Pilgrim

The angel came again last night No choirs of heaven A silent whisper in the night "Move the child" Where? "Move the child - danger!" We listened before We will listen again Fear fills my soul He didn't say "Do not fear" He said "danger" Move the child We left at dawn as fast as we could leaving our family and friends to God knows what Fear drives us onwards Fear for ourselves, dread for our friends Hidden just over the border Refugees at large We hear of the killing innocents slaughtered my sisters raped and butchered the village razed All for the child I look into his eyes sadness and love reflected tears fall on tiny cheeks oh Lord, my Lord Asleep in my arms

Part 3 of my Christmas meditations: Angel song covers a mother’s cries of pain I am born of my own creation Fully human, just like you Frail and fragile To suffer pain, just like you To feel hunger, just like you To be tempted, just like you To be reviled, just like you To cry, just like you To be betrayed, just like you To suffer, just like you To die, just like you But I created death and I am with you now When you suffer pain, I am with you When you hunger, I am with you When you are tempted, I am with you When you are reviled, I am with you When you cry, I am with you When you are betrayed I am with you When you suffer, I am with you When you die, I am with you As the angels sing, so I sing too ‘Do not be afraid, I am with you

We live in a world that to all intents and purposed doesn’t work in the way that it should.   We only have to look at the news sources to see new ways that humans find to damage others.   Most often it is the poor and weak who are taken advantage of, sometimes sold into slavery, often victims of ideological conflict in one shape or another. How then can we preach the Good News, in the face of illness, of poverty, of hatred, of fear, of dishonesty? We see this incongruity in Psalm 82, where the psalmist calls out to God, “How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?”   The psalmist continues to berate God, reminding him of his responsibilities to give justice to the weak, to look after the orphan, to rescue the weak and needy.   As usual with the psalms, it is an open and frank relationship enjoyed with God.   The closing lines can be seen as an affirmation of God’s lordship over all the earth, whilst conversely, the psalmist ...

Part 2 of my series for the coming Christmas Mary is pregnant with her child, and is faced with the looks and whispers of those around her: I am isolated from family, society, temple and Joseph. I hear the constant harping; whispers behind my back. they call me unclean, a whore. I never dreamt it would be this way, that day when I saw the Angel. My son, the Messiah, and yet I am attracting hatred and derision. What will happen to him? I feel so alone Where is God now? And the I stop and listen, really listen for that still small voice. In the midst of hatred, love rises. So is this the way of Messiah attracting all that is vile and transforming it with love? God is literally growing inside me.. I fear for his safety.

It's early I know, Christmas is a long way off, but it feels as though 2 kingdoms are getting close again, for me Christmas has always been a time when Heaven and Earth come as it were in touching distance. So here is a poem, about Mary and an Angel and a young man who is going to be asked to trust more than he has ever trusted before in his life. Conception Can it really be true? Did it really happen or was I dreaming? The man in white Piercing eyes and words of steel Yet emanating love from every pore of his being He had “stood with God”, he said I would “have a child “ he said He would be the “Son of God”, he said It must be a dream I haven’t been with a man It can’t be true And yet… Did I really say those things Things I have been too scared to say Things about revolution A world turned upside down It’s too good to be true Too scary to be true What will Joseph say? What will Joseph do? I wish it was all a dream But I felt...