Everyday Discipleship

Reading again the story of Joshua and the walls of Jericho in preparation for our current Bible Study on "Whole Life Worship" and I am struck again by the difficulty, and importance, of connecting such stories with the everyday experience of people... and indeed myself. Years ago a friend wrote a poem that said "Oh to be in shining armour at the photocopier..." More that a quarter of a century later those words still resonate with me...

Ask me clearly

To do the impossible

And I will happily attempt it.

Separate waters

With a walking stick

To escape pursuing foes.

Blow my trumpet

To demolish the impregnable

Despite mocking from the ramparts.

Face a fearsome giant

With a few pebbles, faith

And not so youthful arrogance.

Sit amongst lions

Rather than desert you,

Anticipating our enemies’ demise.

Let me be a hero

Striding across scripture

Your words in my ears and mouth.

Yes Lord, please

Deliver me, not from evil

But the undifferentiated mundane;

The daily demands

That require faithfulness

But little mountain-moving Faith;

The everyday echoing silence

Devoid of audible affirming voice,

External or internal, human or divine;

The constant critique,

Deserved and less deserved,

Voiced, and more corrosive, unvoiced.

I ask not for an encounter on

The Damascus, or the Lisburn, Road

Or an inexplicably burning rhododendron

But a renewal, a reminder

That you are with me

Even in the email.

Selah

Comments

Henry H said…

Hello nice poost

Monday, January 10, 2022 5:29:00 PM

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