And So

And so the anti-Christ arises,
Uber deceiver with faithless promises,
Offers easy salvation,
Plots our merciless ruin,                          
But the remnant holds
As they have long learned,
Drowned or burned,
With a death grip to the timeless Word
   In every crises.

On Reading From Ecclesiastes

A man with little,
who is content with his lot,
is very rich.

Let him enjoy the fruit
of his labour in peace.

A man with much land and gold,
who is yet discontent,
is very poor.

His life is a struggle
He has no peace,
He feels like a slave.

The riches of contentment
are there within everyone's grasp,
savour the fruit of your labour
with quiet joy.

From Mystery To Mystery

May the Father look deep into our eyes
And see His Son.

May the Father look deep into our lives
And find the footsteps
Of His Son.

May the Father look deep into our loves
and feel the crucifixion
In our bleeding hearts
Of His Son.

May the Father listen deep
Within our praises,
Taking pleasure in the echo,
The cannon, the oratorio,
Of the one and only
Empty tomb.

To A Friend And Brother

Load your brush and lay down an underlay of tears,
Load that brush again and sweep down the years
A transparent layer of green life mingled
With golden faith,
Crimson love,
With broad stokes highlight details
In plys of words and vibrant colours,
Let them suggest the way
Your life should go,
Work from general to specific,
from darkness to light,
From ignorance to know,
Verse to verse,
Let itself your poem write,
Bolder as you grow older,
From faith to faith by word and colour.

From Daniel And Others

Our rulers weaponize alien thoughts,
Launching demonic mental thought-form bombs,
Nations slide seduced in cascading lots
Down tubes into seductive spiritual tombs,
Truth raises a shield of golden symbol,
stone fortresses of parable again,
As "hate speech" judges condemn the Bible,
Followers are called "blasphemers" and slain
Who yet overcome by blood of the Lamb,
Who yet love not their lives unto death,
They dwell in the vortex centre "I Am"
Forgiving all unto their final breath,
Or thread the rubble, nurturing and kind,
Abiding in Jesus, mission and mind.

To The Vortex Of Christmas

Jesus Lamb of God,
Jesus on whom the Spirit-like Dove descends,
Jesus in whose vortex
Every star and planet,
In whose vortex every galaxy spins,

Lamb,
Dove,
Holy mystery,
Terrifying beauty,
From the centre of all that is
You come with
Words of love
For every individual of humankind.

Made flesh,
A mist, a vapour,
A sacrifice,
Wings twinkling like bells
In the sunlight,

A lamb,
Bleeding on the altars
Of our rebellion,
You visit earth
By human child,
Evading just long enough
Our forceps and knives
To leave us words of salvation,

Sweet resonance of angel choirs,
 Reconcile by innovation
By love and forgiveness
Guilty man and Holy God.

Forgive us O Lord,
So bringing peace,
By your Mercy redeem us.

Light that sings
From the centre of the universe,
Our hearts shall be filled
With your song.

Like Christmas

Stone Of Stumbling,
Rock Of Offense,
You are the light
Every Christmas tree
celebrates.

Lightening Rod Of Wrath,
You are the Candle
that lit the candle
in my window.

Rose Of Sharon,
Jessie's Root,
O Promised One,
As before, soldiers
Look to abort your coming
This time in your people,

Word Made Flesh,
Greater your grace to us all
Than the guillotine.

Catacombs are ready
To be populated again

Pens are sharpened,
Ink mixed,  parchment unrolled,
Thankful records of your mercies
In flourish and flowers are recorded.

This is Christmas,
For those who have not forgotten,
String the lute,
Celebrate Jesus born Saviour
Of all who will to be saved.

Creator of the world,
You came to us,
You came in us,
Will come with a million candles
for us again!

If

If we live to please ourselves,
we end up pleasing no one,
including ourselves.

To Be Made Again

You made me, when mist
hung low on the mountains,
every microscopic droplet
you suspended,
encased every branch and twig,
every needle on every spruce
with crystal frost,

You made me on a night
when moon shone on sculpted
landscapes,
rounded every stone and craig
with shallow valleys
of drifted snow,

this was your promise
to the universe,
that you would shelter, shield,
and cover me to surely grow.

When I fell through the ice,
or lost your trail under
the northern lights,
or stormed from my warm cabin door
without a jacket to snowshoe
in the sweaty moonlight until I dropped
in self pity and despair,
you would be there.

I even heard your angels sing,
opened my eyes to find my table set
in the middle of wilderness
and I dead centre
in a ring of music and light.

The universe has watched,
you have kept your word,
you led me not into temptation,
you delivered me from evil,
but I searched it out,
I studied the stars,
forbidden books
in the library of constellations
of my own heart,
and found it anyway,
the Lost City,
faded myself there where only you
could find me, my tracks
erased with freezing rain,

yet still on a silent night like this,
a star of hope shines
over Bethlehem,
and I know I am found,

you will make me again.

As Long Ago In Parchments Foretold

Come, let us be civil.

The universe blazes
With flaring fliers  busy at task,

Winding symbols down,
Parables and paraphrases,

The project is over,
They served us well,

But nothing can mask
The flickering unfinished,
Not fully formed
In you and me.

Soon we will stumble
Beckoned to Bethlehem,
To the stable of prophesy,
To the child, the man,
The risen king,  another prophesy
Of his return,
 The pondering.