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

At one

 

Haiku for the flock

It is wintertime

in Solomon’s portico.

They come to Jesus.

Delay no longer,

answer us plainly: Are you

he, the Christ from God?

Why are you asking?

I have told you already;

you will not believe.

The works that I do

are done in my Father’s name;

you cannot see it.

You do not belong

to my sheep. My sheep can hear

my voice. I know them.

My sheep follow me.

I give them life eternal,

they will not perish.

My Father gives them

to me; my sheep. The Father

and I are at one.

Ken Rookes 2022

all people are God's body

What I heard, and continue to hear, is a voice that can crack religious and political convictions open, that advocates for the least qualified, least official, least likely. It [Christianity] proclaims against reason that the hungry will be fed, that those cast down will be raised up, and that all things, including my own failures, are being made new. It offers food without exception to the worthy and unworthy, the screwed-up and pious, and then commands everyone to do the same. It doesn't promise to solve or erase suffering but to transform it, pledging that by loving one another, even through pain, we will find more life. And it insists that by opening ourselves to strangers, the despised or frightening or unintelligible other, we will see more and more of the holy, since, without exception, all people are one body: God's.
-Sara Miles
Take This Bread: The spiritual memoir of a twenty-first century Christian (book)

At one with the Father

At one with the Father,
the mystery of light;

he shines into the darkness,

he chases in the night.
 

At one with creation,

at home amidst the dust;

the redness at the centre,

the fire and the rust.

At one with the people,

the tears and the chain;
the wandering and homeless,
the loneliness and pain.

He does not shun the struggle,

dark thoughts or the questions;

embracing of the challenge
and seeking its connections.
 
Comrade to the travellers
on wilderness journey;
searching for that pilgrim goal
through windings and through turnings.
 
Confronter of the wealthy
disturbing those who rule;
discomfort for the righteous,
the wise sent back to school.
 
Friend of peace-creators,
holding frightened hands,
at one with those who protest,
and those who make a stand.
 
At one with the rhythm,
the feel and the pulse;
seeing truth and all things good,
and weeping o’er the false.
 
Dust and spirit joining,
in love they are united,  
reaching out to gather in;
the love, it is requited.
 
At home among the humble,
they know him by his voice,
he speaks of hope, of truth and life
for all who make the choice.
 
© Ken Rookes 2013