The Leavers - II

Note: Following on from The Leavers - I, later the same day in a different prayer time together, I had a picture of the same circle of leavers representing different people: Christians of earlier era, monks of the Community of the Resurrection (in whose cemetery I had found myself wandering and praying during the morning). I was struck in this picture by the sense of God's timelessness and, indeed, the hidden sense of eternity which we're part of.

The Leavers - II

Timeless.

Ageless.

Ancient beyond our birthday count.

One with the Pentecost crowd

Lapped by tongues of fire.

Yet no tongues here now

For the Spirit is within us, among us,

But wild - not constrained by us.

We are ancient, beyond time, 

Beyond our human-historic frames,

United by grace with God-before-time,

God-before-all-that-ever-was-and-is;

Abiding, indwelling in an eternal dance.

Eternal procession of love:

Within, without and through.

We glimpse but a life-span

Of eternal truth,

And this temporal mission,

Though our calling,

Is but a part of that Eternity Journey:
Deeper, longer, more epic
Than our sense of wonder

Can contain.

6th June 2015

The organ loft of Upper Church, Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield

during the afternoon of the Yorkshire Ministry Course leavers' Quiet Day

The Leavers - I

The Leavers - I

I saw us all as children:
Small; daft; vulnerable.
What truth can we know?
What can we do?
Seemingly
Little.
But...
By grace
We are called,
We live in God:
God inhabits us.
Abiding in God's love,
I saw us all as children.

6th June 2015, Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield

Yorkshire Ministry Course leavers' quiet day

Note: at the start of the day, as we sat in a circle in Lower Church, I suddenly had a vision of all of us as children, specifically as the individual children we once were. As we prepare for ordination as deacons within the next few weeks, this was a useful image to reflect upon when I went up into Upper Church. As I sat at the east end near the Altar, I wrote this. A different perspective on this theme of our age emerged in another poem later that day.

The Transfiguration

Mark Ch. 9 v1-13 - The Transfiguration.
Why did Jesus tell Peter, James and John not to tell anyone about the transfiguration they had just witnessed? This was a very personal revelation about Jesus - a private glimpse of the glory of the Word made flesh to very close friends. Like Lent itself, the transfiguration is only truly understood in the light of Easter. God's glory shone through the flesh and blood of Jesus on the mountain as a foretaste of what we can expect when we, transformed into the image of Christ, shine with that same glorious light. 
We too shall see Jesus as he truly is, and ourselves as we truly are.


Don't Tell.


Don't tell. 
I know you've just seen the most amazing things, 
But don't tell.


Yes, Peter, James and John,
You saw me on the mountain
Revealed among the brightest light
Of creation exploding into being;
Of being spoken into being
By the Word of God
Which, you are gradually coming to realise,
Is who I am.
But don't tell.


It's not that I don't realise
What a mind-blowing experience
The three of you have just had,
But, hard as it is
To pass up the chance to say you were there
And saw all that:
Don't tell.


Elijah and Moses, 
Both revealed as part of the story
Of God's revelation as I spoke to them there,
But both illuminated by my greater glory,
That must have appeared odd.
Very odd. 
And I can tell from Peter's embarrassed blurtings
About setting up three tents
That you don't really get it yet.
So don't tell.


It's not your fault:
There's an important bit of the story
Which hasn't happened yet.
So please, while you don't yet see the whole story
(Because it is still being told)
While you only get glimpses of who I am,
While you grapple in the dark, 
Awaiting revelation,
Don't tell.


Don't tell...
Until the Son of Man is risen from the dead
And the story is fully told,
Then you can tell


In fact,
Then you can tell,
Then you must tell.


Tell everyone.

Lent Meditation II

LENT

Lead into a far deserT
Encountering heaveN
Needing prayer alonE
To ponder future helL