Lord God, Lord Jesus

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Lord Yahweh, he’s the God who IS, the Lord. 

Lord Jesus you’re the Lord & god of me;

because, like Thomas said to you+, afford-

ding ambiguity(?), we watch and see

his stumble-ing attempts to put in words

to mere human being what should not

be said, unless you orchestrated his 

experience, so that emotion in 

the moment, could lead him to knowledge of

the holy one, the holy thing that was

borne here by Mary, born in fact, like us,

who did such wondrous things. Therefore because

of them, when he saw you “then risen up”,

he maybe too foresaw “death swallowed up”.

So I, like him, lift up, and praise, exalt

your name, but since Man is just one step down

from God*, we find it hard to much exalt

your name Lord Jesus, in between the two.

So maybe then like Thomas’s words salt-

ed with the fire of love, ex-per’n-cing you

who activated perfect faithfulness.

We honour you, revere you, our ref-uge,

our shelter from the storm, & shade from heat,

as hen gathers her chicks, and seems so huge

compared to them. You tower over us.

Our shroud, our sheet, our veil is torn away,

so bridegroom would destroy his bride's own veil

and wipe away our tears of disgrace.

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Footnote

+   “A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” (‭John 20:26-29 NRSVUE‬) [when Jesus says “Have you believed because you saw me…” he is obviously not talking about believing in the concept of some particular take in “the Trinity”; he is talking about Thomas trusting him to have conquered death and to be a leader worth following..  Thomas’s response (esp. in the light of Isa 25), shows that Thomas now does, and he recognises Jesus’s faithfulness (& graciousness) to himself (Thomas). Who else is this gracious? 

*    “..  what are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?  Yet you have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.  You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet,” (Psalms 8:4-6 NRSVUE‬) & from the translators’ footnotes of the NET on the plural “them” and the reference to “Man”, here translated “humans” we have: “Psalms 8:4 Of what importance is the human race, tn Heb

"What is man[kind]?" The singular noun א ('enosh, "man") is used here in a collective sense and refers to the human race. that you should notice tn Heb "remember him." them? Of what importance is mankind, tn Heb "and the son of man." The phrase "son of man" is used here in a collective sense and refers to human beings. For other uses of the phrase in a collective or representative manner, see Num 23:19; Ps 146:3; Isa 51:12. that you should pay attention to them, tn The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 4 describe God's characteristic activity.”

When understood, this simple device is seen to allow the psalm’s poetic nature to refer simultaneously to a singular and the plural. the N.T. book of Hebrews takes up this point, and applies it to Jesus individually (though it might just as well go on to apply it to “his body” as we shall be on earth plural or singular too).

Bibliography

1]  Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.

[3] Therefore strong peoples will honour you; cities of ruthless nations will revere you. [4] You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall

[7] On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; [8] he will swallow up death for ever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken. (‭Isaiah 25:1, 3-4, 7-8 NIVUK‬) Etc…

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moving right along

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Well, thanks for all your help dear God, today.

It was a lot of fun to walk with you

into an unknown school and class, to say,

(but more than that to listen, learn to do

what will make me a servant of those kids,

and fam-il-ies which send them to that school)

..to say the kind of slow things that love bids

it's children do to turn talk from a “tool”

to help manipulate & change the world,

to make it as we see fit so to do,

a tool that helps us leverage what’s curled

in ev’ry human round, near me & you;

into a way, a path to travel down

to learn together, as we walk along,

to interact, and ask, with smile or frown,

& so relate in ways that sing their song.

And so, this way of being slow to speak

is kind of like a trust that God will act,

it might not make strong all that has been weak,

but partnerships to serve it will impact.

I saw it in myself this very night,

a part of me that wanted to relate,

you didn’t let it get snuffed out of sight,

and out of mind; so deep desires sate.

You helped the candle flame leap up in song

responsive to a person in the room

it makes for others who might come along.

Your words in me fanned this small flame to boom.

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looking up hooking up

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I lift my heart up to creative love,

along with eyes and head, and hands as well,

as way of here acknowledging the dove

who symbolises your sweet signs that dwell

upon this Earth, as our connections here

are kind of like black-crows might over-head

announce our movements, stealth cannot be sheer,

or else it's by this partnership, now dead.

I see your plans are stealthier than ours,

I see you take your time. You do not rush.

You’ll play the incognito game for hours,

or centuries, millennia. Not much

according to your life, that made up time

to give a sense of something metered here:

for stories and for music these sublime

communicators to right hemisphere

perceptions to be able to gain ground,

have purchase to be using metaphor

and symbol, that our whole life might be found

to be symbolic of a spirit or

intension, with capacity as well;

the purpose that is personal and good,

particul’rised in people who might dwell 

together here, as hive, school, flock, or hood.

But also, as that dove then threw him out

as gauntlet to the chaos forces which

are likely to recede again, and pout

untill they see their time to screech their pitch.

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Triple your work, OR cut to the chase!

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(The god of new contraptions & technologies; 

OR 

the God who made the heavens & the Earth)

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A psalm of gratefulness, for help in choosing a wise tack, and finally of celebrating understanding!

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Well, thank you Lord for helping me to do

the thing that felt like I could not get near

enough to it, without becoming poo,

or melting, shriveling to just one tear.

It feels like I have allergies to this, 

this multiplying of bureaucracies,

this fetish of the God our country is

now worshipping, we lay our-selves with ease,

prostrate ourselves, with no hint of remorse,

or push-back-ance, this is delight to us,

we relish any discomfort of course

to fully serve our God, “get on the bus”,

& get the goodies which grow life so rich

to benefit from our God's favour too

to be the first, as high priests with fetish

to be the fodder for new ways “in lieu”..

Can be “in lieu”, or else just add to what

we have already got, to just do more,

as well (not “paper rolls” alone, they’re not

too bad; we’ll add an iPad to the score*,

and when that doesn’t work, then we will just 

ignore it, and call out to office “gall” - 

no, don’t, they’re overworked and near to bust-

ing. Come this way. It isn’t working well.)

Fill this form out, then ring the phone that’s “-manned”.

but scan the document that has to be

first printed, to be signed and then re-scanned.

Another way to do it will make three!

The diff-er-ence between a thoughtful muse -

a servant who helps ev’ry one to cheer,

& one who leaves folk feeling anxious, used,

their time is wasted, and more prone to fear,

seems to me now to be a small clear switch;

Am I imagining and trying to

tune in by tiny indicators which

can let me know their feelings and their views.

And here I need your help my God & king,

to open up myself to feelings which

sometimes I would not care to know a thing

about; and they don’t seem more than a glitch.

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*  e.g. as a visitor at a government school this week I had to sign a paper register/roll, then go around the corner and do the same on an iPad; though the iPad asked for either phone number or email, but would not accept the phone number as a valid Australian number, then my host also tried it for a couple of minutes (with no better success), so I put in my email address, to no better effect, then we noticed that they were actually optional, so we wiped them out and tried it with neither, when that didn’t work after about 5min, we gave up, because I was being asked to help with a job that had to be done in a certain time. My host said that he would let the person responsible for that list know, but they weren’t in at the moment. And we ignored the additional digital protocol.

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Largesse

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Please grow me Lord, to love with understanding,

be open to a love as large as yours.

I am so small & weak, & quite demanding.

I know my limits on my own because

there isn’t much to know.. it is so small,

& limited, this self. A quite small cup

of love to lavish on more than this Paul;

a few drops, then the end is quite abrupt.

I see enough, and have experienced

when I’ve not been “a cup”; but more “a hose”.

And in that time there’s been a flow, I’ve sensed

and known the pow’r of love, I now suppose

which made (with holy creativity)

the whole world that we live in; and which holds

it all together, so that you & me

could learn to love, & want to be so bold, 

so capable, creative & propi-

tious with hands, feet, but smile & tools as well;

that thoughts link to intentions & commit-

ments, & conduit a kind of anti-hell -

the friendship that can turn our common life

into a heaven that we gladly share

but also would protect from “cancer” rife

when acting isn’t owned & kept to where

it’s helpful, and builds up, enabling love

thats strong and true to flow through us as hose

that chanells what is spread here “from above”.

I want, no choose, to be just one of those!

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How to Relate

(James, after Jesus -- _ -- _ --)

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Be gentle like your Lord, even with those

like Nicodemus who were teachers of

the lore of God, that Moses gave as chose-

zen by the God who’s source of all that’s “tov”*.

Old James has said it “to the point” as he

learned from his older brother the right way

to be with others in this world where we

are learning from him how we should relate.

He said that all his brothers (in the faith)

should copy that prov-erb-i-al way to

be interacting with folk, in this place

of holy overlapping as things do

in temple here, between Heaven & Earth.

It starts with something to get quickly to:

the art of list’ning, letting that new birth

be shown as it would like to if it true-

ly was alive down here. To give some space#

for things to open up here from above°.

Then see that we will slowly do the grace-

ful thing that is: to speak the truth in love√,

and also to be slow to anger here.

So ask good questions as a way to use

the quick to listen part that would appear

in godly life on Earth, & don't refuse.

It’s concentrating on the other bloke.

It tries to join with God in this whole deal

of what can help in fact, not just with smoke

& mirrors trickery, but in what’s real!

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Footnote

*  tov: Hebrew word for “good”, as in Genesis 1, “God saw that it was good” nine times, and the tenth time “tov tov”;  “God saw that it was very good”.

#  “give some space for things to open up here” is copying both “the big bang”, what God did in making the heavens, & the making of “the sky”, the atmosphere, where most life on Earth lives (in this space between the heavens and the earth), and on the land (space for land animals to live, in between “the waters”, a symbol of chaos.

°  “from above”- Greek ἄνωθέν (anothen), see verse 17 of James 1 (below, in Bibliography), but also used in John 3, in Jesus’ famous statement, misunderstood by Nicodemus, and given the interpretive key by John the Baptist near the end of that chapter, and played on at other times as a Hebraism to not just say “from GOD” all the time.

√  Jesus often models this acting (& even looking) before  speaking, with compassion, while carefully weighing truth spoken (“Amen amen”; famously translated by the KJV as “Verily verily…” and by other translations as “Truly, truly..”), then his apostle Paul later summarises this method to a small group of Jesus followers in present day Turkey as “by truthing it in love, we will grow up to be just like Jesus, really” (Eph 4:15); as John puts it saying in effect let’s not focus on loving words (which can be cheap), but rather on loving actions (1 John 3:18).

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Bibliography

James 1:17-27

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