Sorry I spoke, God.

Haiku of vindication

Overwhelmed by God’s

magnificence, Job is forced

to humbly concede.

Compared to you, God,

I am an ignorant fool,

I’m sorry I spoke.

How can I question

your ways, O God? My knowledge

can’t compare with yours.

I had only heard

of you; now, having seen you,

I am mortified.

The story concludes

as Job’s fortunes are restored;

a happy ending!

The bit we missed.

After Job’s response

God agreed against Job’s friends;

Job had spoken truth.

Vindicated! Job

did not deserve to suffer;

he’d done nothing wrong.

A protest story:

Just because you’re suffering

doesn’t mean you’re bad.

Among the lessons

of this story: it’s okay

to argue with God.

© Ken Rookes 2024

Out of the whirlwind

Haiku of continued questions

At last God responds!

Hides God-self in a whirlwind;

very dramatic.

Questions, not answers.

God’s grandeur seems to excuse

him from answering

God holds all the cards,

suggests that Job is unwise

to ask such questions.

Make yourself ready

Job, almighty God’s about

to ask you questions.

God asks: Where were you

when I laid the foundations

of the earth? Tell me!

Who measured the earth

making sure all was in line?

Surely you know this?

Did you hear the stars

singing for joy when the world’s

cornerstone was laid?

We are impressed, God.

Hardly a fair contest, though;

you being divine!

Ken Rookes 2024

Why me, God?

 

Why me, God?

Haiku seeking answers

He hasn’t cursed God,

but Job doesn’t hold back in

voicing his complaint.

It’s simply not fair;

I’ve done nothing wrong, I don’t

deserve this treatment.

Why is God hiding?

I want to argue my case,

hear what he would say.

I keep asking, Why?

I am upright, tell me, God,

why I must suffer.

God holds all the cards.

If he listened to me he’d

find me innocent.

But I can’t find God.

I look front, back, left and right;

I cannot see him!

I have had enough!

My heart faints. Let me vanish

into the darkness.

Ken Rookes 2024

Job

Haiku for testing

Wealth and possessions

have long been seen as proof of

a virtuous life.

Surely God blesses

the ones who are deserving!

Yes, but not always.

The poor are not blessed;

their poverty evidence

of their shortcomings.

The story of Job,

written to challenge. The good

don’t always prosper.

In the land of Uz,

so the ancient tale goes; lived

Job, a righteous man.

Blameless and upright,

bulk money, stacks of children;

Job had a good life.

God boasts about Job.

Satan calls his bluff. Test him;

let’s see what he does!

In but a moment

it is gone. Taken away,

the blessings withdrawn.

Job remains faithful.

God boasts again. Satan laughs;

I’ll really test him!

Satan inflicts Job

with sores from head to toe. Let’s

see what he says, now!

Job’s wife speaks to him:

Enough! It is surely time

to curse God and die!

Job replies:

The good we receive

comes from God, surely we must

accept the bad, too.

© Ken Rookes 2020, 24

Leviathan

Haiku for considering

Ah, Leviathan,

mythical beast of the sea,

disturbing our dreams.

Will you tie the beast

Leviathan, with a leash

that your girls might play?

Best not take him on,

Leviathan. He’s bigger

than you. God is too.

God, who created

great beasts and monsters; only

God calls them to heel.

Insignificant

Job, who are you to question,

the Almighty’s ways.

You are mighty, God;

mysterious, knowing all;

and I never knew.

Job answered the Lord.

Now I see you; now I know

better than to speak.

Forced to acknowledge,

God finally concedes, Yes

Job, you spoke the truth.

© Ken Rookes 2020

Posted in response to the Narrative Lectionary readings for the 5th Sunday after Pentecost.

Out of the whirlwind

Haiku of the gobsmacked

I am in the dark.

What is the charge against me?

Paint it on my face!

Out of the whirlwind

the voice of the almighty:

Let’s see what you know!

God comes the heavy:

Answer me, if you are game.

My turn to question!

When earth’s foundations

were laid, and its measurements

set out; were you there?

When I gave each star

its place in heaven’s choir

where were you hiding?

Who set the limits

to the oceans as they swelled?

(Do that again, God!)

Those deserted lands

where none pray for rain to fall;

still I water them.

Who gives birth to dew,

rain and sleet; and winter frost

to freeze lakes solid?

After much complaint,

Job, standing before the Lord,

has nothing to say.

© Ken Rookes 2020

Posted in response to the Narrative Lectionary readings from Job for the fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Innocent

Haiku for contemplating death

A tree, when cut down

still has hope that it might sprout,

and send forth new shoots.

When mortal life ends

there can be no returning.

The line has been ruled.

Images of death.

A lake might lose its water:

a river dries up.

Let me be hidden

among the dead in Sheol;

I long for release.

My words of complaint;

someone write them in a book,

lest they be forgot.

My vindication

awaits me. I shall see God

when my time has come.

There must be someone,

among heaven’s hosts, who knows

I am innocent.

© Ken Rookes 2020

Posted in response to the Narrative lectionary for the third Sunday after Pentecost

Anguish

Haiku to protest innocence.

Such deep depression

to curse the day of one’s birth,

or conception’s night.

Let clouds fall darkly,

let the morning stars be dimmed

and the dawn withheld.

Let all be darkness,

let no joyful cry be heard,

her womb remain closed.

Life is but trouble;

had I not been born, I would

have been spared the pain.

Quit your whinging, Job.

You cannot be innocent;

punishment is just.

You have done much good;

that doesn’t mean you’re blameless.

Come to terms with God.

I won’t be silent.

I will make complaint to God;

I have done no wrong.

Why test us humans,

why bother us constantly.

God, give us a break!

If I sin sometimes

how does that affect you, God;

can't you look away?

God, why target me,

why am I such a burden?

Can’t you let me go?

© Ken Rookes 2020

Posted in response to the Narrative Lectionary for the 14th June 2020.

Job

 Haiku for testing

Wealth and possessions

have long been seen as proof of

a virtuous life.

Surely God blesses

the ones who are deserving!

Yes, but not always.

The poor are not blessed;

their poverty proof enough

of their shortcomings.

The story of Job,

written to challenge. The good

don’t always prosper.

Blameless and upright,

bulk money, stacks of children;

Job had a good life.

God boasts about Job.

Satan calls his bluff. Test him;

let’s see what he does!

In but a moment

it is gone. Taken away,

the blessings withdrawn.

Tears his robe. The lord

gives, and the Lord takes away.

Still Job blesses God.

© Ken Rookes 2020

Posted in response to the Narrative Lectionary for Trinity Sunday 2020

But unless you repent

The story of Job

was written to show how the innocent suffer.

We ignore it, preferring to believe

that people get the treatment they deserve;

or at least that they should.

The poor are made to struggle

because it's their own fault;

they are lazy and lack our virtues.

The wealthy, on the other hand must be deserving.

The Almighty, we like to assert,

rewards the righteous

and punishes those who are not.

It's a convenient shorthand

that allows us to pass safe judgement

upon our fellow mortals.

Forget Job,

and Jesus, for that matter;

for neither will permit us to indulge the smug comfort

of dismissing the unworthy.

Jesus, in particular,

tells us to stop looking at other people;

and to take a good hard look

at ourselves.

We never asked for that.

© Ken Rookes 2016

The truth within them

If Job was repaid twice over, why aren’t all people who suffer given the same recompense? And what of Job’s wife; was she just collateral damage in it all?
It is perhaps not surprising that we have come to believe to Bible more than our own convictions. If the Bible says it is this way and we see it differently, we think we must be wrong, that we are evil even to contemplate that God is other than some stories depict. This leads us to constantly judge our thoughts and behaviour and that of others, rather than becoming aware of God’s presence at all times, everywhere, in everything.
These stories have truth within them, but the framework for that truth is very difficult for people of the 21st Century to see past. It hampers their understanding. Recently Barb tried to read Henri Nouwen’s book, “The Wounded Healer”, which was written in the 1970’s. She found it difficult even though she had lived through this era. The wording was so dated and the culture quite different to what we are living through today. How much more difficult it is to grasp what is being said in writing thousands of years old. Most people today find it too difficult to even begin to try. When what they read doesn’t go with what they feel, think and experience, they give up.
In Mark 10 we are told that Jesus was trying to teach his disciples things as profound as that he was to be betrayed, condemned to death, handed to the Gentiles, in other words, defiled, mocked, flogged and killed. They didn’t want to hear what he was saying. Instead they were arguing about getting the most important places in his kingdom. They hadn’t been listening and they totally missed the point about what it means to serve. When we are sure of whom we are in God’s love, we don’t need to seek positions of power to bolster our image. We are free to serve others rather than seeking favoured positions.
The God we are called to follow, with whom our hearts long to have a close relationship is inviting, encouraging, full of joy, peace and patience and does not demand absolute obedience. Part of the invitation is to live with unanswered and sometimes unanswerable questions without judgement.
Jesus said that he came to bring us life in all its fullness. It will include hard times and easy, good times and bad, highs and lows all within the depth and length and height and strength of God’s everlasting love. May you be blessed with knowing that you are loved by God and that all else is secondary to that.
Rev Julianne Parker (for full sermon see sermons page)

Living with the questions

One of the puzzling things about the testing of Job is the lack of a clear purpose. One could maybe think that there was a point to it if he was being considered for a major role such as Moses had in leading the people from Egypt t the Promised Land.

Ultimately, the major test for us seems to be, can we sit with the questions? Can we have faith and trust God in areas we can never understand? In my personal struggle with this, there have been times when all I could say was, “I believe God is, that God exists. What is happening in my life is such that I am unable to see God as Love or as caring, merciful and compassionate.” It has sometimes felt as though God was playing with me as a cat plays with a mouse. One of my sisters said when my daughter-in-law died suddenly, “How many more experiences do you need to have to identify with the pain of others?” Perhaps there is some truth in this question.

Mystics call the ability to live with the questions one of the greatest blessings. They strive to live in the moment, trusting that God is and that ultimately all is well. Should we take the bad things from God as well as the good and give thanks for all things? Well, I would say it is worth giving it a try and may you receive many blessings in it as I have.

Rev Julianne Parker (for full sermon see sermons page)

Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren-happuch.

When God finally did the right thing by Job,

so the story goes,

he blessed him with a new family.

Not quite the doubling of numbers,

as with his wealth and possessions,

but we assume that he was not complaining.

Most certainly the unnamed woman

who happened to be his wife

would have been more than satisfied

with a total of ten,

having given birth to a precise replacement

of the seven sons and the three daughters

that were lost at the start of the story.

If we take the figures seriously

that’s a total of twenty confinements,

which, I daresay, she thought was enough;

besides which, if you do the arithmetic,

you’d think that she must have been past sixty

by the time she had finished giving birth.

(Hmm, we might need to go beyond the literal

to find the meaning of this story.)

The ratio is probably about right;

more than twice the number of sons

than that of daughters. Proof,

in the context of the times,

that Job was truly blessed by God.

But, funnily enough,

the writer seems only interested in the girls,

not even bothering to name the boys.

Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren-happuch

were very beautiful, he tells us;

without compare in all the land of Uz.

Perhaps even more notable

is the story-master’s assurance

that the daughters each received their share

of Job’s estate, alongside their brothers;

a remarkable thing in the context

of the times and the culture.

We celebrate Job for his virtue of patience,

and for his faith in the face of suffering;

perhaps we should also celebrate

his pioneering insights into gender equality.

That and his counter-cultural determination

to be fair and just.

© Ken Rookes 2012