Refining Words

A HOPE

Day is long, laborers few.

Who will complete the work

begun in promise,

commit to present task

whether to plant or harvest

in anonymity

obedient to the call alone?

Each step unfolds, affirms hope.

John 4

Refining Words

WELL

From within comes the

worship flowing like a

spring of water restoring

dry lips, parched body.

When the well is clear.

Otherwise brackish liquid

ekes through brambles,

seeps through stones one

drop at a time keeping

a semblance of life while

building a dam.

When the well is clogged.

John 4

Refining Words

MESSAGE

Each word a message

to speak whether

from heaven or earth

needs be told in honesty

to spread hope that all

may hear truth lived

in obedience, in action,

in trust. No time for

jealous comparisons. Eternal

life the cost, the charge.

Sent to prepare.

John 3

Refining Words

Dark Covers

Like a vehement toddler

ducking, twisting, to

avoid the bath.

Or a vigilant stare

from a youth

under question.

We vigorously avoid

light’s ray ready to

pierce sin, selfishness.

Prefer our dark

familiar covers

hide the smell

of decay.

John 3

Refining Words

CONFUSION

When the marketplace

moved within the Temple

confusing silence

with cattle cries,

skittish sheep, clanging

coins—worship became broken—

secondary.

Where were the leaders,

Pharisees whose life’s

goal to protect

the Word. Not read?

Not understood? Only

of power, identity

a symbol.

Without heart an empty

posture extinguishes

true hope, manipulates

scripture for personal gain.

Clean out debris. Restore

awe so Glory may again fill

sanctuary.

John 2

Refining Words

INVITATION

Drawn by heart hunger

one by one came to see

respond to invitation.

Struck by recognition

certainty within

reached to kindred souls

Listened. Hoped

for promises. Answered-

call ‘Follow Me’.

John 1:29-51

Refining Words

REFUSAL

Grace, Truth

now a person

walks, talks, eats

sleeps. Outer

form familiar—a man

inner bewildering.

Could not grasp

light. Liked shadows,

ignorance.

Grace, Truth

illuminates emptiness.

World still refuses gift.

John 1:6-28

Refining Words

Refining Words Introduction

“The words of the Lord are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace on earth, refined seven times.” Psalm 12:6

In her book, The Art of the Soul, Joy Sawyer notes that, “If faith, hope and love are connected to one another, then faith—your ability to trust what you cannot see—ties directly into your ability to hope. And those who look like Jesus love and serve and give like he did.”

However she also notes that there is the possibility of living with a hardened, calcified imagination, which leads to believing we have faith when in reality we have only an illusion of faith. Jesus broke through all the illusions about God when He willingly went to the cross. As God’s spoken Word He brought new light and new perceptions to all the written words already promised.

Yet it takes a while to recognize and accept changes. We often have to sift through words many times to truly ‘see’ them. But when we do, they have the potential to burn in our hearts as they did to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, when they heard Jesus explain the scriptures. We have come through another season of Lent, of listening, of coming to the celebration of God’s sacrificial gift.

Now in this next devotional sequence, reading the Book of John, we’ll look at the new hope and faith and love that Jesus shared through the Cross, and listen for the words that burn in our hearts. I hope you will share yours with me.

“Dressing for spiritual battle should be made out of the natural fibers of our being.” Joy Sawyer

WOVEN

Woven into all creation,

with breath or without,

threads of light seen,

unseen, burn life-

existence into being.

Internal lamp

empowers against darkness,

each known intimately;

inside out, fashioned

by love’s design.

John 1:1-5

Kingdom Manna

Crisis

Luke 14:15, "One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, 'Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!'"

Measureless

Manna

Broken bread from the Lord

Served throughout eternity

Still a mystery

Staggers our imagination

Brings us on bended knees

Manna

Majesty

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 147:5

Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;

his understanding is beyond our measure