Surrounded by Saints

 Immanuel

 

You're lonely, deep down,
So lonely, but none can tell,
Surrounded by Saints
Yet you feel like hell,
And the solution is, Well,
Well, well, well,
It's God with us;
It's Immanuel.

Cant get through this pain
Cant face this painful hour,
Cant take another minute,
It isn't in your power,
The solution is, Well,
Well, well, well,
It's God with us,
It's Immanuel,

No one understands
What you are going through
No one knows your estrangement,
No one feels like you do
But someone does, well,
Let me tell,
Tell,
Tell.
It's Jesus;
Our Immanuel.

Priceless presence with us,
This pearl within our shell,
The precious peace in whirlwind's eye,
It's too valuable to tell,
It's free to me, I cannot buy or sell,
Sell,
Sell,
It is God with me
Revealed to me,
My Immanuel

Reflection: Surrounded by Saints

To be lonely in a crowd is perhaps the worst kind of loneliness, compounded by all the poeple around you and yet somehow you feel disconnected. Everyone else is happy, it seems, just getting on with their lives, and you are cut adrift.

Add to this, if your crowd is a church, that these are believers who should love you. We are family, after all. Brothers and sisters. Christians can be salt. Unfortunately sometimes that can feel like salt in the wound.

This 'alone in a crowd' feeling inspired the lines:

Surrounded by Saints

Yet you feel like hell

And then include in the mix 'Christmas time', and it can bring you to toxic levels of despair.

I don't want to labour this point. My own experience with this is that often, my sense of rejection is self feeding. My behaviour is responding to a rejection that I am projecting onto others, and sometimes that causes me to spikey or hostile, which causes some genuine rejection, which in line with that confirms my bias and compounds my sense of loneliness. 

The good news is that this cycle is easily broken with the right mindset. As soon as you project warmth and start looking out for others, instead of focussing in your own need, you often find a warm reception because, guess what? We're all looking for love. 

The bad news is, it requires a change of mindset, and sometimes you are so deep in that funk you can hardly get your head up.

And that is where Jesus comes in.

Some of these poems were written in that same period of my life, some a few years apart, but this message of Immanuel seems to bridge them all.

Jesus is God with us. You are not alone. 

Ask for the strength to call on his name. Ask for the love for others.

I remember well, and have written before about a time where I was struggling with connections at Church. I would sit in a corner looking sour faced and deliberately not speak to people. I am just going to see, I would say to myself, how long it takes for someone to speak to me. And in the meantime I would watch others milling around. Many of them clearly looking a little lost and (possibly) for someone to speak to.

And then God opened my eyes. I was ignoring them. The very thing I wanted, I was denying others.

A quick bit of repentance saw an end to that.

Occasionally I slip back into the old mindset, but that lesson has set me in good stead for all kinds of social situations. And when I am fragile and don't engage, I can remember that this is a choice I am making. It can be changed.

~Scripture~

God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

~Psalm 68:6~

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen:

To loose the bonds of wickedness,

To undo the heavy burdens,

To let the oppressed go free,

And that you break every yoke?

7 

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,

And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;

When you see the naked, that you cover him,

And not hide yourself from your own flesh?

~Isaiah 58:6-7~

Taken

 

1.     Taken (Where You Do Not Want To Go)

 

Oh, Baby Jesus,
How strange that sounds,
Like 'new-born-ancient'
Like 'Finite-infinity'
Like 'Temporal-eternal'
Oh Baby Jesus,
Look at you now,
God and yet unconscious of it,

You smile up at me
From that manger,
Your tiny little fingers
Would explore my mouth
And stretch my eyelids,
Were it not for that swaddling,

Oh Baby Jesus,
Those hands will be bound again
But first they will be freed,
They will explore, and fumble and take
They will give and mend and break,
As you slowly become
The man God made you to be,

Oh Baby Jesus,
Whose words formed stars
look at you now,
You can't even form words,
You can't even say 'ah',
Just 'buh, buh'
And raspberry's
And squeals
You don't even know the deal yet,

Oh Baby Jesus
Tightly wrapped in clothes another chose
But you will learn to dress yourself
And follow the calling
Wherever it goes
Though for now
You must stay where you're put,

When you were 'younger'
You went where you wanted,
And if it wasn't there
You made there,

When you were younger
You clothed yourself in light
And righteousness made a pretty cool coat,

But, Oh, Baby Jesus,
Look at you now,
Tucked in
Wrapped up
And dribbling
Blowing spit bubbles,

When you're older you will dress yourself
And go where you please

And then, when you are a little older still
You will stretch out your hands
And you will be pinned down again

And then, when you are a few days older than that,
You will stretch them out again,
To family and friends

To one who cant believe
and to another
Who cant forgive himself

And you will say

"When you were younger you dressed yourself
And went where you wanted;
But when you are old you will stretch out your hands,
And someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”

And, Oh Baby Jesus, you will know
Exactly what you are talking about,
Because you laid down your life
Long before
You ever took it up.

And looking at your tiny unsuspecting face
Baby Jesus
Though it knows me not, yet
I can see….. the greatest love.

Reflection: Swaddled

I see al kinds of prophetic echoes of the cross, here in the nativity. When I wrote this poem I had never expected to see something so powerful in the swaddled infant Christ. And then His words to Peter came to me, when you are old....

It quite blew me away. And, though as a baby, he was completely at the mercy of his parents, who swaddled him lovingly. He had surrendered to this, and he would surrender again, at the cross. And all that he prophesied over Peter had happened also to himself. He was dressed with a purple robe and a crown of thorns. He was taken where he would not go (To the Cross).

And all of this was just a seed germinating within the life of Jesus from the moment he was conceived.

And of course, being swaddled took away his freedom. But unlike any other baby in history, he had surrendered himself to this.

We feel swaddled buy our circumstances, at times, unable to respond as we want to. Sometimes through no choice of our own, sometimes through bad choices that lead us there, but none-the-less, restrained.

Firstly I want to say to you, there is a freedom coming. Jesus outgrew is swaddling and knew freedom. Secondly, even that later restriction, that come through nails and wood, gave way to glorious resurrection life. With God, all things are possible and his way is life. He will not abandon you.

Secondly, within the swaddled situation, practice patience and trust in that same God. If your surrender to him (note to him, not the situation) within it is true, if you embrace his will, even if it is this trial (for a while) and trust his good purposes within it, it will lighten the burden. And yes, his burden is light. The one foisted upon you by any other is not. But his burden is light and his yoke is easy.

~Scripture~

And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

~Luke 2:12~

Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

~John 21:18-19~

Christmas Echoes

 Christmas Echoes (Repeat The Sounding Joy)

 

The song from all creation
Of mysteries for words; too deep,
Sung from every voice of nature
Summoning Adam from his sleep,

The song from birthless eternity
The splendours of his joy
Were hid from mankind, from then, till now,
Until the arrival of this boy,

Held from our ears, until we sing it,
Until at last we see this Christmas boy
The song that has been always waiting
For loosened tongues to employ,

The Angels singing with exaltation
Glory to the Lord on high
They cannot contain their joy this moment
As we listen, our very ancient essence sighs

Sighs to sing the song of ancients
The source of life, within this boy,
Can you feel the tug of heaven,
To repeat the sounding joy?

We simply open our unstopped mouths
Our hearts with wild and wide-eyed abandon, gaze,
And out spill all our adorations
To the secret spirit's longing,
Hidden yearning, throughout all our days,

Listen closely, can you hear the melody,
From celestial beings rise
A pitch beyond natural hearing,
But if you're still and close your eyes,

You can hear it

The song resounds in supernova
The vibrations from atom's mysterious chant
All creation somehow declares it
And yet, at times, somehow we can't,

But the wonders on display at Christmas
Wrapped up, exposed, in baby boy,
Calls to us with the choir of Angels
To repeat
The sounding Joy,

All life should be a tuning in
To natures song, to Angels ploy
To get us in the heavenly choir,
each day to repeat
The sounding joy.

And repeat
The sounding joy

And repeat
The sounding Joy

The echoes of
Resounding joy

Reflection: Thin Places and Full Choirs

The ancient Celtic Christians believed in thin places. This referred to when the Spiritual atmosphere of a location made it easy to connect with God, almost as though there is no barrier between heaven and earth. We might refer to such a place as a Spiritual portal, or an ancient well. This idea seems to incorporate geographic locations. A very recent example could be the Revival at Asbury Seminary which has seen multiple revivals break out (However we define revival, I'm not sure). I am sure however that wherever the Spirit breaks out, we could deem that as a thin place.

This concept was not yet on my radar when, as an 18 year old recently 'returned to the fold', the Baptist church building that our fellowship shared (oddly enough with the local Baptist church) one Sunday morning was filled with the sounds of angels harmonising with our singing. I thought I had been imagining it, or that it was a spiritual gift in the form of some personal revelation, but on talking to others later I discovered that many people had become aware of it. The worship had been particularly rapturous that morning, and it felt to me like we'd been transported to heaven, or heaven to us!

It's strange that this poem should have been the one lined up for today, because last night my Father was relaying his experiences at a carol service this weekend where a similar thing occurred.

This poem was written around the concept that there is an eternal song of praise to God, an angelic song, and we have been invited to 'join with the angels' in singing it.  In my experience as a teen, the angels seemed to join with us, but here, we are joining with them in singing the eternal song. I am informed that noise doesn't stop but the vibrations just keep moving on forever. There is a praise that goes on forever about us, with or without us. Remember in that moment when Jesus was told to silence the crowds as they cried "Hosanna". He told those detractors, 'I tell you, if they were silent, even the rocks would cry out'.

Whenever we cry out in praise, we are joining the eternal song. Worshiping at the eternal throne. And if it's a broken hallelujah, or a victorious and jubilant shout, you are not alone. The Company of heaven is with you.

~Scripture~

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits[a] of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll

    and to open its seals,

because you were slain,

    and with your blood you purchased for God

    persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.

 

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,

    and they will reign[b] on the earth.”

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying:

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,

    to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength

    and honor and glory and praise!”

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

    be praise and honor and glory and power,

                                                            for ever and ever!”

The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

~Revelation 5:6-14~

Peace On Earth

Peace On Earth

 

When peace shall finally be spoken
When bones shall no longer be broken
Split asunder with shell
Flesh forced apart by semtex and shrapnel
When factions shall finally cease
And prisoners of conscience, see release
When hearts will cease to wage
War with God on every page
Of the book of human life,
When there is an end to strife,

When The last tear has been shed
When the last drop of blood has been bled,
When sword is forged into ploughshare
And spears into pruning hooks there,
And the dark, dark art of war
Will be studied never more,

When there is no more death or dying
And no more sorrows sighing,
For sorrow and sighing will have flown away
When the old order has passed, on that great day,

When Bethlehem's baby is returned as king
And the whisper of peace that he brings
Will be heard and felt by all
As loud as a mighty waterfall,

Then and then only will the peace fully come
That was spoken of, when the angels sung
Of goodwill and peace on the earth
At the advent of saviour’s birth,
An echo of what is to come
This peace
Complete
This whole shalom.

Reflection: The Now and the Not Yet

His name shall be called....the prince of peace? From Isaiah's perspective the Messianic figure of his visions was to bring about his rule and put an end to war. Isaiah 9 says every soldiers boot used in battle and every blood-soaked robe will be destined for burning. And, as referenced in the poem, in Isaiah 2 he speaks of swords being turned into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks.

But this peace on earth was not to come at his first coming. In fact, his arrival was marked with bloodshed, the slaughter of the innocents, as Herod tried to wipe out all competition to his line. And many wars themselves have been started (falsely, I believe) in his name.

But the reign of the Messiah is not yet in full effect. It is now (He has come) but it is also not yet (He will come again). We live in the in-between. My pastor likes to use the illustration of the time lapse during the second world war, between the D-Day landings (The outcome is determined) to VE day (the outcome is realised). 

But take heart. Where ever his reign is truly in effect, he is the prince of peace. He brings peace, and good will to all. The influence of his peace is felt across the world. But there is this reminder that it is only on that first day of the rest of eternity we will se our hearts desire. And sorrow and sighing will flee away.

And for now, may I remind you of his words: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.

~Scripture~

For to us a child is born,

    to us a son is given,

    and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 

Of the greatness of his government and peace

    there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

    and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

    with justice and righteousness

    from that time on and forever.

~Isaiah 9:6-7~

Adoption

Adoption

 

It seems almost perverse
Like logic
In reverse
That, with no time to rehearse
Without searching scriptures
Chapter and verse,
Without fathoming
How deep the purse
This finite man, Joseph,
Should adopt
The maker of the universe

The Maker who had first ,
Adopted him,
For better or  for worse
To be the one
Who would bear the one
Who would bear the curse,
To provide for the one
Who would disperse
The treasures of
This maker
Of the universe,

To Adopt the
everlasting
Father of
The universe,

He adopted
The child
Who would be orphaned
By his death,
The child Who, by his own death
Would secure Adoption
For all,

And Joseph gazed
Without biology
On the baby face
Of eternity
And saw first
What none could see
Previous to this moment
In history,
And took Jesus, to his heart,
Took Jesus, as his own,
Took Jesus, in a manger,
As if it were a throne,

Reflection: Small and Significant

In the December when I wrote this particular poem, as I may have mentioned, I was trying to produce a poem a day, for the duration of advent. Rather underwhelmingly, I think I stopped at 19 days, but writing something new every day caused me to (have to) approach the nativity from many different angles, like walking around a sculpture in a museum or gallery. The best ones always give you something new with every repositioning. The nativity has more than enough angles of it's own  to keep providing you with fresh perspective. Anyway, it was only a matter of time until I got round to Joseph. 

Joseph doesn't really get the accolades. He is, seemingly an integral character, for sure. But mainly a supporting one.

When I actually spent time thinking about this from his perspective I was awe-struck at what a privilege this man had. His name provided legitimacy for the son of God. His son's name would provide legitimacy for all who believed in it. To think, he could have cast Mary out, to save his own face, but he chose the harder road, the more narrow of the two paths. He may be a footnote in the story of Jesus, but I believe, as is the spirit of the Kingdom, he will be greatly honoured, for his part, in heaven.

Can we be the 'silent partner', like Joseph? Can we be John the Baptist? Can we be lesser that he be greater? Can we quietly get on with the business of loving Jesus, without a fuss, without demanding attention? 

That challenges me. (He says, whilst writing and saying 'read my blog, read my blog').

I want to say this. Joseph was a hero. An unsung hero. I guess I wanted to sing a bit. I imagine him as the strong and silent type. A still waters run deep kind of guy. But this is speculative, of course. The truth is, he barely makes a scratch on the content of the new testament. It is only because of his connection to Jesus that he is remembered at all, and yet his contribution, though small, is enormously significant. 

We may feel small and our contribution may seem meagre, but you have no idea how pivotal you are in some-one's story. And there is no one so small that they are insignificant to the Father. No. He notes every hair of your head, and every day of your life is written in his book. For every character, supporting or otherwise, is supported by the Lord of life. He goes unsung and unwritten so often. He serves in ways we will only become aware of on the day mysteries are revealed. For He, being in very nature God, made himself of no reputation and took on the nature of a servant.

~Scripture~

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

~Matthew 1:18-24~

One

One

 

One of us
One with us
One to win us
One to give us

One more chance
At an infinite number
Of second chances,
One
To
Make
Free
Out of being
For
Us

Not aloof
No longer misconstrued as distant
Not far off
But so close
It is on your lips
And in your heart

You don't stand at a distance, saying,
How does it feel to bleed?
No.
God bleeds too,
And he looked on what he had done
And he said
that it was good.

Reflection: One of us

The singer Joan Osbourne, asked back in the 90's, what if God was one of us? This poem is a little exploration of that theme. What did it mean for him to become one of us. Also to become one with us, that is, as we are united with him, as Paul describes in Romans. My conclusion, in either case, one with or one of us, he is not apart. Our pain is his pain. Our joy is his joy, as his joy is ours, as his pain is our pain. IN the same way, when Paul talks of the unity of the body (the church) he says if one part of the body suffers the whole body suffers with it.

It is so easy to feel abandoned by God when we allow our pain to become isolating and we become insular as a result. And then the questions come. Why does God allow me to suffer?

I don't know the answer ultimately but I know that he does not stand apart. He is with us. He is Immanuel. God with us. One with us. One of us. And though sorrow endures for the night, joy comes in the glorious morning. He makes a way so that on that day, we will know, wiht him, no more tears. No more sorrow. No more sickness. No more death, and he will dwell with us, and we with him, and he himself will be our light.

~Scriptures~

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 

~1 Cor 12:26-27~

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

~Phil 3:10 ~

 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

~Romans 6:5~

Immanuel: When God Draws Near

When God Draws Near

 

When God draws near
People Sing,
Zechariah,
The Angels
Mary, Magnifying,
Souls exploding
Gushing Forth
Rejoicing
Blessing
Glorifying,


Those moments
When rocks would cry out
If he had not just softened
The rocks into flesh


When we sat down and wept
Believing we were abandoned
Our captive hearts were like
Lifeless stone
Sunk, in the rivers
Of Babylon,


But when God draws near
There is singing,
What will be my song?
Is my heart still granite
In exile
Abandoned, by the waters
Of Babylon?


When Immanuel comes
What will be my Song?
In this,
The latest
Incarnation,
You've shown
You've been here
All along,

Never will you leave me
Nothing will cause you to forsake
Your exiled children,
In the desert
Nothing will make you break
Your promise,


Immanuel
God with us
Through waters
And through Flame
O come to us
O dwell in us
forever more the same.

Reflection: Immanuel

This poem is a bit of an anomaly amongst my advent poems. I wrote it in response to a devotional shared that day by Pete Greig on the 24/4 Lectio app. Pete Greig was talking about the place of grief, and how the exiled in Babylon (Psalm 137) were unable to sing and the sense of separation from God that they must have felt. He observed that wherever the presence of God is, when he draws near, it so often results in Singing. He then pivoted back to the Magnificat of Mary, who sings in delights at God  honouring her, by choosing her to be his vessel. And what a response that was. The choice that had been made was to catapult her into social shame and scrutiny. Her life was not to be simple as a result and yet she rejoices. Her soul, she sings, magnified the Lord.

Immanuel, Jesus' advent, was God's sign that he was with us. That he would always be with us. That we will always have occasion to sing. And for me, reflecting in these verses, I take solace that all his promises are yes and amen. That he will never leave us, nor forsake us.

Amen.