Arguing

Haiku for thinking again

A divided church!

The apostle is appalled.

Understandably!

From earliest times

these Christians are arguing;

splitting into groups.

I belong to Paul,

I to Peter, I to Christ!

Is Christ divided?

Was Paul crucified?

Were you baptised in Paul’s name?

Paul’s just the conduit.

Are you arguing

about your theology?

Get back to basics!

It’s about the cross.

Always, says Paul. The power

is in the giving.

Always and only

the cross! Nowhere else is love

so fully revealed.

The foolish message

of sacrifice, grace and love;

this is the gospel!

© Ken Rookes 2023

One Body

Haiku for members

Hey there, look at me

I am so clever, gifted;

I have the Spirit!

So, even Christians

get caught up, forgetting love.

It’s all about me!

Seduced by power,

craving honour and glory;

forgetting their Lord.

My gift is better

than your gift is. Look at me!

God thinks I’m clever.

It’s time you grew up.

Boasting is way out of line

for people of God

Your gifts were given

that you might work together;

do great things for God.

Big gifts, lesser gifts,

each one has their part to play;

you need each other.

In the one Spirit

baptised into one body;

Jews, Greeks, slaves and free.

© Ken Rookes 2020

Posted in response to the Narrative Lectionary for Pentecost

Paul the tent-maker

Haiku for a troubled church

Paul the tent-maker,

plying his trade in Corinth,

preaching on weekends.

Working alongside

Aquila and Priscilla,

stitching together.

Love is wearing thin,

the fabric of the church comes

apart at the seams

He writes a letter

to the fractious fellowship

taking them to task.

Asks, Where is the love?

Why is your church divided?

End your quarrelling!

Put factions aside;

one’s not better than others.

You are one in Christ!

The cross is emptied,

the gospel loses power,

when you’re divided.

© Ken Rookes 2020

Posted in response to the bible readings for the Narrative Lectionary, fifth Sunday in Easter.

This imperishable wreath

We have replaced the perishable wreaths

with bags of gold,

and with shining medals,

and plates and cups of silver and crystal.

These reflect loudly the applied light,

demanding to be polished

as they slowly capture dust

on shelves and in glass cases.

The heroes of field, track and arena

are lauded and celebrated;

while celebrity becomes their greatest achievement.

Yet this too will pass,

the ephemeral silverware and all the rest;

even the undimmed glow of the gold

will one day lie forgotten,

beneath earth’s dust.

Empty, and yet abundant,

profoundly connected, deeply alone.

Torn and bleeding,

sometimes triumphant,

humble, hoping, defiant,

having nothing to do

with honours and earthly reward;

for all who compete

this imperishable wreath. 

© Ken Rookes 2015

Stones for Stumbling

There is no shortage,

especially if you are young.

But then, nor are the mature exempt.

We trip, we fall,

we get up again.

We warn our comrades,

keep an eye on the vulnerable,

and remove those obstacles

that haven’t been bolted down;

or try to.

Sometimes,

distracted, preoccupied,

failing to listen, or to see,

not vigilant enough ask the questions;

we stand quietly by

as new stones are lowered into place.

© Ken Rookes 2015

seek out God

Many, many people, especially older ones are woken in the night by pain, grief, the inability to breathe, worries and concerns, noisy neighbours, uncomfortable beds and nightmares. Some live alone. Others have people or children in the home they are caring for who call them in the night. Is it just possible that any of these things could be God attempting to communicate, to give a message either for us or for others? Some have wrestled with these nocturnal disturbances waking them for a considerable time. They may be envious of Samuel having someone to alert him to their meaning or of Jacob that he only had to struggle for one night before he recognised God and was blessed by God.

In verse 1 of the story we heard from Samuel, it states, “The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread” {1Samuel 3:1] indicating that there was a low expectation that God would communicate with them. Was it that God wasn’t speaking or that because of other distractions people could not hear or didn’t know how to recognise something that was “of God”?

Many might think that the word of God is rare in our day and that visions are not widespread. Could it be because we priests and church leaders are not expecting to hear the voice of God that we are slow to recognise when God is communicating with someone in this way?

The two passages from Hebrew Scripture can be comforting to people struggling with who they are and if they matter. They show God in serious mode, taking us seriously also. But God is also full of surprises and may let us think we can hide for a while if that is the game we want to play.

The Epistle reading set for today,[1 Corinthians 6:12-20] begins with the words, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial.” We could say this about hiding from God. We can try to do it, but is it beneficial in the long run? The rest of the passage is about not allowing one thing to dominate our lives because our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit and part of the body of Christ. Do we hide because we like playing games, because we are ashamed, because we don’t know God would like us to reverse the game and the try to find God. As mature Christians, is it our turn to go “Hee” and seek out God?

One thing we can rest assured of from Jacob, Samuel, the writer of the Psalm, Phillip, Nathanael and Paul, is that it will be a life changing, joyful, exciting blessing when we find and let ourselves be found by God.

Rev Julianne Parker

(for full sermon see sermons page)

no outsiders

   In his book What Jesus Meant Garry Wills writes, "no outsiders were cast out far enough in Jesus' world to make him shun them — not Roman collaborators, not lepers, not prostitutes, not the crazed, not the possessed. Are there people now who could possibly be outside his encompassing love?" Instead of defining other people outside the love of God, we're better off imitating the apostle Paul, an apostolic insider, who in the epistle for this week contemplates the real and harrowing possibility of his own banishment to outsider perdition (1 Corinthians 9:24–27).
http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20120206JJ.shtml

Jesus was not s slave of patterns

"Why shouldn't Paul use the latest wisdom from the secular world about self management and motivational training? Paul is wonderfully flexible at times. He sees through rules and regulations and through claims of status to what really matters. What really matters for him is making the message and meaning of the gospel known. There may have been patterns for doing so in the past (which probably suited semi rural Galilee), but even if they were established by Jesus (as they were!), that doesn't mean they can't be changed in new situations. Love has the capacity to change, to adapt, to be flexible. Paul's way of doing things made good 'love-sense' in the situations he faced. His priority was the love expressed in the gospel. It was not ensuring other people recognised his official status or even with ensuring a 'Lord Jesus' got things done in exactly the right way. Paul's Lord, Jesus, was not a slave of patterns (or the lord of patterns!) and obsessed with being a lord, but one who emptied himself, poured himself out. That is where Paul is coming from. That is why he can be free. That is also why he can appeal to common sense."
http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/BEpEpiphany6.htm

The Joy of Metaphors

The Joy of Metaphors

1 Corinthians 3:1 - 9

Knowing a good metaphor

when he saw one, the apostle

managed to cram two of them

into a fairly small space. He fed his

infant children, (is that a third?)

on milk rather than solid meat,

because that is as far as they had reached

in their journeyings of faith. (There,

I’ve introduced one of my own;

making a total of four.)

Even now, presumably some years

after the apostle’s Corinthian sojourn,

the children are still not ready

for the meat of discipleship.

You will be ready

when you learn to live in harmony,

he tells them. He then takes up

the gardening image, ever-popular

and much-employed by his own master.

Planting and watering

and growing to maturity;

his readers are purposed to bear the fruits

of which he is wont to write:

love, joy, peace, faith and hope,

but mostly love.

Unable to restrain himself, the apostle

grabs hold of few more metaphors;

and enthusiastically throws them into the mix

to drive the point home, (sorry!)

or else for the sheer joy of it.

© 2011 Ken Rookes