Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Perspective

To the stimuli around us

we respond from the center

of ourselves

connecting pieces

as conceit or challenge

to our authority,

our personal self-control.

Thinking all revolves

around own universe

holding our toddler

tenacity in tight fists.

Too often missing a promise

we react from illusion

of competence

congested priorities block

another path

new possibilities

fresh perspective.

‘Thy will be done.’

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     How open are we to changes in our schedule, especially if on a tight clock driven day?

2.     Do we see interruptions as an opportunity to listen to a different perspective, or as a hindrance to our agenda?

3.     How can we listen for the Lord’s heartbeat throughout a busy day?

   Share: What is one way you are able to stay open to God’s nudges?

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

John 1: 1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.”

           

            In the beginning

                        stands the Lord

                                    breathing

            His love, His mercy,

                                    His life

            Into every fabric of

                        creation.

            His soul, His model,

                                    His sphere.

            Ingrained within

                        each heart

                                    beating out

            His pulse, His being,

                                    His pact.

            Inside to keep

                        all threads

                                    connected by

            His will, His passion,

                                    His word.

            Lord, please lift us out of our time-clock world to listen. I pray for us to walk in Your time with Your heart and to see with Your eyes.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 40:3

“And He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;

Many will see and fear, and will trust in the Lord.”

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Design

Advertisements challenge

which is real, which is image.

Advanced technology mimics

world. Grows environments,

    multiple designs changing

    by delete, undo,

    begin again.

Almost taste cornucopia

whetting appetites.

Allow sensory immersion’s

woven spell. Given wide range

    choice, time induced

    entertainment almost

    reality.

Accepted credentials

with admiration for competence.

Admire each new invention

with respect for creativity.

Why then deny original

designer who spoke

universe into being.

Words became substance

    visible—flesh and blood,

    but requires faith to access

    and no control.

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     Why did we recognize the ‘realities’ that technology can produce yet struggle to recognize God’s realities in our lives?

2.     Since often we do realize that human creations can be undone, do we apply that concept to faith and allow doubt to wonder at God’s promises of new beginnings?

3.     How can we compare our ability to be creative with God’s spoken creation?

4.     How should we not?

Share: From invisible to visible. What words of hope has God spoken into reality for you?

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Hebrews 11:3, “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.”

Painters use canvas and colors. Writers use syllables and sentences. Potters shape clay and musicians a symphony. All begin with available materials, then imagine and dream and create things that are new, things that can be touched—tasted—seen—sung, all visible.

God spoke the universe into being: atoms and molecules, oxygen and carbon dioxide, veins and muscles, fish and fowl—humans. Scientists investigate, categorize every substance they can detect or discover. We learn what it is now but not always from where it came.

Planted within us scripture words take a new life under the Spirit’s leading. Stone hearts pulse with love. Stagnant minds grow in contemplation. Weak knees begin to pray. A cycle grows. As nature’s laws wheel the seasons around God’s standards, so prayer words reach heaven’s altar to receive cleansing and return in power.

God speaks new life into our emptiness. Shapes our chaos into beauty. Showers our wounds with balm. Our barren deserts become gardens, a welcome respite for fellow travelers. Not a mirage. An oasis made out of things not visible.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 100

“Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful singing.

Know that the Lord Himself is God; it is He who has made us and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture…..”

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Substance

When we pause to

truly look at creation’s

sphere—amazement

pours into awe. Struck

by infinity layered in

color, detail, shape.

Each piece uniquely

situated. Crazy quilt

pattern of exuberant life

un-replicable.

Why then doubt a

Master’s hand, lovingly

shaping day, writing stars,

painting landscapes,

breathing substance into

all His heart’s desire.

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     How difficult is it for us to accept that the One who created all also wants to speak with each of us one-to-one?

2.     What do we lose when we resist His ‘ownership’?

3.     Why do we often build up our own defined worlds instead? Out of arrogance? Or fear? Or…..?

Share: How does God speak life and hope and vision through His creation to you?

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Hebrews 1:2, “but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.”

  

“Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.” Prophecy and promises. Beginning and middle and end continue in the call to shout out the good news—the gospel.

Jesus Christ has risen.

Saviour of the ages. Prophet’s Messiah now present among the people. Emmanuel among us. God here walking and talking and healing and forgiving sins.”

Jesus Christ has risen.

Spoken word. Shout it from the rooftops. Declare it far and wide and high and deep. Spread it through all the generations. The heir has come. “Let the earth rejoice.” Hope and faith welded together.

Jesus Christ has risen!

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 71:23

“My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to Thee;

And my soul, which Thou hast redeemed.”

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Spoken

old sayings once

fresh now dismissed

as irrelevant, obsolete.

an excuse to ignore

truths claiming confession

through obscurity.

at least when prophets

spoke of old listeners

knew the source

and could not cloak

dis-regard for ignorance,

took responsibility for disdain.

overt, subtle, various

ways still speak

ancestors’ message today.

audience: one to one.

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     When the prophets spoke there was no confusion that the words were from God—whether or not the listeners chose to obey. Why do we manage to confuse ourselves and argue the legitimacy of His words to us personally today?

2.     Or if we do acknowledge the authenticity, we tangle ourselves up in application.

3.     We have no difficulty accepting our personal memories. Why can we not recognize God’s truth as truth?

Share: What timeless precept helps you remember to walk with God in faith?

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Hebrews 1:1, “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets.”

Various voices echo in our minds when we embrace memories: parents, teachers, friends, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles or grandparents. We either choose an occasion to remember and let the memory reel play out vividly as the sights and sounds flow over us, or a present incident suddenly jettisons us into instant recall. The smell of Christmas cookies, spring’s first rain, swimming at the ocean, raking fall leaves. Ordinary days, repeating seasons catch us up with sudden pause.

Some shoot jagged edges of pain into our hearts. Some bring a peace blanket of comfort. Together they form the foundation of who we are today. Why we tend to accept certain concepts and reject others. Why we try to change our past to preserve a future. Stop addictions or abuse. Shore up love, forgiveness and compassion.

Vision given through the prophets, the Law, the tabernacle to God’s people. The Lord spoke His message in various ways to establish our foundation in Him. An inheritance that is both remembered and anticipated. A declaration of who we are that ignites our memory of Him. Expands our hearing, softens our touch, clears our sight, sweetens our taste, and freshens our lives with fragrance.

Lord, please weave all of our memories into You—into Your vision.

Psalm of Worship: Psalm 139

“My frame was not hidden in Thee, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.”

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Magnet

To each a different

goal perhaps

not necessarily

understood either by

intellect or vocabulary.

Concepts beyond vision

pulled by invisible ray.

Heart’s magnet setting

recalibrating after

sabotage or error,

negligence, dismay,

glimpses of approval.

Longing enough

to sustain journey.

Faith Seeds: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     Whose everyday approval do we seek?

2.     What attitudes and actions do we pursue that daily conflict with our faith?

3.     God’s expectations seem beyond reach and yet He knows our very frame. How can that keep us from sabotage?

Share: How might we see daily life through His love instead of our failures?