mission

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.

It is Fulfilled #Holy Week #Good Friday Tanka

The Scriptures fulfilled
Thirst quenched with wine vinegar
Never forsaken
Jesus took on the world’s sin
His life and mission, complete

Saul No More

Transfiguration,
Illuminating evil’s path:
The Light of the Son;
Led blindly, yet in full faith –
Saul no more, now apostle Paul

written in response to today’s prompt at The Daily Post, and inspired by Paul’s conversion as described in Acts 9

Destiny Beckons

Destiny beckons
En route to Jerusalem
Eternity waits
History as prophesied
For the sake of mankind’s souls

Jesus comes to Jerusalem as king
The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival
heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.
They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
‘Hosanna!’
‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’
‘Blessed is the king of Israel!’
Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written:
‘Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
    see, your king is coming,
    seated on a donkey’s colt.’
At first his disciples did not understand all this.
Only after Jesus was glorified
did they realise that these things had been written about him
and that these things had been done to him.
– John 12:12-16

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.

I Shall Testify #NaPoWriMo2017 #GloPoWriMo2017

I shall testify nothing
if not Jesus Christ and Him crucified
whom God presented
as a sacrifice of atonement
the righteous for the unrighteous,
to bring us to God;
for while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us;
in this Way God demonstrated
his own love for us:
reconciling the world
to himself in Christ.

Since Christ was raised from the dead,
he cannot die again;
death no longer has mastery over him:
He has destroyed death,
and has brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel;
for Christ did not enter a sanctuary
manufactured with human hands,
but entered heaven itself,
now to appear for us in God’s presence;
He was put to death in the body
but made alive in the Spirit.

There is one God,
and one mediator between God and mankind:
the man Christ Jesus;
there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom all things came,
and through whom we now may live;
God made his light shine in our hearts
to give us the knowledge of His glory;
this is how we know what love is:
Jesus Christ laid down his life for us
and we ought to follow, and lay down our lives
for the sake of our brothers and sisters.

Day Three of Na/GloPoWriMo2017, and today’s challenge is to write an elegy – a poem that mourns or honours someone dead or something gone by, centred on an unusual fact about the person or thing being mourned. In this case, as I look ahead a couple of weeks to Easter, we mourn Good Friday’s sacrifice, but rejoice in Easter’s resurrection, inspired by the words of Paul the Apostle’s various letters to the New Testament church.

Day Three of Na/GloPoWriMo2017

Courage for Compassion

Pause to consider
Our moral obligations:
The greater the wealth,
Great responsibility –
Find courage for compassion

written in response to today’s prompt at The Daily Post

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect).”
― Mark Twain

A Parable Poem of the Sower #NaPoWriMo17 #GloPoWriMo17

A farmer went out
to sow his seed
it fell here and there
as its nature decreed
some upon the path
a feast for the birds
some on rocky ground
where it was soon sunburned
some among cur thorns
which choke life and loot
yet some on good ground
where the seed could take root
that seed formed a crop
a harvest for years
So whoever has ears
Saleh – let them hear

Today’s Na/GloPoWriMo2017 prompt is in honour of today’s interviewee, Kay Ryan, who was the sixteenth poet laureate of the USA. Maureen challenges us to write a Kay-Ryan-esque poem: short, tight lines, rhymes interwoven throughout, maybe an animal or two, and if possible, a sharp little philosophical conclusion.

He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you.
But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,
“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
    and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”
– Mark 4:9-12

Open Doors

Pray for open doors
Making way for God’s message
Good news of Jesus

written in response to this week’s prompt at Haiku Horizons, and inspired by Colossians 4:3