Who's first?

Haiku of sibling rivalry

Rebeckah’s pregnant!

After all these years, Isaac’s

prayers have been answered!

Twins! The two children

fight it out within the womb.

Rebeckah’s anxious.

They are two nations,

says the Lord. The elder one

will serve the younger.

A time to be born.

The first boy was red, hairy.

They named him Esau.

The second emerged,

hand upon his brother’s heel.

They named him Jacob.

Esau the hunter,

loved by his dad; Jake, quiet

loved by Rebeckah.

Let me have some stew,

said Esau. Sure, said Jacob;

Sell me your birthright.

I’m starving to death,

what’s the use of my birthright?

Swear to me! I swear.

Trading his birthright

Esau ate the stew with bread,

and went on his way.

Short term benefit

or some vague future increase;

what would be my choice?

© Ken Rookes 2023

Peniel

Haiku of struggle

Jacob heads for home

hoping that time has softened

his brother’s anger.

Jacob is fearful.

He prays for deliverance,

hopes in God’s promise.

He hedges his bets:

sends his ample gift ahead

trying to appease.

Pausing for the night

Jacob buys time, putting off

the confrontation.

Sends the mob ahead,

waits alone. A man appears;

strange, mysterious.

Coming together

in a primeval contest,

Jacob fights the man.

They wrestle, Jacob

and the stranger. No one wins,

The sun is rising.

The man asks Jacob,

Let me go! Before I do

give me your blessing.

I’ll give you a name.

you have contended with God;

you are Israel.

Jacob understood;

he had wrestled with the Lord.

Somehow he survived!

Each of us wrestles

with the Lord in our own way;

we don’t often win.

© Ken Rookes 2019

more favoured by God?

Researchers found that almost all parents have favourites. When asked, they generally said this wasn’t so but when asked who the favourite was, neighbours and other family members consistently named one child. Perhaps this is at the core of all sibling rivalry. We would all like our parents’ attention and recognise the unfairness of one being more favoured.

We had an uncle who greeted us with, “How is my favourite niece today?” We knew he said it to each one of his nieces. That didn’t matter. It always brought a smile to our face. God who loves each one of us as if there were only one to love will help us. The Fruit of the Spirit within us, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control will assist us to not play favourites. Then the seeds of our relationships will flourish, and bear fruit, and the harvest of love and joy will be great.

The story of Esau and Jacob, more than just the part about who was favourite, is troubling in these days when we are encouraged to also look at Biblical stories from the point of view of the underling. Jacob is obviously the one who is more favoured by God, but many may identify more with Esau. Like him, Joan was less attractive than her sister who was frequently described as “a pretty little girl” while Joan was the “tomboy”. Like the descriptions of Esau and Jacob, these assessments were too simplistic. Nothing is ever that black and white.

Rev Julianne Parker (full sermon on sermon page.

Birthright

Birthright

I typed “birthright”

into my search engine.

It took me straight to ebay.

There were hundreds of listings.

I restricted myself to auctions

that were ending over the next 24 hours.

Of all the varieties for sale only a couple

involved property, wealth and power;

these are much  in demand,

people hang on to them.

I clicked on a big purple one with gold trim.

The bids were coming in at a fast rate;

my refresh button was unable to keep pace.

For a moment I was tempted.

There were birthrights of many sizes and shapes;

green and blue, mostly.

Quite a few were to do with

truth, courage, generosity and love.

I clicked on one; it was small,

but strangely beautiful. The Starting bid was $13.65,

and there were no current bidders.

“Why not?” I asked myself, and typed in $15.00.

My cursor hovered over the Place bid button,

and then I remembered that I already have one;

back home, in a cardboard box

on a high shelf in the guest room wardrobe.

I’m pretty sure it’s still there.

© Ken Rookes 2014