For Emily & David

I have this little sister Emily, she was small and very funny,
Big smile, bright eyes and always sunny,
Bath-time fun with beards of bubbles,
Splashed with laughter, joy and puddles.

Growing up, shared memories came,
Treasured moments, crazy games,
Mealtimes laughing at old snaps,
Memories logged as years we mapped,
A bear in the big blue house her fave,
Until she met our dashing Dave.

Now celebration day, a wonderful thing,
Moments like this make us dance and sing,
And the greatest bit – all we need to bring,
Is ourselves and our joy to your wedding. {bear with, bear with}

We all woke today, some as early as dawn,
Mum and dad as excited as the day you were born,
All the ladies dolled up, all the men freshly shorn,
And you sat through those speeches with barely a yawn.

As their new life together they’ve started to pave,
We raise a toast to Emily and Dave,
The beard looks great, no need to shave,
No I don’t mean Emily, you lot; behave.

My message to you both, if I may be direct,
Is to treat one another with utmost respect,
Support one another and always protect,
Dave, remember only one of you’s always correct.

Your marriage a symbol of wonderful unity,
It’s a one in a lifetime great opportunity,
To rely on your partner for total impunity,
And live out your lives in a tight-knit community.

You see…
A happy marriage is all about love,
You fit right… together like hand in glove,
It’s equality – no bellow or above,
But if he won’t do what you want Em, just give him a shove.

In the wisdom I found from all the ancients,
One of your foundations must be patience,
Even the days you’ve used up your quotient,
There’ll always be someone to nudge at your conscience. {I think it just about works}

It can sneak through holes as small as a mouse,
And make your skin crawl like a tiny woodlouse,
Don’t let selfishness have any room in your house,
It’s not you you put first, it’s always your spouse.

You can only last so long driven by passion,
In the early days there’s no end to the ration,
But in these times when it’s going out of fashion,
Create some more time to be kind, have compassion.

It doesn’t matter what your mood,
You cannot let it make you rude,
You must not grumble, gripe or brood,
Even when David steals your food.

On a day that’s champers, flowers and posies,
And as this dreadful poem closes,
It won’t always be a bed of roses,
For all the years since he proposes,
So fill your days with love and joy,
Build up each other, don’t destroy,
Marriage – the balanced human alloy,
The partnership for girl and boy.

Emily & David may God bless you and your marriage and may you always feel His presence walking with you.

Words

Words are just a useful tool

They can be used by any fool

Regal words are birthed to rule

Christmas ones refer to yule

Where joy and turkey act as fuel


Spooky words release the ghoul

While energetic words – a joule

Instructive ones take you to school

(where years ago they’d serve you gruel)


Words to lift you up – a stool 

Mix you up – a word whirlpool 

Or cut you down – to overrule

Some words just run on like a spool


Unless you’re really very cool

Delicious words can make you drool

Misspoke words can cause a duel 

Or make you drown, deep in a pool


But though some words can be quite cruel

They carry thoughts just like a mule

Can bring us life – words to refuel

Some stick inertly – like a boule

But precious words are like a jewel

The Big Silence

A poem inspired by the “Five Essential Truths”

 

            1. Life is hard
            2. You are not that important
            3. Your life is not about you
            4. You are not in control
            5. You are going to die

When the weight of the rock makes your shoulders burn
And you look to offload every twist, even turn
But you’re missing the obvious lessons to learn 
Cause the rest of society lives for the churn 
And something inside of you’s hoping to earn
That which is free if you’ll only discern

When you stumble along like a drunk with two broken legs… and nose
And it’s hard to keep going when you’re given life’s dregs… Yet those
Are the scraps that are fine for any old beggar who begs… Which shows –
That the hard that you feel like you’re given, delivered in Kegs… you chose
And it seems like its only the silence that sits where you’re рegged… that knows.

Does it matter if you carry on holding the bolder?
Does it have to be you that keeps it aloft on your shoulder?
Should it be handed to somebody younger – or older?
Or thrown to the side to gather up dust and just moulder?

The internal voice of importance never stops you to ask
Who said it was you that had to complete the task?
And perhaps there’s a time to lay down the load and bask
As you lift yourself up, stand on top and take off the mask

If it feels like you’re gargling lava and buring your lungs
and the noises you babble could be mistaken for speaking in tongues
And you’re desperately clinging, exhaustedy climbing the rungs<
Remember, you could be a beetle endlessly rolling up dung

While its fun to pretend, just recall, your lifes not about you
Though this revelation of truth may be something that seems very new
If you dwell for a moment to think the whoe idea through
It’s a blessed relief to accept it and know – you just grew.
And admit – God is good, God is good, God is good and you knew

It takes balls to admit to ourselves, we’re not the ones in control
Though for so much of life, it’s a fight coz we make that our goal
And we grab at the reins, pull hard, only to get stuck in a hole
Knowing deep down inside, to let go will be good for the soul

But when I relinguish my grasp, it wont fall into place
I still have an influence, just need to open the space
It may wobble, may careen, may end up with egg on my face
But that is the perted foundation for heavenly grace.

In a life that could end in a fanfare or just a wet fart
It’s your choice to stagnate or to live from your heart
You consume, you curate, of live life like a great piece of art
But yau choose to do something – a legacy left before you depart.

There’s probably unfinished business, make sure you have no regret
Cause one day you’re the subject, the life upon whom all reflect
And a sack full of memories made without thought to protect
While your life hides with Christ in the Father, your wholeness expect.

 

Thank you to The Place Church Frome

You grace this sacred space, this place we’ve come to face-to-face, for your embrace, your hands to trace, the lines – like lace – on our hearts – in love encased.

Calm our clatter and the chatter we’re flattered by that does not matter.
Shatter our constructed patter, gather us from all our scatter and our mess and spatter.

We fill our days with imperfect praise that sometimes stays but often strays – from you we gaze away.
We want to raise our eyes again so fill our hearts with spirit’s blaze to snap us, from our earthly daze – to heaven.

As we respond and start to live, your gift – we give.
Driven now we too forgive as we’re forgiven, we know that you’ll out-give our giving, out-live concerns and our misgivings, re-live our lives we once weren’t livin’.

Open, honest, genuine, raw, re-inspired by what we saw, knowing you were coming for, not wanting from, your love – it draws, it elevates the poor and crowbars open our front door, pours your life out on our floor and when we feel our life’s a chore you’re there to give us
So Much More.

Poem for Janette

For the days you discover the duvet undisturbed and the other side of the bed colder than you remember
May the God of intimacy carry your memories, knowing the memory keeps your muse with you, mortal and tender.

In the weeks where your washing is just half a load waving in the wind and only one pair of wellies is wet with wear
May the God of the weather blow his comfort around you and wrap you up close in his care

As the months move past slowly, meandering by with new moments to mourn and a medley of flashbacks laid bare
May the God of all time honour the treasure you gathered together as a testament to all the toil and the tears and the tenderness shared

When the years have stacked up and the pain, just as keen, is less frequent, but still steals your voice
May the God who breathes life fill your heart with his love and your friendships with light and your sorrow with joy, to remind you, living well is your choice

Poem for Isabelle’s Baptism

May the Lord of hosts lift you up in His arms
May He keep every journey free from alarm
May the creator curate a path far from harm
And step into your whirlwinds to fill you with calm

When you find that the pathway is not quite as smooth
Let the Lord of lords bring you into His groove
As the King of all kings will be right there to prove
That wherever you are, towards you He’ll move

Let the Mighty One arm you with all of His power
Let the sound of His voice fill your ears every hour
His words cleansing you in a refreshing shower
Let His love flow from you like an opening flower

Know that Christ cares for you in the bad times and good
Know He comes alongside you wherever you’re stood
Know that He lives within you, trust in His light you should
As His heart for you means that you can, like He could.

Lord of our lives

It’s not that this wine is special or holy

It doesn’t have magical properties now 

It’s only the juice of some grapes, fermented

Measured out into portions, shared round 


The power is in the symbol it gives us

Of blood once spilled out on bare ground

Of a life poured empty for the whole of the world 

Of a gift tightly guarded, once found


The power of this wine is in the Christ it calls to

Our Lord who always turns towards our trauma

He’s the one we look to, embracing all the broken 

And never shies away from all our drama 


It’s a promise, unbreakable, sins wiped away

Forgiveness that’s offered for free

It’s the Father and son who knowingly gave

Salvation for you and for me


So let us sip and be settled by Jesus’ strong presence

Drink and be drowned in his grace

Let us bask in his glorious victory won

Till the day we meet him face to face

Divine Journey

Just like those few you journeyed with that night
We may want to claim our hearts rekindled, burning bright
More often, though, we stumble on with failing sight
And so we gather here collectively to seek your light

We look for solace in this sacred sip of wine
Thinking it’s here we hope to host communion with the divine
Looking to a special holy place or hallowed time
to bring to you the earthly mess of our human pantomime

Because many times we trudge with only valley’s view
When lofty heights of mountain tops seem precious few
And in our desperate drive to drink of heavenly dew
Forgetting all your plans that point to making all things new
We miss the familiar footsteps falling, as all along we’ve walked right next to you

EV Salvation

Listen to Tony’s Message or my reply underneath won’t make any sense.

MG4 or MG5
It matters not what car I drive,
As long as fuel comes down a wire,
I’ll avoid eternal fire,
Diesel, Petrol seek forgiveness,
Only DC power doth our God bless,
Released at last from fossil haze,
I’m finally free from satan’s gaze,
Cos Jesus loves me, this I know,
Tony Vino told me so;
Informing me, my EV choice,
Is why I hear the Master’s voice.

Words cannot express


Words cannot express the depth of the pain and sorrow you feel
And how, despite the hurt you’re stumbling through, some still expect that core of steel
To show in your upright walk, head held high when all you want to do is kneel
With your head on the floor, curled in a ball, like sleep’s the only action with any appeal. 

Words cannot express how elements formed millennia ago in the depths of stars
Bound together, flourished as human, weaving together life’s intricate spars
And the deep bruises existence writes endure, but still, nothing mars
The heavenly beauty embossed in the form, its light from within, revealed by the scars. 

Words cannot express how deeply you are loved and embraced
By the Father, familiar with grief, the rawness of loss, the journeys and battles you’ve faced
On those paths, as His love, on your heart, with His fingers he’s traced
He carries, enfolds you, supports you, His innermost thoughts you have graced. 

When you’re reeling, not seeing where it’s coming from next
And sometimes you long for a hug and sometimes you just need a text
Not everyone understands, not all can read the context
And when sharing, well meaning, not always well landing words, disregard their effects. 

Words cannot express how you’re worn out with carrying on and you’re too tired to fight 
When the dark closes in and the sorrow robs your heart of all light
In the endless black void of the sleepless and long empty night. 
You long for that someone you lost, that you need there, to hold you so tight. 

Words cannot express when waves of agony leave you so empty, unable to cry
When the floodgates have opened but the lake behind them run dry
And your will to act, like a featherless chick, has no means to fly
Words cannot express but when there’s nothing else, they’ll have a good try.