Core

Human stars flicker in the hazy light
dashing off the walls illuminating
outstretched praising arms; flash and they
shine like manikins set
against a thin stick and there is something so
unsettling awkward and I feel awk-
ward for thinking so. Silhouetted human stars.
Shells of stars. Glowing in the plastic glimmer
floundering in the clammy light.
Jaws clenched tight whilst resisting the
dictated mantra, even more unsettled yet – for
not being ashamed -
Yet this is no ventriloquist show.
Show me the grace bound truth
from its purest
Core.

'These people come near me with their mouth
and honour me with their lips but their hearts are far from me' Isaiah 29: 13

Shameful Bargaining

Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.' John 14:8


Philip believed that if Jesus revealed God the Father that would 'be enough.' Enough for what? I don't fully understand what Philip means here, maybe his claim is that if Jesus unveils the mystery of the Father then that will be enough to expel all their doubts? I don't know, but what i do know is that this verse unsettles me because in Philip's response i hear my own voice: 'Jesus if only you would do this it would be enough.'Enough for me to do genuinely as you command and deny myself, enough that i would direct my worship solely to you, enough that everything i do will be motivated by my love for you.

What is this bargaining with Christ? Who am i to demand more from Christ on top of what He has already freely given?

When i bargain like this i stand amongst the crowd of Pharisees who demanded Jesus to perform a miraculous sign. It is not miracles that we are called to put our trust in. Miracles are merely signs of God's supernatural power over natural things. Miracles do not satisfy a man's soul, unless he can see beyond the sign to the all-powerful signifier and messiah. Like the 10 men healed of leprosy, they all acknowledged the miracle yet only one acknowledged the Lord,the Messiah.

Therefore Jesus' response to Philip is 'Don't you know me?' Philip you have been with my all this time, do you not know that when you see me, you see also the one who sent me? Philip do you not see that the Father dwells in me and i too am in the Father?
You have seen the Father through me, now is that enough?

worship should be unconditional - like the air you breath, everything, all the time, constantly reflecting the glory of God.

to look on him and pardon me

Because the sinless Savior died,
my sinful soul is counted free;
for God, the Just, is satisfied
to look on him and pardon me.

One with himself, I cannot die;
my soul is purchased by his blood;
my life is hid with Christ on high,
with Christ, my Savior and my God.

‘But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. ‘ Hebrews 2: 9-10


The picture above is a sketch i did when i was reading Paradise Lost. There is a beautiful scene where Milton writes a dialogue between Jesus and God the Father in which Jesus offers himself as the ultimate atoning sacrifice for mankind. On the picture the words taken from Milton are: ' Though now to Death I yeild, and am his due/ all that of me can die, yet that debt paid,/ thou wilt not leave me in the loathsome grave.' Amazingly capturing the humility of Christ and the faithfulness of God. Don't think i'll ever be able to grasp just how awesome a sacrifice and a victory Christ achieved.

A moment of Poesy

I found this poem that i must have written years ago, it made me laugh when i read it! i think i wrote it after a philosophy lesson at school, when i was frustrated with how much faith we put in human reason. Warning:Its extremely goofy and excessively cheesy.Think i was just toying around with ideas which seem a bit ridiculous now but its good to look back at what i was thinking then.

Did Newton crash down from his tree, my friend?
Falling in fruitless flutter. He was spinning in, spinning,
In between Galileo and the sun that seems
To be sparking up all Edison’s dreams.

Shouldn’t Pavlov’s mouth begin to water, this bell
is ringing out, ringing out again. The golden king
needs to run from his throne
to save his golden republic – who knew it would
cave in so fast? Rene last night I was sinking,
thinking ( I think therefore I am awake.)
I see Newton rub is illusionary knees
after he tumbles from his tree.

Pavlov is that your belly that rumbles
Maybe we’re just in some thunderous times.
Edison where is your glowing glory.
Dr Darwin when are you going to make a
Monkey out of me?
I can swing there next to Newton, high up in the apple tree.
I can swing there next to Newton
Respecting the laws of gravity.

Did the apple in your eye mean you couldn’t see?
hey Mr Darwin,
when you're going to make a monkey out of me?

All good things are possible

A simple wee poem i wrote after seeing a photograph in the newspaper of a Zimbabwean lady reading a propaganda leaflet entitled 'all good things are possible.'

All good things are possible
All good things are malleable
All good can be accepted willingly
All good can be enjoyed equally.

Keep your eyes to the front

All good bares its bad appropriately
All bad will be good eventually
Catastrophe, malady – take each portion healthily,
moderately.

Keep your mind on ‘all good things are possible.’

Treat intimidation indifferently
Exploitation, suppression reasonably
Regard bright colours thankfully
And treasure small pleasures valuably

Keep your mind

__________

a tiny radiance in a dark place

‘shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.’

Norman-ye legend-McCaig, one of my favourite poets writes one of my favourite poems called ‘Toad.’ McCaig is a master of simplicity and in this poem he writes of discovering a wee toad in his home. He compares it to a purse because there is a myth that says that toads within their little toad skulls hold a jewel.

Stop looking like a purse. How could a purse

Squeeze under the rickety door and sit,

Full of satisfaction in a man’s house?

You clamber towards me on your four corners –

Right hand, left foot, left hand, right foot.

I love you for being a toad,

For crawling like a Japanese wrestler,

And for not being frightened

I put you in my purse hand not shutting it,

And set you down outside directly under

Every star.

A jewel in your head? Toad,

You’ve put one in mine,

A tiny radiance in a dark place.’

A tiny radiance in a dark place. a TINY rAdiANce in a DarK place. A tiny radiance.

The world is a dark place. My newspaper says so, so does the television, so do the books I read, the songs I listen to, and the films I watch. Yet darkness only exists as the absence of light. Light does not rule in our world because God gave us the world and we gave it to the Devil ‘the prince of darkness.’ Yet it has not been abolished completely and one day it will reign supremely: Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.’ Philippians 2:14 Jesus called himself ‘the light of the world’ if we hold on to this word of life then we can be ‘a tiny radiance in a dark place,’ and tis comforting that even something like a creepy, ugly toad can possess a little radiance. These little thoughts are what make this poem one of me favourites.