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Wings of the Wind

That God may make you wise

The Nicolaitan Contrast

Till death do us part

A plea to preachers

Yokata!


Wings of the Wind

Lord of Sea and Earth and Air,
Listen to the Pilot's prayer --
Send him wind that's steady and strong,
Grant that his engine sings the song
Of flawless tone, by which he knows
It shall not fail him where he goes.

Landing, gliding, in curve, half-roll --
Grant him, O Lord, a full control,
That he may learn in heights of Heaven
The rapture altitude has given,
That he shall know the joy they feel
Who ride Thy realms on Birds of Steel.
"Prayer for a Pilot" by Cecil Roberts

 

And God was seen upon the wings of the wind.
2 Samuel 22:11b

[A prayer of praise unto God...]
If I ascend into heaven, You are there.
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
Or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
Psalm 139.8-10

That God may make you wise

Your friends shall be the Tall Wind,
The River and the Tree;
The Sun that laughs and marches,
The Swallows and the Sea.

Your prayers shall be the murmur
Of grasses in the rain;
The song of wildwood thrushes
That makes God glad again.

And you shall run and wander,
And you shall dream and sing
Of brave things and bright things
Beyond the swallow's wings.

And you shall envy no man,
Nor hurt your heart with sighs,
For I will keep you simple
That God may make you wise.
"For a Child" by Fannie Stearns Davis

 

[The Wisdom that comes from God says...]
I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
And find out knowledge and discretion.

The fear of the LORD is to hate evil.
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverse mouth I hate.

Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom;
I am understanding, I have strength.
Now therefore, listen to me, my children,
For blessed are those who keep my ways.
Hear instruction and be wise,
And do not disdain it.

Whoever finds me finds life,
And obtains favor from the LORD;
But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul;
All those who hate me love death."
Proverbs 8.12-14, 8.32-33, 8.35-36

The Nicolaitan Contrast

The silver trumpets rang across the Dome:
The people knelt upon the ground with awe:
And borne upon the necks of men I saw,
Like some great god, the holy lord of Rome.
Priest-like, he wore a robe more white than foam,
And, king-like, swathed himself in royal red,
Three crowns of gold rose high upon his head:
In splendor and in the light the Pope passed home.

My heart stole back across wide wastes of years
To One who wandered by a lonely sea,
And sought in vain for any place of rest:
"Foxes have holes, and every bird its nest.
I, only I, must wander wearily,
And bruise my feet, and drink wine salt with tears."
"Easter Day" by Oscar Wilde

 

[Jesus said...]
Whoever desires to become great among you,
let him be your servant.

And whoever desires to be first among you,
let him be your slave--
just as the Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve,
and to give His life a ransom for many.
Mt 20.26b-28

Till death do us part

Lifelong *best friends*
God said, "It is not good that man should be alone.
I will make him a helper comparable to him."

Separated to one another
Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother

Total committment to one another
And be joined to his wife

*Glued together*
And they shall become one flesh.

Total intimacy
They were both naked, the man and his wife,

Total honesty
And were not ashamed.
Genesis 2.18; 2.24-25

 

He with a book, keeping the light on late,
She like a girl dreaming of childhood,
All thoughts elsewhere -- it is as if they wait
Some new event: the book he holds unread,
Her eyes fixed on the shadows overhead.

Tossed up like flotsam from a former passion,
How cool they lie. They hardly ever touch,
Or if they do it is like a confession
Of having little feeling -- or too much.
Chastity faces them, a destination
For which their whole lives were a preparation.

Strangely apart, yet strangely close together,
Silence between them like a thread to hold
And not wind in. And time itself's a feather
Touching them gently. Do they know they're old,
These two who are my father and my mother
Whose fire from which I came, has now grown cold?
"One Flesh" by Elizabeth Jennings

Some folks think happiness in marriage is mostly about sex, and not much about friendship.
God's design is the other way around.

A plea to preachers of social gospel & psycho-babble

Turn Away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge,
which some have professed,
and in so doing have wandered from the faith.

...having a form of godliness but denying its power.
From such, Turn Away!
1 Tim 6.20-21 & 2 Tim 3.5

 

But where is He -- or can you tell? --
Who stilled the brothers' strife,
Who urged the woman at the well
To live a better life?

Where is the Christ of Galilee,
Crude Peter's faithful Guide;
The Man who wept at Bethany
Because His friend had died?

We weary of your musty lore,
Behind dead walls of gray;
We want His loving words once more
By some Emmaus way.

Give us the Christ who can bestow
Some comfort-thought of death.
Give us the Christ our hearts can know --
The Man of Nazareth.
"The Lost Christ" by Thomas Curtis Clark

Your skill has fashioned stately creeds,
But where is He, we pray --
The friendly Christ of loving deeds?
He is not here today.

With sentences that twist and tease,
Confusing mind and heart
You forge your wordy homilies
And bid us heed your art.
next column ->

 

Yokata!

The heavens declare the glory of God.
The skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech.
Night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
Where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
Their words to the ends of the world.
Psalm 19.1-4a

 

And even as I marveled how
God gives us Heaven here and now,
In stir of wind that hardly shook
The poplar leaves beside the brook --
His hand was light upon my brow.

At last with evening as I turned
Homeward, and thought what I had learned
And all that there was still to probe --
I caught the glory of His robe
Where the last fires of sunset burned.

Back to the world with quickening start
I looked and longed for any part
Of Him, who made all Beauty be . . .
And from that kindling ecstasy
I knew His home is in my heart.

"Vestigia" by Bliss Carman

I took a day to search for God,
And found Him not. But as I trod
By rocky ledge, through woods untamed,
Just where one scarlet lily flamed,
I saw His footprint in the sod.

Then suddenly, all unaware,
Far off in the deep shadows, where
A solitary thrush
Sang through the holy twilight hush --
I heard His voice upon the air.
continued -->

 

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