The Word is one of us

Haiku of wonder

In the beginning.

Great opening to a book

exploring myst’ry.

How did it begin?

Big bang; the divine Logos,

sparking in the dark?

John writes of the Word;

one with God, present; cosmic

primogenitor.

Verses of wonder:

through him came life, bringing light

for all humankind.

The defiant light

shines through the gloom. The darkness

cannot put it out.

Throughout history

the Word comes, speaking God’s life.

Not many listen.

More wonder! The Word

becomes human; one of us,

sharing in our life.

Grace and truth have come

to us in Jesus, God’s Son.

Jesus makes God known

© Ken Rookes 2021

The Word

 

Haiku of the Light.

In the beginning.

John carries us back in time:

God and the Big Bang.

Pushing back beyond

Miriam, Sarah and Eve

to Creation One.

An over-all plan

from the beginning of time:

hope for humankind.

He said, Let Light shine!

And life, light for all people

breaks through the darkness.

John came voicing hope,

to announce the one true light.

He was not the light.

The Light-Hope-Logos,

seed found at creation’s core,

becomes one of us.

Those who receive him,

who take his word deep within,

are made God’s children.

The law has limits.

Jesus brings grace, truth and love;

life comes from these things.

Many speak of God.

Only Jesus, called God’s Son,

truly makes God known.

© Ken Rookes 2020

He was in the world

Haiku of the Word

He was in the world;

he whose heartbeat resonates

with earth’s deep rhythms.

They did not know him;

his own people, not seeing

nor receiving him.

They are crying out,

yearning, aching. They will not

come, they will not hear.

He is in the world

at one with God, and with us;

listen to his words.

What will his words be?

Words that challenge and disturb,

turning upside down.

Some were listening,

taking his words deep within,

God’s faithful children.

And the Word became.

one of us, with flesh and blood,

with pain and dying.

Here, then, is wonder;

here is grace and here is truth,

for each one of us.

© Ken Rookes 2019

Becoming flesh

Haiku of wonder

In the beginning.

What a great opening line;

so much could follow.

Logos, more than word;

impossible mystery,

the essence of God.

There at creation,

alongside and one with God,

through whom all things come.

The six days give way

to the big bang universe;

was the Logos there?

Logos, source of life,

light challenging the darkness,

never submitting.

The true light arrives

to enlighten humankind;

may that day come soon!

Somehow mystery

takes flesh, coming among us;

living and dying.

Can you see where he

does touch earth with grace and hope;

will you receive him?

You who receive him

are his sisters and brothers;

children of God’s will.

© Ken Rookes 2019

In stables and sheds

In stables and sheds,

kitchens and loungerooms

where trees are trimmed and illuminated

and nativuty scenes erected,

and where they are not;

where questions are asked

and objections raised,

where humans struggle

and sometimes doubt,

where the downtrodden gather

to become schooled in resistance,

where infants dance with delight and wonder

and old people pause to reflect,

where children are reckless enough to claim their voices

and challenge their elders,

where the just discover their anger

and politeness gives way to righteous insistence,

where generosity, compassion and hope reassert themselves

to confront the greed, brutality and fear at the centre of the universe;

here, in these places

among earth’s dust and straw,

and in many places like them

the Logos of God will be,

is being, born,

to shine again,

defiantly

in the darkness.

© Ken Rookes 2018

He was in the beginning

Haiku of the coming

In the beginning.

They are indivisible,

the Logos and God.

Into the nothing

the Logos-God mystery

find their voice and speak.

The word, now spoken,

all creation comes to be.

Here is wonderment.

The Logos brings life;

life and light for humankind,

defeating darkness.

Logos, always there

in the world he created,

passes through, unseen.

Among his people

he finds no welcome nor home.

The loss is their own.

Yet some received him,

believed, and living by faith,

were made God's children.

To be born of God,

transcending earthly limits;

this, then, is glory.

The Logos took flesh,

our flesh, and lived among us;

full of grace and truth.

© Ken Rookes 2016

And the word became flesh and lived among us

The Logos-word came,

so the story goes,

sharing light and truth and wonder

with us earth-folk;

receiving, in return,

the planet's dust and strife,

along with our tears, regrets and weariness.

Hardly a balanced transaction.

© Ken Rookes 2015