Poem : "Awe "

Awe

But look, the mighty  Emperor pales.
He flinches, then he bows his knee.
With trembling fingers he tugs at his rings
- the seals of power !
He grasps his glittering crown ...
and throws it down before another's throne.


How can this be?
What potentate is here?
What majesty can subjugate
that great despotic will?



Behold, a lamb. A sacrifice.

 Yet here He is, seated on the throne.
Not demanding thrall, but meriting it.
The King above all other Kings.
He reigns, not with a fist of iron,
but with a greater power.
He comes with grace and mercy.
 He rules with truth and justice.


Through cracked lips and tight throats
the shout begins.
Reluctance gives way to truth.
It swells, full-throated,
as the kneeling lords confess :



Jesus Christ is Lord.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Jesus Christ is Lord.

 by Liz Figures

Thought : Is there cake underneath ?

I have had a small and probably inconsequential thought based on making meals for sick people.
 
They can't always eat them. 

They don't always like them. Regardless of how much work went into making them we find them congealing, abandoned, uneaten, the sick person un-nourished and needing something else to be prepared, probably at equal expense and effort. 

I was also thinking about kings. They don't always like or want the things that are offered to them. I'm not really thinking just about gifts but legal entitlements too. We can think we're being very generous to the exchequer and then discover that it's not anything like as much as they think they should be receiving.

And gods. Sometimes they're appeased by the gifts and sacrifices. Sometimes they're not.

But do we expect The Living God to be satisfied with any tatty old gesture. True he's no tyrant. He may be almighty but he doesn't throw his weight around to impress or coerce us. In the long run do we try his patience - trying to appease him with song and dance and the odd cheque when what he's asked for is apparently more mundane than that.

Loving our neighbour as we love ourselves has none of the appeal and hormones of  the clapping and drums or soaring choirs in soaring acoustics with soaring fan vaulting for that matter. 

I happen to rather like clapping. I do it to express appreciation and have no problem doing it for God as much as for a good play. I think that maybe God likes clapping and soaring and cheques in the right context. That's not the issue. They're the icing. But is there cake underneath ?

O Lord, may the thoughts of our hearts and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight.


^{Hebrews 13 v 15,16} "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.  And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased."

Thought : Wanting a "word"

I've been struck again lately that sometimes we humans are twits. Arrogant ones at that. Not you of course. 


Do we want a special word for the New Year ?

Jesus gives us lots of really clear instructions, which are then reiterated and clarified by Paul etc. What sort of mentality needs their own private word to do something when we clearly haven't done what are obvious instructions ? It's like a teacher saying to a young class "Put your coats on" and little Joe sits there and says "What do you want me to do ?"  

To avoid being obedient we preoccupy ourselves with side issues like end times (for which we have little or no instructions) or  a morbid fascination with what's going wrong in society :  "We're all doomed ! (It's too big for me to do anything about so I won't do anything)" 

Don't get me wrong, I still believe in God guiding us, and listening to his leading in the details as well as the whole.  I still believe in intercession and warfare too. It's just that we're maybe at risk of missing the obvious because we prefer the less obvious. 

Loving the Lord our God with all our everything, and our neighbour as ourselves seems a bit too mundane - and rather expensive, in comparison. Paul Leader on his blog quotes from the film The Hobbit :

“Galadriel: Why the Hafling?

Gandalf: Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay… small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? That’s because I am afraid and it gives me courage.”


I found 686 references to love in the Bible. Numbers 426 to 500 are all said by Jesus. Just look at this little selection said near the end of his life ...

John 13:34
‘A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

John 13:35
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’

John 14:15
  ‘If you love me, keep my commands.

John 14:21
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.’

John 14:23
Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
John 15:9
‘As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

John 15:10
If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

John 15:12
My command is this: love each other as I have loved you.
John 15:17
This is my command: love each other.

 It's a direct order. He repeats it over and again. Love me. Do as I say. How will people know we love God ? Because we love. 

Why do we have to make it so complicated ?

So what is my word for me for the new year ? DO IT !





I've taken the liberty of copying and pasting an extract from the latest post on Paul Leader's blog on this theme.

The Traveller’s Rest- Non Word for 2013.

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Paul Leader

Sound of the Anvil.

Normally at this time of year I release a prophetic word/thoughts for the coming year but this year I do not feel at liberty to do that. More and more the walk and journey are becoming the Word. These rambling thoughts and the daily chat, connections and even solitude become the expression of the heart that God has for us. I’m all worded out. To express something of how I feel I wrote a couple of things on my Facebook page; A Word for 2013 (Part 1)…Live (Nuff said) and a Word for 2013 (Part 2)…Grace (Amazing and outrageous). Along with maybe a few other good words like love, forgive, release etc, what more do we need? Yes I know God wants to talk to us daily sometimes at a more specific level, but what we need is to encourage people to listen to their own journeys instead of telling them what to hear. I should not dictate the journey of a group of people, but should equip and encourage everyone to clear the wax out of their own ears and just listen. I can share thoughts from where I am walking but I want to hear accounts of what others are finding on their own journeys. They may be totally different and even seemingly at odds with mine, but that is what makes this a special journey. Individuals linked in an adventure of incredible proportions. All inter-linked and yet operative at their own level. Members one of another but free to experience, hear, do, try, create.

Thought : Advent 2

Christmas may be celebrated at a time of year when in northern climes we really need a light festival. Given that we need to have one I think using it to celebrate the Light of the World coming into the world isn't a bad idea. I like festivals so I wouldn't mind having an extra one if needed if anyone objects to using this one for both :-)