Don't remain angry

 

Don’t remain angry

Haiku of realisation and repentance

You’re elusive, God,

time you made your presence felt,

made the mountains quake!

Make a big display,

cause the nations to tremble;

make them take notice.

No God except you

has ever been seen or heard

throughout the ages.

Those who wait for God

find themselves in God’s presence;

they do what is right.

We made you angry

when we sinned. We were unclean;

and you hid yourself.

Our righteous deeds, they

are nothing, they cling to us

like a filthy cloth.

We fade, like a leaf.

Cut off from you, the wind blows

us away. We die.

You are our Father,

the potter who shapes our lives;

your hand has made us.

Don’t remain angry,

Lord, or remember our sins;

we are your people.

© Ken Rookes 2023

I will seek them out

Haiku for the scattered

The sheep are scattered.

God’s people, dispersed, exiled

among the nations.

I will search for them,

says God. They are my own sheep,

I will seek them out.

I will rescue them

from all their scattered places;

I’ll be their shepherd.

I will bring them home

to Israel’s mountains, give

them food and water.

They’ll have rich pasture,

lie down in good grazing land.

I’ll be their shepherd.

I will seek the lost,

bind the injured, and strengthen

the weak They are mine.

The fat and the strong

I will destroy. They’ll receive

the justice that’s due.

Between sheep and sheep

I will judge; those who ravage,

and the scattered ones.

A true shepherd comes,

my servant David, a prince;

he shall tend my flock.

© Ken Rookes 2023

Deborah takes control

Haiku for a woman judge

Israel’s children

happily ensconced out there,

in their promised land.

They were not faithful;

so, the ancient tale tells us,

God abandoned them.

Canaan’s King Jabin

with Commander Sisera

oppress the people.

They suffered cruelly.

Oppressed by their enemies

They cried out to God.

Prophet Deborah

was Judging Israel, then.

That’s right; a woman!

She sent for Barak,

instructing him: God commands,

go to Mount Tabor.

Take ten thousand men;

an army from Napthali

and from Zebulun.

Sisera will come

to meet you with his army,

You will defeat him.

 

History written

by the winners. Black and white;

God is on our side

© Ken Rookes 2023

Covenant Renewed

Haiku for choosing

The tribes are gathered,

Joshua summons elders

and other leaders.

Before Abraham

your forebears served other gods;

I, your God, blessed him.

I made his offspring

many, led him through Caanan,

I gave him a son.

Therefore you must serve

the Lord; you must be faithful,

serve no foreign gods.

Choose whom you shall serve,

this day. I, and all my house,

we shall serve the Lord.

The people answered:

God has done great things for us,

we, too, will serve God.

Then put them away,

the foreign gods. If you don’t

God will consume you.

The people agree;

choosing to obey the Lord.

Covenant renewed.

© Ken Rookes 2023