Happy Christmas! A free gift for you…
The Woods
A Christian pilgrim on 'The Journey', reflects on life, faith, nature and "the woods" in which we all live.
Monday, 19 December 2022
Who gives away anything for free, these days?
Friday, 15 April 2022
That's My Soul - a reflection, and a poem
I first came across this poem (not in Larson, but another prophetic work) in the 1980s as a teen searching for how the Gospels and New Testament relate to what I saw and felt in church each Sunday, and in my professing-Christian home. Thankfully, God was real to me back then, despite what I experienced, and God’s love has carried me through many searching times.
His mercy and grace are what that I pray desperately
to pass on to others.
Now, I have better skills and can sit with others in
their pain, sorrow, loss and questions.
And, this poem ‘found me’ again, as I want to bring
Jesus to a post-post-Christian world: to those who have put their souls out
there only to find they are mocked, abused, used and discarded when they don’t measure
up, don’t have any money left, no longer have sex appeal, or are just not on
trend any more.
How will others experience God in me, through me? How will I care for them? (souls = persons – as Martin Buber redefines: I-thou, not I-it)
“Through us, God spreads the knowledge
of Christ
everywhere like perfume”.
2 Corinthians 2:14b (NIrV)
THAT’S MY SOUL by Ernest L. Stech
That’s my soul
lying there.
You don’t know what
a soul is?
You think it’s some
kind of ghostly sheetlike thing
you can see through and it floats in the
air?
That’s my soul
lying there.
Remember when my
hand shook because I was nervous in the group?
Remember the night
I goofed and argued too much
and got mad and couldn’t get out of the whole
mess?
I was putting my soul
on the line.
Another time I said
that someone once told me
something about herself that she didn’t have
to.
I said that she
told me something that could have hurt her.
And I guess I was
asking you to do the same.
I was asking you to
let me know you.
That’s part of my
soul, too!
When I told you
that my mother didn’t love my dad and I knew it as a kid,’
When I said that my
eyes water when I get hurt
even though I am thirty-four and too much a
man to cry,
I was putting my
soul out there in the space between you and me.
Yeah, that’s my
soul lying there.
I’ve never met God.
I mean I’ve never
met that old man who sits on a
cloud
with a crown and a staff and knows everything
and is everything and controls everything.
But I’ve met you.
Is that God in your
face?
Is that God in your
soul lying there?
Well, that’s my soul
lying there.
I’ll let you pick
it up.
That’s why I put it
there.
I’ll bruise and
turn rancid like an old banana if
you want to manhandle it.
It’ll go away if
you want to ignore it.
But if you want to
put your soul there beside it,
there may be love.
There may even be God.
(reproduced in
Bruce Larson ‘No Longer Strangers’ Key Word Books 1971)
Sunday, 12 December 2021
from 2012 - Ash Wednesday Reflection - learning Anglican traditions
ASH WEDNESDAY REFLECTION
The afternoon light was gradually giving way to
evening. We entered silently. Some sat, some knelt.
I felt the reflective spirit and sombre mood of the
occasion. This was special – the
beginning of Lent and the preparation for the wonderful Easter to come. It was new for me to see St John’s in
candlelight. A few last rays of the sun
illuminated the stained glass beautifully.
I took it all in but mostly bowed my head in prayer and preparation. I wanted to dwell on the words of the
service, to open my heart more fully to God and to remember Him in the
quietness and flickering shadows.
We all went forward for the Imposition of Ashes. One by one receiving the grey-black ash mixed
with oil in the sign of the cross on the forehead. I closed my eyes and felt the signing of that
powerful symbol on my skin. I returned
to my seat, eyes down and searching to understand the full meaning.
When it came time to exchange the Greeting of Peace, I
looked about. What a shock! So that’s what I looked like! Everyone with black marks at the hairline, some
more cross-like than others, all evidently there, making a statement.
Thoughts raced into
my mind: the black of sin – I am marked
by my sin as I stand before God in this place…. But so are we all.
Then – we are all the same – sinners in the sight of God so
no room for pride. We all bear the black
mark of sin in one way or another, and all of us stand equal before God.
And then a joyful thrill to my heart as I realised also that
the sign of the Cross was upon us all!
The Cross of Jesus the Saviour, now symbolised in ashes and
oil, had taken and paid for my sin so that I and all the others, could stand
before God.
The black of ashes from Palm Sunday crosses reminding us of
Jesus’ triumphal entry to Jerusalem.
Jesus went to that city full of God’s power to prepare for his work as
Saviour – to die on the cross for my sin and for that of the whole world. The oil, representing both preparation for
burial – the death and burial of the old life - and an anointing to be special
and set apart for God, and to now live for Him in response.
The strong symbolism and meaning rushed my brain and my
heart at once and my eyes flooded with tears.
It was a most beautiful and humbling experience.
When I returned home, I kept on reflecting on how we are all
the same before God – His children, marred by sin but now marked by Jesus, to
be His, and to live for Him under the sign of the cross.
I took one last look in the mirror at the smudge on my
forehead. The ash and oil wash away but
the imprint on my heart and mind is long-lasting.
J. V.
St John’s Dalby
2012
Advent 2021 - Luke chapters 1 and 2
Poems written during a Quiet Evening led by Vivienne Holt --- A Mary Christmas --- at Christ Church Cathedral, Darwin, Anglican Diocese of the Northern Territory. 32 degrees C; 7-9pm.
Reflecting on Annunciation and Incarnation
Here I am
a servant of the Lord
Yes.
I surrender.
May it be
Let…
And – “how” is okay
too.
For there are questions
It is uncomfortable.
“The power of the Most
High”.
I’m not God.
“He will be called Jesus”.
Let it be to me.
Let God
Yes, God
Again… and again
What does it mean?
[Mary hid all these
things in her heart]
“A sword will pierce your
own heart”.
A spear pierced his side.
How?
God knows.
© JCV 09 December 2021,
Darwin.
- - - - -
- -- - - - - - -
I wonder how God puts up with all the
questions.
Bruce Almighty ---- the massive whine
that reaches from earth to God.
The moans of millions
The bickering of billions
How does God…
The shouts of so many
The murdering of multitudes
How does God…
God came down – one of us.
Slept, shit, suffered
(Shat?)
And still we accuse:
How does God???!?!?!?!?!
God does. God loves.
Because he has. God is love.
(And as I write, the foul language
flies flies in from the street and echoes into the expanse of Christ Church
Cathedral Darwin, where Black Jesus hangs on a cross for those who don’t know,
but God does).
© JCV 09 December 2021, Darwin.
- - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - -- -
The Annunciation and
other pronouncements
(If I was Gabriel,
frustrated already by Zechariah,
I would have had an
attitude ready for Miss Mary)
But she’s just logical.
She’s different.
Her questions, her
puzzlement,
her fear --- all very normal.
I, Gabriel, know this from
so much experience.
So, I’ll continue:
Joseph sees me in his
dream
And gets up immediately
and goes -
No questions asked.
There are other dreams
and visions
In other times and places
But suffice to say, the
Magi listened too, and obeyed.
And that’s what God is
looking for.
Sure, you can discuss it
But don’t blame me for
what happens next.
© JCV 09 December 2021,
Darwin.
Wednesday, 31 March 2021
2 poems for Easter 2021
A poem for Easter 2021
The space while Jesus scratches meaning
In dust upon the ground
Sometimes silence
After raging storm has ceased and they are
Clueless Who's before them
Sometimes silence
Deafens for He's laid in borrowed tomb
And soldiers guard the stone
Sometimes silence
Of breaking hearts first morning of the week
and He's no longer there
Sometimes silence
Gasping inhale when Risen is among them
and opens blessed wounds
©JCV 01 April 2021
Un poém pour Pâques 2021
Pendant Jesus écrita par terre
Dans cette poussière
Parfois silence
Après l'avoir calmé la tempête
Tout surnaturel événement
Parfois silence
Pendent la fermeture finale
D’une sepulchre banale
Parfois silence
Des femmes si éttonnées que
Leur Seigneur resussité!
Parfois silence
Entre tous qui ont surveillent
ses blessures frâiches, sacrées
©JCV 01 April 2021
Monday, 29 March 2021
When you can’t see… LENT 2021: Gospel of John, chapters 14-17
LENT 2021: The gospel according to John, chapters 14-17
When you can’t see the forest for the trees…
It’s been necessary for me to wear glasses since the
age of 11, and now in my late 40s, the slow but sure decline of my vision continues
a preoccupation with seeing clearly - seeing well.
The interactions of the disciples and Jesus during the
final discourses of his life give us a glimpse into how hard it is to see, even
when something, or someone, is right in front of our eyes.
We can imagine that scene where John 14 onward, takes place: Jesus was before them, in rabbinic
traditional pose for teaching, and they – loyal followers of Jesus – were around
him listening intently.
Disciples had been called to follow this man, and they had done so. They - and others - were there
when he turned water into wine, when he fed thousands of people, when he calmed
storms and opened blind eyes, and yet, the recorded conversation shows that
they still could not “see” Jesus. They were those of whom demons had been cast out, who had received healing, and who had donated towards the ministry, and now, who were hanging on his every word.
Here, Jesus was concluding his earthly ministry, heading to
Jerusalem and to the cross as he had told them, and here leaves the incredible
words of John chapters 14 to 17 to comfort his disciples, and ourselves.
In this beautiful passage, we get an interruption from
Philip who piped up and asked the question on the minds of them all: Show us,
please Jesus! Let us see who you are talking about! Who is this Father, and how does it all fit
together?
Clearly, there was another picture in the minds
of the disciples, something that they saw that blocked their view of Jesus. Were they still dreaming of a Jewish revolution to
overthrow the Romans and restore the kingdom of Israel?
Jesus had refused to be made a military leader. Now, he reiterated that knowing him is the
same as knowing God the Father, and having seen him (Jesus) is the same as having seen God.
[Jesus already outraged the religious leaders by calling God his Father, John
5:18].
For the religious leaders of the day, that meant he
must be removed – killed - as necessary to keep their observances calm from disruption. For the disciples, this meant confusion and
anxiety as to when and how the “kingdom” Jesus had proclaimed was going to come
about. Neither group could see Jesus.
Philip and the others were following Someone who had
up-ended their lives. They had given up everything for him – some their fishing
boats and livelihoods; women regularly gave of their wealth to support Jesus, and one poured out a costly perfume. They
followed up and down the dusty roads of the region, and they heard his words
and saw what he could do.
Who was Jesus, if not a food provider, a magic worker,
a mystical healer, or a purveyor of pleasant distraction from the harsh
realities of life, or a leader to bring an end to Roman oppression?
The disciples both ‘saw’, and did not ‘see’. There was something going on, and now Jesus
was talking about leaving them. Right there, they could only see a gloomy
future without this amazing man... they despaired of their teacher moving on
and leaving them without a plan and without guidance. The passages in John’s gospel show how much
Jesus saw and felt for them in their pain and confusion.
There is no shame in asking questions, and the honesty
of the accounts found in all the gospels and through the New Testament declare that real people
met a real man who was really God.
What about you and I today? What clouds our vision of Jesus?
Do we come with glasses fogged by assumptions that he
is just a nice moral teacher - not God, and not the Saviour? Do we see the gospels as a bit fanciful - merely
interesting or amusing?
Or, do we come with eyes of faith, asking for help to
see clearly as we put daily trust in Jesus as Lord and Saviour?
The solution to our problem of seeing Jesus is firstly
in recognising that we cannot see – we are blinded by sin to our own sins, and
that is our fundamental issue. As hard as it is to admit, our lenses are
scratched and our eyes are clouded by a variety of preconceptions and
fears. The Bible is clear - all is not right in the world, and the name of this is sin.
Secondly, accepting that there is a Hope that is so much more
than corrective lenses – there is transformation power that happened at the cross
where sin was dealt with, and when we accept this - repent, and let Jesus in - we
have our eyes opened. Then, we can see and
know and live for God, because of what Jesus did that first Easter.
Only in the salvation provided through Jesus Christ’s
life, brutal suffering and death on a cross, his burial, resurrection to life
on Easter morning, can we live for God, now and always – only in this Way can we
truly see.
Saturday, 16 January 2021
Cracks in the wood...
What if your faith 'cracks'?
What if what you were hoping for - in a person, a movement, a moment - does not eventuate?
As the Donald Trump illusion fades, many people are questioning their faith in him as the "one" who would right the wrongs of the USA and 'Make America Great Again'.
***
No human can right all wrongs. No political party has it all together.
Having "enough" faith, or faith to believe that things can be different, is just not enough.
***
"Faith", by itself, is nothing.
Faith is always a bounded concept, which has worth only in the 'what' or 'who' of its grounding.
Faith in a chair fails when a leg cracks off.
Faint in an office, or position, fails with the character of the incumbent.
Where is your faith? Who, or what, is your faith in?
***
If its in yourself, you had better be sure to live worthy of that honour, for you would not want to put your faith in something or someone who fails.
***
If you are tired of fallible human leaders, broken promises and 'doing it all' yourself, you are in good company.
If you cannot muster up "enough" faith to keep going - even as COVID-19 looks like menacing 2021 just as it did 2020 - then think about who or what your faith is grounded in.
What if there was more to this life... more than just humans who fail and our own selves which cannot hold strong to 'the faith' in ourselves?
Why not ask the Good God who makes a Way for all to approach and find strength for this life's journey?
"The Lord God is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance..." from The Bible: 2 Peter, chapter 3, verse 9.
May the cracks that we see in our fragile faith lead us to the One who never fails, never falters, and who longs to see wholeness and healing for all.
penned 25 November 2020. edited and blogged 16 January 2021