discipleship

BBC News: No children in quarter of Church of England congregations

I saw this on the BBC and thought you should see it:

No children in quarter of Church of England congregations – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41720994

Plank vs Speck

Behold your brother
Remove the plank from your eye
Before his small speck

written in response to RonovanWrites Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt #Challenge #146 – “Behold” and “Eye”, and inspired by Jesus’s teaching in the gospel of Luke at 6:42

St George’s Day #NaPoWriMo2017 #GloPoWriMo2017

George
No knight
Certainly not English
No slayer of dragons
Myth

George
A saint
Born in Lydda
Martyred for his faith
Truth

For Day 23 of Na/GloPoWriMo, Gloria Gonsalves provides the NaPoWriMo.net challenge – to write a double elevenie. It was suggested that it might be fun to try to write the double elevenie based on two nouns that are opposites, like sun and moon, or mountain and sea.

This second effort was inspired by today being the day we remember George, patron saint of England. You can read more about his story here.

An elevenie is an eleven-word poem of five lines, with each line performing a specific task in the poem. The first line is one word, a noun. The second line is two words that explain what the noun in the first line does, the third line explains where the noun is in three words, the fourth line provides further explanation in four words, and the fifth line concludes with one word that sums up the feeling or result of the first line’s noun being what it is and where it is. A double elevenie would have two stanzas of five lines each, and twenty-two words in all.

Indistinguishable

To those without faith
Any prayer sounds like a wish;
Any act of God
Is indistinguishable
From illusion or magic

a second effort written in response to the prompt in Colleen’s Weekly Poetry Challenge #30 – “Wish” and “Magic”, and drawing loose inspiration from the third of Arthur C. Clarke’s ‘laws’ – 2Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Be Blessed #NaPoWriMo2017 #GloPoWriMo2017

Upon the mountainside
I listened to the Teacher
. . .
“Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth”
I’m meek as meek as they come, me
I could do with inheriting the earth
. . .
“Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy”
I show mercy when it’s deserved
I certainly deserve some myself
. . .
“Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God”
There’s no question, I’m a man of peace
(I dare anyone to say I’m not)
. . .
Whoever has ears let him hear
so to receive the truth
Whoever has eyes let him see
through the lens of his heart
Then blessed are your eyes because they see
and your ears because they hear

“Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.”

The NapOwriMo.net challenge for Day 21 of Na/GloPoWriMo2017 was to write a poem that incorporates overheard speech.

ɪkθəs #NaPoWriMo2017 #GloPoWriMo2017

In earlier times –
Church meetings
Held in secret;
Tombs marked,
Hallmarked,
Under the
Sign of the Fish

Day 4 of Na/GloPoWriMo, and today’s challenge is to write a poem with a secret – which functions as a sort of riddle with a word or idea or line that it isn’t expressing directly.

The Folly of Fools

Consider your steps –
The wisdom of the prudent;
Do not be deceived,
Simply believe anything –
The lasting folly of fools

written in response to today’s prompt at The Daily Post, and inspired by Proverbs 14:8 & 15

‘The Echo’ by C.C. Miller

“Twas a sheep not a lamb that strayed away
In the parable Jesus told,
A grown-up sheep that strayed away
From the ninety and nine in the fold.

And why for the sheep should we seek
And earnestly hope and pray?
Because there is danger when sheep go wrong;
They lead the lambs astray.

Lambs will follow the sheep, you know,
Wherever the sheep may stray.
When sheep go wrong, it won’t take long
Til the lambs are as wrong as they.

And so with the sheep we earnestly plead
For the sake of the lambs today,
For when sheep are lost, what a terrible cost
The lambs will have to pay!”

― C.C. Miller