Christian Faith | pictured words

NEVER HAVE I EVER

Never Have I Ever
is a party game, where one says,
“Never have I ever ___.”
(fill in the blank)
Those who have actually done that thing
lose a point.
Out of points? Out of game.

I’ll go first.
Never have I ever
seen early-voting lines,
let alone those that extend for blocks,
for days.

Now, how many of you are still in the game?

Truth is,
it’s not a game.
The stakes are high.
The views, dissimilar.

What do you see in the distance?
Hope?
Fear?
A kinder country?
Loss of freedoms?
Peace?
Chaos?

Don’t answer that. Because,
you know,
never have I ever
witnessed a greater loss
of kindness and respect
in discussions.

But, there is a vanishing point
where the look-back perspectives align.
Then we will see, and smile
at the vanity of it all.

In the greater distance, I see
celestial shores.
No lines needed.
We will know for the first time
what it actually feels like to be united.
To have no doubts in our King’s
kindness, love, and justice.
We will know for the first time
what it actually feels like
to be equal children
of the Living God.
To be home.

Never have I ever
longed more deeply
for a non-foreign Shore.

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October 20, 2020

BERNIE HARRIS, July 13, 1952 – October 20, 2020

Keith and Bernie (Photo by Kevin Puffer)

Catching Bernie in 17 syllables of 5/7/5:

Your playful thank yous
Your throw-your-head-back laughter
Your joy in Jesus

❤

Bernie, it was a pleasure knowing you all these years. You taught so many of us how to be appreciative of every little thing, and that our joy is wholly in Jesus. My heart sings for you, knowing you are now with Him … freed from the body that trapped you.

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April 30, 2020

FROM HIM, THROUGH HIM, TO HIM (Sonnet to my God)

Photo by Daniel Reche, courtesy of Pixabay

Oh, stillness deep within me, never wane
when chaos saturates the world without.
I know the very God who sees and reigns –
whose still, small voice speaks peace, and quiets doubt.

He gave mankind a gnawing in our soul
that won’t be satisfied without His will.
And only He can quench that thirsty hole;
and only through His food, we get our fill.

At times, my praise rings sonorous and strong,
and springs from nourished soul that feeds on Him.
At times my praise, just weak and weary song,
seeps sluggishly from apathy within.

Oh, Father, fill me up when I am drained,
and may my praise be endless; unrestrained.

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April 10, 2020

THE WOMEN WHO WAILED

I wish I knew who to attribute this to.

Who were these women,
walking the path with Jesus,
this innocent man?

This One who showed them
they were not to be trampled –
thought as second class.

This One who showed them
they could learn and understand
scripture, and His words.

Who were these women
who did not turn away as
He was crucified?

Exhibiting strength
in their engulfing anguish –
strength I cannot know.

Facing the horror,
these women were not silent.
They howled in their grief,

but also in their
denunciation of this
slaughter of virtue.

Inconsolable,
but not without perception,
and not without hope.

As they witnessed His
final words, were they surprised?
This man that they loved

wasn’t just a man.
Even the centurion
who observed His death

exclaimed, “Certainly
this man was the Son of God.”
My Lord, and My God.

Through their mourning eyes,
did they sense that this dear man
was their Messiah?

Forgive me, my Lord.
I would not have had the strength
to attend to You.

Lamentably, I’d
have worried, crying to You
from my peaceful home,

averse to falling
apart with the sufferer.
(Forgive me, my friends).

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April 9, 2020

JOURNAL OF JUDAS

Image by Gerd Altman, courtesy of Pixabay

I swear Jesus knew.
As we dipped bread together…
had to look away …

My paranoia.
Yes. That’s it. It has to be.
He couldn’t have known.

He couldn’t have known.
There’s no way. But if my life
depended on it …

I’m not thinking straight.
What am I about to do?
I’ve known him so long.

What am I about?
Oh God, what am I about?
What’s in it for me?

A few silver coins,
and I’ll turn against my friend?
That’s not all I am!

A man of my word.
That’s what I’m about. I’ve been
paid for a service.

And he doesn’t know.
I am overthinking this,
and it’s time to go.

What was he feeling?
He looked worn, but expectant.
That didn’t stop me.

Now I know he knew.
Would anything have stopped me?
Anything at all?

God, what have I done?
But I didn’t have a choice.

Did I have a choice?

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April 8, 2020

ISCARIOT

603px-P._Molnár_The_Thirty_Pieces_of_Silver_1909

By János Pentelei Molnár – biblia.huA Biblia a magyar képzőművészetbenPic, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18270499

You found inside you
the price to betray a friend:
that of one suitcoat.

“What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.” ~ Matthew 26:15

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March 30, 2020

HOPE, FULFILLED

Image by jplenio, courtesy of Pixabay

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” From the hymn The Heavenly Vision, by Helen Howarth Lemmel

HOPE, FULFILLED (may be sung)

Dear writer, your hymn born of life’s woes
through blindness and heartache, composed,
gives name to our risen Messiah,
His purpose on earth to disclose.

Turn our eyes to You, Jesus –
Redeemer, Messiah, and Friend.
Give us ears to hear; give us sight to see
that through You, we’re no longer condemned.

Redemption is ours in Christ Jesus,
His death restored life to our soul.
This Sinless One bore our transgressions,
And these “not in part, but the whole.”

Turn our eyes to You, Jesus –
Redeemer, Messiah, and Friend.
Give us ears to hear; give us sight to see
that through You, we’re no longer condemned.

No need to be summoning hope now.
No need to have courage instilled.
No need for our guilt to oppress us,
for Christ is our promise, fulfilled.

Turn our eyes to You, Jesus –
Redeemer, Messiah, and Friend.
Give us ears to hear; give us sight to see
that through You, we’re no longer condemned.

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December 18, 2019

CHRISTMAS’S ONLY PERFECT GIFT

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If one knew not what Christmas was about,
it seems that they’d find little evidence
of Jesus Christ. Not much to make them doubt
the countless signs of our greed’s eminence.

The season focuses on “perfect” gifts,
beginning in our early childhood.
Our storefronts mostly offer toys and glitz,
all tempting us to spend more than we should.

It’s not that I’m a “humbug.” Truly, not.
But when I’m home from shopping, my heart warms.
My focus shifts from things that I have bought,
to what I wish were more the season’s norms.

A Christmas flag portrays Christ’s holy birth.
A swaddled Baby rests in bed of straw:
This One Who Saves, through whom we have our worth,
Whose sinless life fulfilled for us God’s law.

The manger scene glows warm beneath my tree,
while Santa makes his presence known nearby –
his hat removed, head bowed, on bended knee,
in humble awe. Let God be glorified!

Let’s celebrate the birth of God’s own Son.
In Him, our full redemption has been won!

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December 15, 2019

GOD BLESSED US, EVERY ONE

Image credit: Pixabay

Can we be thankful
for that which we aren’t aware
we’ve even received?

Yet God has blessed us,
every one of us, with
His very own Son,

leaving the glory
of heavenly realms aside,
born of a virgin

in humblest of means,
crying with the bleating sheep,
and braying donkeys.

No silent night, this,
yet holy, miraculous,
and liberating.

A virgin woman
bore this “for unto us” Child
in obedience

to the very God
Who chose her to give life to
the Giver of Life.

She named Him Jesus.
He who had no beginning –
Who was here before

the world’s foundation –
the Co-Creator of all –
became a newborn.

He grew in wisdom,
and did only that which His
Father told Him to.

His Father gave Him
all things, and left our judgement
in His holy hands.

We are guilty, all.
But the Father made a way:
His name is Jesus.

God gave His own Self
in the Person of the Son
to redeem the lost.

We are all the lost,
falling short of God’s glory.
But now He sees us

through the saving grace
of The One who redeemed us
on Calvary’s cross.

So I ask again:
Can we be thankful for that
which we aren’t aware

we’ve even received?
Jesus Christ died once, for all.
Many witnessed it.

And many witnessed
also His resurrection
from that very death –

the death that was ours.
He gifted us with His love,
and His saving grace.

Know Him, and know this:
God sanctified us. God blessed
us, every one.

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November 15, 2019

A WORLD OF NO FORGIVENESS

Illustration: Quentin Blake/Puffin

“Look at what you has done. And there be no forgiveness.” (From Roald Dahl’s “The BFG”)

A WORLD OF NO FORGIVENESS

This story begins
not with, “Once upon a time,”
but with, “At no time.”

At no time has there
ever existed a world
of no forgiveness.

We could not go on
without mercy and pardon
for one another,

from one another,
and, yes, also for ourselves.
For our Creator

has built forgiveness
into the very fabric
of our humanness.

How deeply ingrained
is our need for forgiveness?
How deeply ingrained?

How deeply healing
when I myself forgive me?
And again I ask

How deeply healing?
Our God made a way for us
to be forgiven.

Made in His image,
the road is already paved
to forgive others.

Made in His image,
the road is already paved
to forgive ourselves.

So let’s live our lives
in the state of forgiveness
that’s been granted us.

“Look what you has done
and there be no forgiveness,”
and upside-down lakes,

and trogglehumpers,
and dreams that float like fireflies
are just a story.

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pictured words

Tag: Christian Faith

October 25, 2020

NEVER HAVE I EVER

October 20, 2020

BERNIE HARRIS, July 13, 1952 – October 20, 2020

April 30, 2020

FROM HIM, THROUGH HIM, TO HIM (Sonnet to my God)

April 10, 2020

THE WOMEN WHO WAILED

April 9, 2020

JOURNAL OF JUDAS

April 8, 2020

ISCARIOT

March 30, 2020

HOPE, FULFILLED

December 18, 2019

CHRISTMAS’S ONLY PERFECT GIFT

December 15, 2019

GOD BLESSED US, EVERY ONE

November 15, 2019

A WORLD OF NO FORGIVENESS