God has proved his love

Haiku responding to Romans 5: 1-8

Justified by faith

means that we have peace with God

through our Lord Jesus.

Jesus makes the grace

happen; this grace surrounds us,

we boast in our hope.

We are also proud

of our afflictions, knowing

they bring endurance.

Endurance leads to

character, then on to hope;

we boast in our hope!

God's love has been poured

into our hearts through God's gift:

the Holy Spirit.

While we were helpless,

when the time was right, Christ died

for those without God.

We don't give up life

cheaply: perhaps for a good

person, one might die.

God has proved his love.

While we were lost in our sin

the Christ died for us.

© Ken Rookes 2026

One body

Haiku responding to 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13

When we say Jesus

is Lord, it's by the Spirit;

God's Spirit in us.

The Spirit gives gifts

to us all; they are many,

they are different.

Many ways to serve;

the same Lord is served. The same

God calls us to serve.

Ev'ry gift we have

comes from the Holy Spirit,

for the common good.

To the one, wisdom;

to others, knowledge, to yet

another, healing.

To some faith, deeds of

power, prophetic speaking,

spiritual judgement.

To one, various

languages, and to others,

interpretation.

Each various gift

comes from the Spirit, chosen

by that same Spirit.

Human bodies with

many members are still one

body: so with Christ.

Baptised into Christ;

Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free,

one in the Spirit.

© Ken Rookes 2026

Suddenly a roar!

 Pentecost haiku

Seven week had passed.

His friends were all together,

gathered in one place.

Suddenly a roar

of rushing wind filled the house;

tongues of flame, resting.

Filled with the Spirit,

their tongues were released, speaking

other languages.

Outside in the street

the crowd from many nations

hear in their own speech.

They’re from Galilee,

yet we understand, as they

speak of God’s power!

Some ask, What means this?

Others scoff, sneering: they’re drunk

on too much new wine.

Peter stands up, speaks:

It’s too early to be drunk;

only nine a.m!

In the prophet, Joel,

we read how God will pour God’s

Spirit on all flesh.

Young folk, old folk, slaves,

men and women; they shall dream

dreams and see visions.

It is coming near,

the Lord’s day; when all who call

on God’s name are saved.

© Ken Rookes 2024

Breaking Through

 Haiku of inclusion

He’d had a vision.

Didn’t know what it meant, ‘til

the foreigners came.

The Holy Spirit

took him from his comfort zone

to meet with gentiles.

While Peter still spoke

the gentiles, once excluded,

received the Spirit

The Holy Spirit

fell on the gentiles, forcing

Peter’s acceptance.

Peter’s companions,

good Jews, circumcised and all,

were suitably shocked.

They heard them speaking

in tongues, giving praise to God.

We’d best baptise them!

Stick around, Peter

we need to hear more of this

Jesus sent from God.

© Ken Rookes 2024

Roaring wind sound

Haiku of wind and fire

On Pentecost Day

they were gathered in one place,

waiting and praying.

A roaring wind sound

filled the house, shaking them all

to their foundations.

Tongues of holy fire

dance through the air; alighting,

warming hearts and minds.

The Spirit arrives

to ignite love’s fire, bringing

tongues of ecstacy.

Spilling noisily

outside, diverse languages

commanding a crowd.

Folk from all nations

are puzzled, hearing the speech

in their own language.

We’re not drunk! Peter

counters. Rather God’s Spirit

has come upon us.

As Joel, the prophet,

spoke, God pours out God’s Spirit

on all humankind.

Men, women, young, old,

slave, free; the Spirit has come.

The Day has arrived!

These tongues are a sign,

one among many. Be saved:

call upon God’s name!

© Ken Rookes 2023

Promise (Holy Spirit)

Haiku for Pentecost

The works that I do,

John’s Jesus assures us, should

be enough for faith.

The works that he does

show his close relationship

with God, his Father.

The works that he does

will also be done, John says,

by those who believe.

Ask me anything,

Jesus says, I will do it.

All to God’s glory!

Show that you love me.

by keeping my commandments.

I’ll send my Spirit.

The Spirit of truth

is sent to stand beside you,

recalling my words..

John’s Jesus is sure,

full of authority, joined

and equal with God.

Peace: his parting gift

to his friends. Don’t be troubled,

do not be afraid.

© Ken Rookes 2022

 

The Advocate Comes

Haiku for Pentecost

The Advocate comes;

Spirit friend standing beside

and taking our part.

Speaking truth into

the soul, and bearing witness

to Jesus the Son.

Time for the parting.

I must go. Feel the sorrow;

I share it with you.

You are not alone.

The Spirit will take my place,

will speak to your hearts.

The Spirit brings truth,

shining light upon the world

and into your heart.

It is for the best.

Together you will declare

the truth that he brings.

I could say much more.

It is enough for now, as

much as you can bear.

The Spirit completes

what I have begun, and brings

all things together.

© Ken Rookes 2021

Locked doors

Haiku of the first day

They were filled with fear.

They had seen their Master killed,

so they locked the doors.

In the evening

Jesus came; even locked doors

could not keep him out.

His appearances,

as one raised from death to life,

are strange, like in dreams.

Why should we expect

things to be straight forward, when

death is upended.

What really happened?

We are left to speculate,

and to imagine.

Thomas can’t believe.

Why should he? These things defy

rationality.

In time, he enters

the collective belief, that

their Lord is risen.

He breathes his Spirit

upon them. My work goes on;

Forgiveness must rule.

Evangelist John

writes his book to persuade us:

Life is in Jesus.

© Ken Rookes 2021

Baptism

 

Haiku for a calling

In the wilderness,

beyond the civil, polite,

and respectable.

Camel-hair jacket,

belt of leather, dining on

locusts, wild honey.

John the enigma,

known as baptiser, calling

people to repent.

I am nobody,

John declared. One is coming

far greater than I.

Jesus came to John

from Nazareth in the North;

Baptise me, he said.

Jesus emerges

from the Jordan to the dove

and to heaven’s voice.

Jesus is baptised

in God’s Spirit, and confirmed

in his ministry.

Baptised in water,

he will baptise his friends with

the Holy Spirit

This is the moment

and this is the man, says John.

He of whom I spoke.

© Ken Rookes 2020

When the Advocate comes

Haiku for breaking out

The Spirit of truth

AKA the Advocate

will be coming soon.

I will send to you

one who will stand beside you,

who will take your part.

He will testify,

speak of me and what I say;

you must do so, too.

From the beginning

you, my friends, have been with me;

you know who I am.

This is the promise;

you will not be left alone,

the Spirit is yours.

On Pentecost morn

wind and fire roaring through,

blowing dust away.

Imaged by fire,

water, and by rushing wind,

the Spirit has come.

Surprise us Spirit!

Drive us deeper into love,

disturb our comfort.

Needing to be healed,

the world and all its peoples;

come, Holy Spirit!

© Ken Rookes 2018

An elusive figure

Haiku for us sceptics

The risen Jesus

is an elusive figure:

now you see him. . .

From behind closed doors,

according to the story,

he appeared to them.

His greeting of peace

was not quite enough, so he

showed his hands and side.

He breathed upon them.

Receive the Holy Spirit:

go out and forgive.

Thomas was absent,

didn’t believe the reports.

I must see his wounds.

What is there to see;

what evidence sufficient

to bring us to faith?

Thank you, man of doubts,

Thomas with your questioning;

you speak for me, too.

Risen Lord Jesus,

present with those who question,

be patient with me.

What more can I say?

Should ev’ry story be told

they would fill volumes.

These have been written

that you might know God, have faith,

and life in his name.

© Ken Rookes 2018

Water that lives

Haiku of the Spirit

Those who are thirsty

who seek the living water,

let them come to me.

The promised Spirit

shall flow from their hearts in streams

of living water.

© Ken Rookes 2017

He breathed on them

Haiku for agents of peace.

Peace was his greeting

that night, meeting with his friends,

the day he was raised.

The doors had been locked,

but somehow he was present,

standing among them.

They gasped, rejoicing.

Beyond all expectations

their master lived!

There's much to be done.

Just as the Father sent me,

so I'm sending you.

He breathed upon them.

Receive the Holy Spirit,

God with you, always.

Mercy is the key;

show them. You are to forgive;

you must set them free.

This is why I came,

to bring freedom, grace and hope.

My peace be with you.

© Ken Rookes 2017

This is the Spirit of Truth

Haiku of promise

Spirit, advocate,

mystery God at our side;

within and without.

Spirit of truth who

abides in each open heart;

gift from the Father.

Spirit of Jesus;

among us, unseen presence,

sharing risen life.

Divine indwelling;

the Son in the Father,

the Spirit in us.

It's all about love;

thus the Spirit recalls us

to Jesus' commands.

You who follow me

will prove it, Jesus told them.

Love will be the sign.

I will be with you,

I will show myself to you;

we will dwell in love.

© Ken Rookes 2017

But how will I know?

My eyes, my mind and my heart,

I like to believe, are open.

But when the Spirit of truth comes,

how will I know?

Perhaps she has already come.

She will, I assume, speak to me of Jesus

and his teachings; telling of love

and generosity, of justice and defiance,

of courage, anger, compassion and peace.

I am emboldened, and challenged

to join with my sisters and brothers

and pray: Come Holy Spirit!

But when she comes;

how will I know?

© Ken Rookes 2016

The heaven was opened

The opening of heaven,

by all accounts,

was not an every-day occurrence.

At Jesus' baptism, by John,

in the flowing waters of the Jordan,

this rare event,

(according to some ancient stories),

took place. On that occasion,

we are told, heaven's stately doors

swung wide on their ethereal hinges,

allowing the divine spirit to descend

and to mingle outrageously

with that which is human.

While the record may well be incomplete,

no mention is made

of their subsequent closure.

© Ken Rookes 2016

The gentle water bird

This poem by the Australian poet, John Shaw Neilson, is, for me, a Pentecost poem. The awakening of his heart to the bird and the Divine spirit within the bird, speaks volumes to me.

In the far days, when every day was long,
Fear was upon me and the fear was strong,
Ere I had learned the recompense of song.

In the dim days I trembled, for I knew
God was above me, always frowning through,
And God was terrible and thunder-blue.

Creeds the discoloured awed my opening mind,
Perils, perplexities - what could I find? -
All the old terror waiting on mankind.

Even the gentle flowers of white and cream,
The rainbow with its treasury of dream,
Trembled because of God's ungracious scheme.

And in the night the many stars would say
Dark things unaltered in the light of day:
Fear was upon me even in my play.

There was a lake I loved in gentle rain:
One day there fell a bird, a courtly crane:
Wisely he walked, as one who knows of pain.

Gracious he was and lofty as a king:
Silent he was, and yet he seemed to sing
Always of little children and the Spring.

God? Did he know him? It was far he flew?.
God was not terrible and thunder-blue:
- It was a gentle water bird I knew.

Pity was in him for the weak and strong,
All who have suffered when the days were long
And he was deep and gentle as a song.

As a calm soldier in a cloak of grey
He did commune with me for many a day
Till the dark fear was lifted far away.

Sober-apparelled, yet he caught the glow:
Always of Heaven would he speak, and low,
And he did tell me where the wishes go.

Kinsfolk of his it was who long before
Came from the mist (and no one knows the shore)
Came with the little children to the door.

Was he less wise than those birds long ago
Who flew from God (He surely willed it so)
Bearing great happiness to all below?

Long have I learned that all his speech was true;
I cannot reason it - how far he flew -
God is not terrible nor thunder-blue.

Sometimes, when watching in the white sunshine,
Someone approaches - I can half define
All the calm beauty of that friend of mine.

Nothing of hatred will about him cling:
Silent - how silent - but his heart will sing
Always of little children and the Spring. 

John Shaw Neilson

But you cannot bear them now

 

 

Spirit of Truth, Advocate:

you see all things,
know all things.
Reveal it,
show us; but not too much.
Open our eyes and let us see;
but, if you don’t mind,
keep hidden those things
that might cause anxiety
or shame.
 
You know what we can bear;
just a little for now.
A single LED rather than a floodlight.
There are scenes we would rather not view,
stories we would rather not hear.
Tales of suffering and cruelty
of which we prefer to remain ignorant.
Injustices, that, intruding into our pleasant reality,
might impel us into action
or compel us to change.
 
It’s not that we lack courage
to take on the many things,
but one at a time;
if that’s all right.
 

 

© Ken Rookes 2015

Breath

 

The essential otherness,
named by many as God,
having been credited with the creative endeavour,
generosity and love
out of which the planet is born and renewed,
once breathed life into the nostrils
of a figure sculpted from earth’s dust;
or so the ancient story tells us.
A man called Jesus,
sometimes designated child of God
and touched wildly by the spirit,
once re-enacted that mythical event;
at least according to another,
slightly less-ancient, narrative.
Coming unexpectedly
among a group of frightened and uncertain friends,
he pursed his lips
and blew gently upon their puzzled faces
with his spirit-breath invitation:
to live generously,
to love with passion, and,
drawing upon their reserves
of courage, grace and vulnerability,
to address the planet’s plaintive plea
for justice, hope and peace.

Or to at least make a start.


© Ken Rookes 2014

Holy Spirit midwife

The Holy Spirit is midwife to born again understandings of God. Anyone who has committed to the Way of following Jesus has been born again. So the crucial thing for most of us is have we matured and grown in wisdom since our rebirth as was said of Jesus?
It is believed by many people that the church is going through a process of rebirth. This is being called by some, “the emerging church.” Last September I attended a conference where the theme was, “Midwives to Change.” One the speaker looked at what it means to be a midwife. She pointed out that traditionally, midwives were mothers who had already been through the birth process. Midwives are there to assist the woman giving birth. They are never the centre of attention which is focused on both the mother and baby. After the birth and a few weeks of follow-up, the midwife steps back, trusting the family to raise the child. At maturity, no one would probably remember the midwife who so faithfully attended the birth, but without her, the child may not have survived.
Now it is the church which must be born again and it is happening through lay people. The role of clergy is as midwives to this birth, not mothers. Throughout Scripture those, including Jesus, who have brought God’s most important messages were lay people, not religious. Often they were people who were considered insignificant or unsuitable by their communities, but not by God.
Sometimes babies who threatened the powerful have not been allowed to live. Midwives have been instructed to kill unwanted ones. We have the stories from the time of Moses and of King Herod of boy babies being killed. As midwives of change deliver new life for the Church may they be as bold as the midwives Shiphrah and Puah [Exodus 1:15] who at great personal risk, refused to kill the babies of the Hebrew women.
Rev Julianne Parker