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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down here..

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Oh God I somehow feel so very down.

And I am quite affected by each word

that’s said to me, & with what tone, or frown,

or intimation.. till it’s quite absurd.

I feel so frail, so weak and empty here.

That makes me think of love’s resilience lost.

If that is true, I need to carefully hear

your voice, that speaks through acts, at quite a cost.

And let myself appreciate your gifts

to me, with things like life, and healthy bod,

and food & drink and shelter, sometimes lifts

to one place or another. Thank you God!

And thank you for my neighbours, and this house.

This home I find myself in quite a bit,

this woman who is wife, and not a mouse,

and children who have been borne into it.

I feel unable to lift up my head,

my shoulders hunched beneath beaurocracy

and red tape that is weighing down the dead.

This is the time I need you here with me.

Tonight my wife asked me if I’m ok.

I said I didn’t know, because that’s true.

I only knew that I would have to pray

for all my fam-ily, and friends, to you.

And trust you to pro-tect me as I need,

You are my shield, my rock, defender too.

I need you every hou-r, ev’ry deed.

I need you all the time. Yes I need you.

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WORLD and Word (in our experience)

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GOD gives his WORLD, where ACTS can then be done,

before he gives his WORD through his own son*.

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Within this place of yours, yes your own world,

I can be learning from you here becuz

your spirit broods above it, softly curled,

while watching, overseeing as one does

who, not apparent, yet a parent is

full of creative love to-wards offspring,

enabling them to learn to do core biz-

ness: look & listen, walk & talk, & sing,

& learn what love & loyalty look like,

& best of all, to then participate.

For in the doing of the job small tykes

can learn more than who listens, and just waits..

But best of all is one who'll listen then

with all that’s in their pow-er, have a go

at doing what they think they should, again,

while dialoguing all the while. They’ll know,

and too relate, the best of all, because

the meaning of the message, which is key,

’nd can be deeper than what any clause

could ever hope to carry in between

two parties, if they are not bots, or kids.

For humans can learn much, & each Dad-joke

espesh’ly, can add more than data bids

to ever add to life, to help folk cope.

It turns out in reality, God’s world

(and people made in his image) are first

to teach us any language, so I’m bold

to claim it as essential, not the worst.

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Footnotes

*  25Jesus answered, ‘I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one will snatch them out of my hand. …

32but Jesus said to them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?’ …

34 Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your Law, “I have said you are ‘gods’ ”? 35 If he called them “gods”, to whom the word of God came – and Scripture cannot be set aside – 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, “I am God’s Son”? 37Do not believe me (-the words I say) unless I do the works of my Father. 38But if I do them (the works of my Father), even though you do not believe me (-the words I say), believe the works (that I do from my Father), that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.’ ‭John 10:25-28, 32, 34-38 NIVUK‬ (what is in round brackets above is added by me, as commentary) ..

Bibliography

“1When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. 2There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was ill and about to die. 3The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, ‘This man deserves to have you do this, 5because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.’ 6So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: ‘Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, “Go”, and he goes; and that one, “Come”, and he comes. I say to my servant, “Do this”, and he does it.’ 9When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, ‘I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.’ 10Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.” (‭Luke 7:1-10 NIVUK‬)

Comment: Jesus isn't often amazed at people. John says (end of John ch 2) that when they saw his miracles, many believed in him, but he from his side did not entrust himself to them. He knew what was in humanity... Then it tells of his speaking privately to a "top ranking human" (ch 3); & a "bottom of the pile human" (ch 4). The first one should get his teaching, but doesn't, the second one shouldn't but does. John doesn't say that Jesus was amazed, but he does tell what (to anyone reading in the first Century), must have seemed amazing, and Jesus almost uses the master Teacher's wording of amazement with the first, and the Master Teacher's skillful winding up, wooing in, and commensureate opening up, and letting out of his purposely secret core message, with the second person The two times I recall that it does note that Jesus was amazed, it was about their lack of faith in him (in Nazareth, e.g. Mark 6), or their great faith in him (the Roman official e.g. Luke 7:1-10). This man, the Roman official has come to appreciate the word of God, through his interactions in the world of God, in the Roman Millitary, an aspect of God's world probably consider by most Jews of that time as furthest from the will of God.

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