Loddon Mallee UCA Presbytery Blog
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Who warned you . . .?
It is possible to go through the motions
with baptism. Like getting overwhelmed
by a raft or unresolved feelings
at an evangelistic rally, (remember them?)
and joining the throng of decision makers
at the front “where a trained counsellor
will come and talk with you.”
It seemed real enough at the time.
Perhaps it was. The Baptiser named John
knew how easy it was, in the drama
of the moment, to make the short journey
down the aisle to that pregnant space
in front of the stage.
Depending only upon the prophet’s power of
persuasion, John never had recourse
to the massed choir softly singing multiple verses
of “Just as I am, without one plea. . .”
At his riverside rallies, the Baptiser
certainly had his share of people
for whom the word “repent”
was suitably vague and imprecise.
Some of the religious leaders, we are told,
were also transported by the moment
and came down the front to sign their decision cards
and to be baptised. There they were met with
the less-than-welcoming epithet, “brood of vipers,”
and a call to a true turnaround.
They were told that their impulse must be genuine,
and that their apparent change of heart
must be evidenced in the real and tangible fruits
of lives transformed by God’s Spirit.
Otherwise, said the prophet, it’s a waste of water,
and no guarantee at all
that the wrath to come will be averted.
© 2010 Ken Rookes
love is the power
Monday, November 29, 2010
God of the unexpected moment,
bringing form out of chaos;
separating light from the dark;
breathing life into your human creation;
enliven our hearts,
fill us with your expectant Spirit.
Break in on our world
like a flood, like a thief.
Separate the day of the age to come
from the night of our human darkness:
come in your unexpected hour.
-- Jeff Shrowder
For the Second Sunday in Advent - Year A (Matt 3:1-12)
(in Haiku form)
One voice
telling the world,
"The kingdom is quite near":
shouting, out in the wilderness
"Turn now".
Who shouts
"Prepare the way"?
Who calls the world to change -
and seeks to have it turn around
to God?
This sharp,
prophetic, voice
which calls, is sent from God;
a messenger for him who is
to come.
How then
shall I prepare?
Joining in pious haste,
those leaning on ancestral faith
long past?
No, Lord:
let me reflect
the way you dwell in me:
living outward, bearing your fruit
each day.
-- Jeff Shrowder
For the Third Sunday in Advent - Year A (Matt 11:2-11)
Liberating God,
break into the prison which we build
around the life you give us.
We are busy and expectant,
preparing to celebrate;
too busy to heed the cry of the Share Appeal,
the Smith Family, the homeless young
and others we would push aside.
We are busy and expectant,
preparing to celebrate again the birth
of the one who would bring good news
to the blind, the lame and the poor;
preparing to celebrate again the birth
of one pushed aside,
into a cowshed, out of the way.
We too, are blind and lame and poor...
Restore us, healing God.
-- Jeff Shrowder
For the Fourth Sunday in Advent - Year A (Matt 1:18-25)
We journey through Advent,
with our expectations and hopes;
our reasonable and ordered lives
conforming to the social boundaries
set layer by layer around us.
You confront us, O God,
with events and circumstances
which are not what they seem,
and we are disturbed
by the prospect of embarrassment,
of public disgrace.
Yet in this shame,
is wrapped your hope for the world,
God with us,
in an unexpected way.
-- Jeff Shrowder
For Christmas Day
Light shining
in a darkened cave:
cloth bindings carefully enfold
new life.
A borrowed birth place declares
"Christ is born!"
Light shining
in a darkened cave:
cloth bindings carefully folded -
lifeless.
A borrowed burial chamber declares
"Christ is Risen!"
Loving God,
thank you for the Christ child,
thank you for the risen Christ,
in whom you have shown
that you cannot bear to be separated
from a world that would separate itself
from you.
That nothing can separate us
from your love,
we give you thanks and praise. Amen.
-- Jeff Shrowder
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
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 be caught up into the generous
and sometimes painful work of love;
this one thing that declares our readiness
to receive him.
© 2010 Ken Rookes