To the New Year

With what stillness at last

you appear in the valley

your first sunlight reaching down

to touch the tips of a few

high leaves that do not stir

as though they had not noticed

and did not know you at all

then the voice of a dove calls

from far away in itself

to the hush of the morning

so this is the sound of you

here and now whether or not

anyone hears it this is

where we have come with our age

our knowledge such as it is

and our hopes such as they are

invisible before us

untouched and still possible

BY W. S. MERWIN

Our own innocence

"There is a type of child-like innocence which we must not allow to be corrupted or destroyed. It is the innocence which believes that love can conquer evil; that torture is always wrong, that the earth must be cared for.
If we lose our innocence we lost our faith
And if we lose our faith there is no hope.
We are (like the Christ child) surrounded by forces that wish to massacre our innocence.
The Christ child is a sign to us of the survival, and power of that innocence and the power of love.

May these days of Christmas be times of looking outward, seeking the family which has been left outside, bringing home those who have been refugees, aliens and strangers, and looking inward to maintain and build the power of our own innocence."

protect the vulnerable and the needy.

"Here is our call, our responsibility this Christmastide and all through the year. God with us, Emmanuel, encourages us to face down the power of this world in order to protect the vulnerable and the needy. This Love made Flesh challenges us to see the face of God in each refugee, each alien, each immigrant, every stranger. The Prince of Peace calls us to look away from the comfortable and the pastoral to see the stark reality of suffering and terror in our world. We are called to see with the eyes of the Word of God – eyes which see everyone as relatives, tribal members, kin, family, equally welcomed at God's table. We are called to see those who scare us the most as those who are sought by the family of God – those who can help us all to carry the Love Incarnate to the world."

https://frsimon.wordpress.com/2013/12/28/sermon-holy-family-year-a-2013/

the possibility of surprise

The readings for this New Year's day are challenging. The Gospel in particular faces us with the reality of the cruelty of the human race and our capacity for fear and violence. Yet in the midst of that there is the promise of a Divine presence that persists and will not go away. 

The New Year season teaches us to be prepared for unexpected results – to be open to the possibility of surprise. The new year is always a mystery. But in an odd way, this new year thing is really important to us, so that we can have punctuation points in time for us to forgive and make new. We want and need new beginnings. In fact that is why I believe we celebrate it. We want new beginnings; a new start. Each year we discover that a song or prayer, long ignored, could touch us in unexpected ways; a long lost friend may turn up in the next row, and a wound that we have been carrying throughout the year, may just start to heal.  We should be prepared to face a different world, and that we must look at this world, and all her people with new and different eyes.

Rabbi Harold Kushner was stumped once when asked a question about the Torah.  He was asked, “What command is repeated more than any other in the Torah?”  Kushner thought and responded that it was the command to help the poor.  I would have thought that the answer was to remember the stranger.  We both were wrong.  The answer is: “Fear not – do not be afraid.”  God said it to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses, to the Israelites at the Red Sea and when they prepared for battle. Jesus repeated it endlessly to his followers. The message of New Year is: Fear not – do not be afraid.  God is here, and we are not alone, but surrounded by God’s people.  One of the lessons of the past year, is despite what so many try to tell us is that we cannot live our lives being afraid.  

Dealing with dark forces

haiku of ambivalence.

When light is coming

the dark forces congregate;

seeking to destroy.

A classic story.

The child of blessing, threatened,

survives the danger.

Like Moses, floating

on the river, the baby

lives to overcome.

Herod, the despot,

becomes his first enemy.

Will not be the last.

The angel returns

with a warning and advice:

Take the child and flee.

The land of bondage

becomes the place of refuge.

History reversed.

Back in Judea

the story is less pleasant.

Evil has triumphed.

The years pass, as does

the danger. The family

return to their land.

They choose Nazareth

in Galilee, to the north.

There they make their home.

© Ken Rookes 2016

Christmas Story

Carol night

Carol Night.

Candles glow amidst the tumult;

everywhere there is noise and movement

wonderful noise, wonderful movement.

People joining voices

sharing food and blankets

And the Children, the children

they are just children?

They cry and scream,

laugh and tumble.

They are not angels are they?

One girl child, with glowing, stubby candle,

sits amidst the din;

stunned or dazzled,

amazed or distracted?

She sits,

an image of stillness

with a stare at times

almost vacant,

or perhaps focussed

on the infinite?

She moves at last

to stand before her mother

and exclaims with pure awe,

“ Mummy, they’re just like stars!”

then moves back

to her place of watching.

Her mother,

sensing more than most

the ‘other’ in her daughter’s words

weeps tears of joy and wonder

at the beauty in the child.

 G Bannon

The energy of joy

A different Nativity

And is it true?

And is it true,
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,
A Baby in an ox's stall?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me?

And is it true? For if it is,
No loving fingers tying strings
Around those tissued fripperies,
The sweet and silly Christmas things,
Bath salts and inexpensive scent
And hideous tie so kindly meant,

No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare —
That God was man in Palestine
And lives today in Bread and Wine.

John Betjeman (1906–1984)

incarnation

What we find in the message of the Christmas story is the idea that the Sacred, the Spirit of Love, is incarnate in the world; incarnate in that most profound symbol of new life, of possibilities, of hope—in a child. This was not a once and only event. The incarnation of Love was the very creation of the beginning of time—it happened before the birth of Jesus, it happened then, and is happening now. It is present and active in all things and all people—at all times and everywhere. Wherever hope abides amidst despair; wherever joy abides amidst sorrow; wherever love abides amidst hate; wherever peace is spoken amidst war; Love is happening there. This is a compelling truth of the story. This is what the child announces to us. In this time and this place, for us and for all beings—a love at once particular and universal draws us to a life peace and hope. We gather with friends and family at Christmas to be inspired by the possibility that in a time of rampant war-making the idea of peace on earth and good will toward all may become more than a slogan, may somehow take hold. For this is the time of the year that we most dare dream of renewal and peace, most dare to hope boldly. Let us know that Love whispers to us all, in every breath calling us to remember that each night is holy and all life is sacred. ~ Beth Johnson

He was in the beginning

Haiku of the coming

In the beginning.

They are indivisible,

the Logos and God.

Into the nothing

the Logos-God mystery

find their voice and speak.

The word, now spoken,

all creation comes to be.

Here is wonderment.

The Logos brings life;

life and light for humankind,

defeating darkness.

Logos, always there

in the world he created,

passes through, unseen.

Among his people

he finds no welcome nor home.

The loss is their own.

Yet some received him,

believed, and living by faith,

were made God's children.

To be born of God,

transcending earthly limits;

this, then, is glory.

The Logos took flesh,

our flesh, and lived among us;

full of grace and truth.

© Ken Rookes 2016

A wondrous yarn

Haiku of an often told story

There are no records

of the birth of the Messiah;

just an old story.

An anxious couple

seeking a place of shelter.

The time is at hand.

In a crowded town,

a stable, strangely, becomes

a delivery ward.

A baby is born,

this thing of joy and wonder.

Happens ev'ry day.

Shepherds tending sheep,

angels winging in the sky;

a fabulous yarn.

Go and check it out!

The baby in a manger,

with his mum and dad.

The infant is found;

it was as the angel said.

They are all amazed.

The shepherds return

singing, “Glory!” praising God,

They tell everyone.

© Ken Rookes 2016

Found to be with child

Haiku of mysterious birth

The birth of Jesus,

as befits a Messiah,

was less than routine.

Matthew's birth stories

are designed to assure us:

things are in order.

Isaiah the prophet

provides a girl giving birth

as a sign of hope.

Found to be with child!

One way of looking at it;

the girl was pregnant.

With child, and engaged

to a man not the father.

It's complicated.

Her husband, Joseph

is a good man. He still cares,

does not want her shamed.

Dreams can be useful

to spark possibilities

and provide answers.

The angel appears,

reassures the sleeping man:

somehow God is here.

Do not be afraid,

take the girl to be your wife;

the child is from God,

When the man awoke

he took the angel's advice;

brought her to his home.

When the day arrived

the girl delivered her son.

They named him Jesus.

© Ken Rookes 2016

A Baby named 'Save'

"So Matthew prepares us right at the edge of Christmas. He gives us an angel's message in a dream that is beyond our control or expectation. He tells us that it is God's Spirit who makes all things new through this baby, and he names the baby twice. The baby is named Save, and Jesus saves from all that kills and is flat and sad. He names the baby God is with us, and we are not alone. Notice that this story does not ask us to do anything. But I believe it invites us to be dazzled. It invites us to ponder that, while our world feels unsavable, here is the baby named Save. Our world and our lives often feel abandoned, and here is the baby named God with us. So we are to be ready to have our lives and our world contradicted by this gift from God. We may rest our lives upon the new promise from the angel and we may be safe and we may be whole and made generous because Christmas is coming soon."
Walter Brugemann - http://day1.org/622-a_new_world_birthed

The vulnerable Divine

We celebrate this child that is called the Christ but I wonder how much we understand it. When we find our hearts softened when we look at a child we are receiving a profound message about the nature of ourselves and the spiritual power of the child.
This Christmas many of us are feeling pretty vulnerable ourselves. The human race seems hell-bent on its own destruction and the destruction of the planet. As a Christian I continue to be horrified at the way our nation is treating asylum seekers and at the wars and cruelty that continue to plague our world. The church is also in a time of great vulnerability and uncertainty. As individuals I am sure there are many of you facing personal challenges that confront you with your own mortality and weakness.
In these times especially the subversive message of Christmas couldn’t be more significant. The message of love and vulnerability that this child is bringing is to transform the world. It is to bring a great light into the darkness. It is to tell that the power of the divine is not in powerful structures or domination, but that true power lies in vulnerability and love.
The way the Bible tells it, the baby worked a kind of magic on the surrounding world on the night of his birth. Here is a new image of this ‘God’ not as an all-powerful God but rather as a helpless, vulnerable infant. The magic that surrounded the baby lifted people above the misery, cold and darkness that surrounded them so that all they could think about was the birth of this child. But it did something far more powerful than that. It was a message of hope that God is present in the small, shy places of the world. Today, Jesus would be more likely to be born in Aleppo in Syria, or in an indigenous community in Central Australia, or in Palestine. This is a message of hope to the powerless of the world. Our God is not only on our side but lives with us. At the heart of this sacred time lies the message of a God that is Emmanuel - God-with-us!
Christmas is about an event that many believe changed the world but also one that continues to have the ability to do so. It is a day to celebrate. I urge you to pay attention to your inmost self sometime on the day. Take time to give honour to all that is vulnerable, innocent and holy within you and in the world around you. Christmas is a time of the heart. Allow the spirit of the child-Christ to lead you on a journey to the manger where the tender and vulnerable God lies.
And in this may you find blessing and hope this Christmas.
Rev Gordon Bannon

Haiku for Advent

Christian faith is an
unexpected weed growing
in a polite field.


© Ken Rookes 2016

Magnificat: a haiku sequence.

Haiku for a revolution

A young teenager,

so the ancient story says,

offered up a song.

The girl is with child;

this is a thing of wonder,

of hope and of joy.

Nobody special,

she is God's lowly servant;

humble, accepting.

Magnifying God,

she sang with praise, rejoicing

at God's strange favour.

Mercy unconfined,

across the generations,

for those who trust God.

God's strength surprises

to scatter the great and proud

in their vanity.

From their noble thrones

the powerful are brought down.

Let the day come close.

The poor, down-trodden;

these will be elevated

to God's chosen place.

The hungry will eat,

they will dine upon good food;

the rich will miss out.

From this young girl's lips

came words of revolution.

Most disconcerting.

© Ken Rookes 2016

When John heard in prison

Haiku of enquiry

 

We missed you, Baptist;

your amusing desert rants

made us think again.

The authorities

were less amused; took offense,

waited for their chance.

If you'd stopped and thought

you might have backed off, instead

you're locked in prison.

So you sent your mates

to find out what's happening.

They seek out Jesus.

They ask: are you he,

the one we are expecting,

or do we still wait?

Open up your eyes,

what do you see, and hear,

as you look about?

The blind see again,

lepers are being made clean,

the lame are walking.

And as for the poor,

they're hearing the good news

with joy and with hope.

Go, tell the prophet

that God's kingdom has come near.

Tell him: be at peace.

© Ken Rookes 2016