Mourning into joy

 

Haiku of promise

(Jeremiah 31:7-14)

The Lord says, Shout out!

Sing gladly, sing out loud, praise

the chief of nations.

Proclaim, praise and say:

Lord, save them; those who remain,

of Jacob's offspring.

They had been scattered,

Jacob's children; the remnant

shall now be brought home.

Rejoice, Israel,

from the earth's most distant parts

they shall return here.

They'll come with weeping

the lame, the blind, those with child,

and those in labour.

They will walk by streams

on straight paths. They'll not stumble,

I'll be their father.

Let all nations hear:

I now gather the scattered;

Jacob is redeemed.

They will be joyful

at the harvest; grain, wine, oil,

showing God's goodness.

Flock and herd prosper!

They'll be like watered gardens,

they shall not languish

Young women shall dance,

young men and old make merry;

mourning turns to joy.

© Ken Rookes 2024

It is hard to remain alert

Our houses are reliquaries.

The objects they hold have many shapes, colours and sizes;

some are valuable, and promise much.

We festoon our dwellings with chains and bolts fashioned from fear,

and security cameras, should the locks fail.

We will not be taken advantage of;

we will guard what we have.

Yes, we know these things are all just stuff;

precious, perhaps,

but stuff, nonetheless.

In time it will all be reduced to dust.

Still we take much comfort from our locks.

The disciple is to be prepared, alert;

so the ancient scripture enjoins.

This instructive text was written in those excited early years

when the imminent return of the master

was eagerly anticipated.

Jesus is coming; look busy!

After two millenia the sense of expectancy

has largely evaporated, at least for some of us.

For twenty-first century disciples

the urgent metaphors for faithful living –

being dressed for action and keeping our oil lamps burning –

must have some other purpose.

© Ken Rookes 2016

Be ready, therefore.

 

There is only one way for a person to be ready,
only one thing that person should be doing
when Jesus comes. One thing
that he, who called himself the Son of Man,
expects of his followers at any time.
He set it forth in plain Aramaic
on more than one occasion, that is,
if the gospels are to be believed
and not merely taken literally.
One thing.
It is the singular mark of discipleship,
the sign that a person has listened,
truly heard, and been shaped by the words,
the actions, and the friendship of the coming one
It is he same thing that directed the course
of the Son of Man’s surprising life;
he who continues to come to his own.
This always-present one
defiantly embraces the costly consequences of his choice.
This one thing makes a person ready
for abundance in living, and fulfilment in dying.
The fumbling and grace-dependent followers
of He who comes,
know that they, too,
must become caught up into the generous
and sometimes painful work of love;
this one thing that declares our readiness
to receive him.

© 2010 Ken Rookes

When Jesus returns

It doesn’t really matter what we do

in our own finite occupation

of planet earth, so one theory goes.

All the pollution and the global warming

and the depletion of the fishing stocks

and the extinction of various species;

not our problem.

And all the refugee camps in border regions

and the ragged children on the smoking

garbage mountains and all the repression

and the fear

and the greedy corporate exploitation

and all the political lies; about these things

we need have no concern.

Because Jesus is coming back.

Yeah, Jesus is coming back

and he’ll wave his hand, his magic

Holy Spirit hand, and the new heaven

will replace the old, and the new earth

will take over from the old

and everything will be clean and fresh

and smell like a pair of shiny new shoes

just out of their box.

Or so one theory goes.

© Ken Rookes

And another that provides something of a comment on the gospel for Sunday that some of you might enjoy.