthing,
Waiting for rain of the unjust and just,
Careful with weeds that some call tares,
Gently pruning worn out vines,
Tenderly tending the youngest rose.
Until every corner explodes with spring,
Welcoming those who come on a quest,
Seeking the divine in a lifeless rock,
But finding him present among Easter lilies,
Until he disappears - leaving us to it.
April 2015
Qualifications
- Details
- Written March 2015
That should guarantee a place
In the kingdom of God.
Work at yourself
Even harder than before;
Surely that's the way in.
But he arrives on a donkey.
Not number one in the world,
Hardly able to catch a ball.
Low-scoring memory test, IQ gone,
Skills once known, now lost forever.
Steady decline into simplicity
Rather than someone in the know.
Dependent, not self-sufficient.
Whosoever will,
But with a bias to the bottom;
Last in the class, nothing in the bank,
Bent over and out on the sidelines;
Deprived, and stripped of freedom.
Outcasts, not insiders:
These get priority.
No chance for me then, it seems,
Unless I come like one of them,
With the simplicity of a child,
Mingling with the crowd,
Asking no more questions,
Just remembering how he lived,
And finding the man himself.
Because that's where he is -
Among them with unaffected love:
Spiritual in the midst of the secular.
And then finding myself there -
Becoming like them - and him
In gradual transformation
That qualifies for entry.
Surrender of the right to life,
In Good Friday giving,
Condemned and executed
Among thieves and robbers,
Saying: today you'll be with me in paradise.
But three days later he's back
To welcome us into the kingdom.
Easter 2015
Luke 18 is one passage where Jesus turns conventional thinking upside down.
He praises a persistent widow and a tax collector; he welcomes children and gives a straight answer to a rich young politician who asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. Then he tells the disciples about his death and resurrection. They do not understand.
Image: Tuotantoyhtiö Tutsa Oy