Would that we had the courage

 

A flashing, fleeting, sometimes disturbing

insight into mystery;

leaned towards, grasped after,

shared, delighted in

and meditated upon.

It becomes a source of joy and hope and healing;

yes, and then it is argued and debated,

memorised, written, codified, engraved,

painted, and sculpted in stone.

 

Thus religions begin,

take shape,

and transmute into sacred edifices.

In the normal course,

through the operation of time,

they are made tame, domesticated, polite.

Gaining respectability, they proceed

to participate in the intricate processes

of politics and power.

Thus the Teacher confronts

and warns against the Scribes

and the Pharisees who justify and defend

the religion of their day.

His own humble insights

will follow the same tragic trajectory

through two millennia,

to be perverted by power

and sad politics.

Would that we had the courage

and the determination to free them;

to paint coarsely, across pretending walls

of bluestone, brick, and glass,

his ancient but not quite forgotten message.

A word sprayed defiantly

for neighbour and for enemy,

or scrawled urgently in humble chalk;

four letters.

© Ken Rookes 2020

,

Birh Pangs

Haiku for a new order

Leaving the temple

the disciples were impressed;

like country cousins.

How big the stones are,

and look at the large buildings!

Nothing like back home!

Don’t be overawed!

These buildings, too are passing;

all will be thrown down.

The old religion

has failed. It will pass away.

Just like the temple.

When will these things be,

what will be the sign? they asked

when they were alone.

Don’t be led astray.

Mind my words, don’t trust any

who say, “I am he!”

You will hear of wars,

and strife among the nations;

do not be alarmed.

There will be famines

and natural disasters;

keep trusting in me.

These are the birth pangs

of God’s kingdom ruled by love;

it will surely come.

Old religion still

holds so many in its sway.

Let’s open our eyes!

© Ken Rookes 2018

whatever way love's camel takes

My heart has become capable of every form:
It is a pasture for gazelles
And a monastery for Christian monks,
And a temple for idols,
And the pilgrim's Ka'ba,
And the tablets of the Torah,
And the book of the Koran.
I follow the religion of Love:
Whatever way love's camel takes,
that is my religion, my faith.
-Ibn Arabi 1165-1240

Let them crumble

The columns and arches

shall be disassembled

the stones will be broken-up

and allowed to erode

in the wind and the rain and the sun.

The stone-masons' skills

have been brought to nothing.

Let the walls crumble;

no heritage order can save them,

money has not been put aside for reconstruction.

There will be no restoration project

driven by a grand vision

with its attendant fund-raising scheme;

religion, too, will be allowed to collapse.

The man who foretells the demise

of both Temple and Religion,

himself becomes the rock

upon which these flawed vessels

will be dashed and broken.

It will be thrown down,

all of it.

© Ken Rookes 2015

Myth, par excellence.

Myth, par excellence.

Our intention is to gather

some suitably approved historians;

direct them to collect the stories,

interrogate the documents,

and compile them into a seamless narrative

(We will, of course,

be downplaying the embarrassing bits

and other parts that might discomfort us.)

Thus we shall create for ourselves a History

that we can be proud of.

With some further prodding and kneading,

some teasing-out and coaxing,

and with suitable invocations of the Divine,

we shall recite our story and rehearse it

until it solidifies into a Myth.

A real one, grand and inviolate,

upon which we can build

our tribe / religion / nation.

In ancient Israel,

a remembering meal

is appointed, prepared

and written into law.

This annual repast,

laden with food and symbol,

commemorates a journey

to freedom and nationhood;

one which is tragically interleaved

with dying and grief.

A Passover meal,

to celebrate a divine passing over;

salvation and life for the chosen ones.

For others, sorrow, bitterness

and death.

But that’s okay,

we will cope;

as long as nobody questions

the Myth.

© Ken Rookes 2014

They shall be like snow

In times beyond remembering,

when stories were told and not written,

the gods were believed to hold in their collective hands

the keys to the future: the rains, fertility,

harvest and so forth.

And so, in order to keep the gods happy

and pleasantly disposed towards humankind,

holy places were marked out with stones,

altars were erected, idols sculpted, festivals declared,

solemn assemblies called, animals sacrificed,

dances cavorted, entreaties wailed and offerings made.

No evidence can be found as to the effectiveness

of all this religious activity,

but the practitioners were no doubt convinced,

that, had their pious processes remained undone,

life would have been more of a struggle than it was.

The Yahweh-God of the Hebrews, however,

wryly observing that religious devotion

could be a convenient cloak for less than pious attitudes; 

radically declared that she/he

was not much interested in such adorations.

This strange God preferred to be pleasantly surprised

by a people’s concerns for justice,

goodness, generosity and compassion.

“When this happens,” this straight-talking God declares,

“White shining divine grace shall abound in human affairs,

to overcome all the sins and the fear,

and, in the midst of the darkness,

bringing hope.”

• © Ken Rookes 

Children of the same God

The Olympics is a truly wonderful time. It is one time, every two years, where people from every inch of the globe come together to compete in various athletic events. There is no politics, no Realpolitik, no "Great Game" of nations and empires; there are only running tracks, and swimming pools, and javelins, and batons. During these games, we can all come together and see the truth of who we are: people. Yes, we have different skin tones, different languages, different cultural practices, but in the end, we are all people, children of the same God.

Read more: http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/2012-Olympics/Galleries/16-Days-of-Peace-NEW.aspx?p=9#ixzz22ArCv9bY

Olympics as a model for peace

I wonder, given the inter-religious strife which blights our world, if we could use the Olympic model for religious disputes? What if the world gathered its champions of theology and allowed them to compete in areas such as oration, history, narration, and yes, even miracles? What if we saved our religious frustrations for these Theological Games instead of participating in the perennial violence, hatred, and bickering which overwhelm our lives and conscious today?

Read more: http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/2012-Olympics/Galleries/16-Days-of-Peace-NEW.aspx?p=3#ixzz22Aqd9D2C

A space for spirituality

In the multi-religious temple that is the Olympic village, a Catholic priest, an Anglican reverend and a practicing Muslim experience a religious function together

Christofer Jamison an athletic sixty year old cleric celebrates the first part. Susan Blackall, an elderly female priest and Yussef, 40, a soldier in uniform follow him in a sort of relay of faith.

Looking at them holding hands in the little prayer room of the Olympic media village, they seem like three old neo-catechumenal friends: then when you get closer and you realise one of the is a Catholic monsignor, another is an Anglican reverend and a practicing Muslim who are experiencing a religious function together.

This is the miracle of the Olympics, thanks to which all religions get to stand up on the podium: Anglicans, Catholics, Muslims, Jews and Baptists alike. 

Everyone catches the Olympic spirit, even on the pulpit of prayers. Priests, rabbis, imams and reverends unite and work side by side in the Multi-Faith Room, a temple with rooms for the five main faiths.

There is a sign reading "All are welcome" at the entrance of a little room situated close to the grounds where athletes will be competing but in a corner away from all the noise and glitz of the Games. The walls of this silent room are painted white and there are no religious symbols around. On the table are copies of the sacred scriptures of the various religions which give away the spirit of the initiative.

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/news/detail/articolo/londra-london-olimpiadi-olympic-juego-olimpicos-17040/

The attempted domestication of God

"I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel  from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle."

2 Samuel 7:6

When you are a king,

well practised in raising taxes,

commanding armies

and building palaces,

life can be a bit too good.

Striving to justify his enjoyment

of the comfortable life,

(while the poor still go hungry

and the widows and the orphans

make the best of their lot),

David decides to co-opt the Lord

to ease his guilt

by building God a temple;

with fine gold vessels, plush cushions,

carved cedar beams,

and ornate fittings.

An impressive house for God

would make the king's grand domicile

less offensive to the dignity

of God's people.

God, however,

politely declines the offer,

preferring to dwell in a tent.

Rev Ken Rookes

whatever way love's camel takes

My heart has become capable of every form:
It is a pasture for gazelles
And a monastery for Christian monks,
And a temple for idols,
And the pilgrim's Ka'ba,
And the tablets of the Torah,
And the book of the Koran.
I follow the religion of Love:
Whatever way love's camel takes,
that is my religion, my faith.
-Ibn Arabi 1165-1240