Author: bob

Happy, soaking day;
day of the Spirit, holy
energy come down!

 

The steel Jubilee,
wrapped in steam, tugging, blasting
away from Sheffield.

In a town once known
I’m giddy with the changes,
holding to known points.

The brick walls, warming
in the bright evening sun;
soft decline of day.

Instead, supposing
Mr Johnson had become
UK head of state?

Behind the trees, the
soft roar of the motorway;
many become one.

Layers of offence,
each new building destroying
the building before.

 

Come, Spirit of God,
disconfirm us, shake us up,
change our thoughts and deeds.

People are walking,
cycling, running: this is the
human motorway.

 

Great to look forward to Pentecost this Sunday – the Spirit of God reversing the divisions in the Tower of Babel story. It kind of speaks for a theocracy, but not one ruled by theocrats.

That’s a big bird there,
quietly dismembering
its tiny victim.

 

 

I don’t love those flags
anymore. ‘Waver-in-chief’
has lied way too much.

Tangles of goosegrass,
nettles, thistles; hard progress:
but progress it is.

A quick glance at Sunday’s Lectionary shows that those who pray for the unity of Christians have a good precedent; Jesus himself.

Achieiving unity may be difficult – sections of the Christian faith sre often so bound up with national interests that it’s hard to reconcile them, for example. Can you imagine the Russian Orthodox mainstream cosying up to any other denomination anytime soon? Sometimes all we have is prayer…. even though prayer alone is never enough – for instance just look at the bizarre spectacle of American legislators praying for the victims of another school shooting but doing nothing when they have it in their hands to bring about change.

May God save us from ourselves.

With the curtains shut,
think beyond what’s close outside
into all the world.