Stripped, beaten, thrown in jail

Responding to Acts 16: 16-34

Haiku of freedom

The fortune-telling

slave girl made heaps of money

for those who owned her.

The slave girl followed

Paul and Co. These men, she cried,

tell God's salvation.

Annoyed, Paul ordered

the spirit to leave the girl.

It left her at once.

The slave-girl's owners,

were not happy at the loss

of their enterprise.

Paul, Silas, were seized,

dragged before the magistrate;

They disrupt our life!

Attacked by the crowd,

stripped, beaten, thrown into jail;

poor Paul and Silas!

Praying and singing

as the earthquake struck; the doors

opened, chains fell off.

The jailer panicked.

Paul cried out: Don't harm yourself,

we are all still here!

Sirs, what must I do

to be saved! Trust in Jesus,

you and your household.

The guard took them home,

made them welcome, dressed their wounds

and offered them food.

The gathered household

hears the word of love and grace

and all are baptised.

© Ken Rookes 2025

Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki

Haiku for founding a church

We went there last year:

Thessaloniki, sun-drenched,

oozing history.

Coming among them,

the Apostle convinced some,

offended others.

They couldn’t find Paul

or Silas; they grabbed Jason,

dragging him to court.

Much consternation.

Seditious accusations!

They get out on bail.

Somehow the word stuck;

planted in turmoil, the church

produces much fruit.

Paul writes them letters,

commending their love and faith;

they are examples.

Their love and welcome

prove that they have truly heard

Jesus words’ of life.

The deeds are noted,

their faith is celebrated

throughout the region.

People are watching;

by our fruits, we too, are known.

Better get it right.

© Ken Rookes 2020

Posted in response to the Narrative Lectionary Readings for the fourth Sunday in Easter.

Prison

Deep within the hidden recesses of the lockup
the two men could be excused
for nursing their recently inflicted wounds
in silence. Instead they sang their songs
like kids at a camp, unconcerned
about mere details such as melody.
Their loud and sometimes tuneful voices
sporadically stumbled upon a harmony;
(almost certainly by accident).
The other prisoners enjoyed the diversion
along with a rare laugh.
The newcomers were quite mad,
but you had to admire their spirit.
Some of their co-incarcerates were impressed,
joining in the prayers
and entreating, in their own way,
that their gods and perhaps even this new divinity
might deliver them.
When the earthquake came and the chains fell off
they thought that some deity or other
must have been listening, but the short one
called Paul, managed to get them all to stay.
They listened as he explained
that walls and chains are an illusion
and that the only real prisons
are the ones inside. They only half believed him,
but they stayed anyway,
and often argued about it afterwards.

© Ken Rookes