Poems and readings to reflect on and shape your faith

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USE FAITH SHAPERS FOR:
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Latest Posts

Feeling Autumnal?

Mars burns bright and close this October: I watch it through the window, as I lie, too-awake, in the dark. Drawn-in under covers as the cold bites, I shrink, foetal-shaped but old-fleshed, frail.   I am autumnal: dry-leaved, mud-under-foot, dark-dayed,...

War Nearer Home!

Across our planet earth there bleed the wounds of war, With livelihoods destroyed and cherished homes no  more; The people flee, abused and scarred and travelling far, Poor refugees.   Across our planet earth the wounds of war go deep With generations taught...

Leavings

And if, as autumn deepens and darkens I feel the pain of falling leaves, and stems that break in storms and trouble and dissolution and distress and then the softness of deep shadows folding, folding around my soul and spirit, around my lips so sweet, like a swoon, or...

Batter my heart!

  Batter my heart, three-personed God, for you As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me and bend Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. I, like an usurped town to another due, Labour to admit you, but...

The Inner Storm

I am a ghost  who walks alone. Beyond my yard are high stone walls. I walk and move and speak with calm. But let me tell you this my friends; Beneath the smile, the wave, the nod There screams an inner storm. It roars and wails and tears its hair. It pours in torrents...

Last Scene

This is my play's last scene, here heavens appoint My pilgrimages last mile; and my race Idly, yet quickly run, hath this last pace, My spans last inch, my minutes latest point, And gluttonous death, will instantly un-joint My body, and my soul, and I shall sleep a...

Wheels or Feet?

London walking to work? Unthinkable. The Wheel is the rock on which London stands. And moves. Jesus is not remembered For wheels. Sandals, hooves and boats Fixed his pace; the Steady, mindful steps Necessary when Setting one's face Towards Jerusalem.   Bruce...

True Love

Marry those loves, which in youth scattered be On Fame, Wit, Hopes (false mistresses) to thee. Churches are best for Prayer, that have least light: To see God only, I go out of sight: And to scape stormy days, I choose An Everlasting night. John Donne (1572-1631),...

Sabbath Renewal

The clearing rests in song and shade. It is a creature made By old light held in soil and leaf, By human joy and grief, By human work, Fidelity of sight and stroke, By rain, by water on The parent stone. We join our work to Heaven's gift, Our hope to what is left,...

Tree-lighted!

How will the legend of the age of trees Feel, when the last tree falls in England? When the concrete spreads and the town conquers The country’s heart; when contraceptive Tarmac’s laid where farm has faded, Tramline flows where slept a hamlet, And shop-fronts, blazing...

Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night....

Faith-shaping Poets

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Our Father: Hallowed on Earth as in Heaven

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God is Smart

God is Smart

… God is smart. Westerners have analysis. We have synthesis. Westerners have a strong sense of individualism. We have a strong sense of community. Because Westerners have a strong sense of the value of the individual, They are able to take personal initiatives. It’s...

The Bible: Bestowed Word of God

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Jesus Christ: Crucified God in Person

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It was himself he played

It was himself he played

… I could see, too, the twitching of the fingers, Caught temporarily in art’s neurosis, As we sat there or warmly applauded This player who so beautifully suffered For each of us upon his instrument.   So it must have been on Calvary In the fiercer light of the...

Humankind: Sinful, Rebellious and Faithless

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Imagine: living is easy

Imagine: living is easy

Let me take you down, ‘cos I’m going to strawberry fields. Nothing is real and nothing to get hung up about. Strawberry fields for ever. Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see…   John Lennon (1940-80), The Beatles, 1967.

The Grace of God: Justifying and Converting

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Christ-likeness: Progressive Christian Living

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Girl of two worlds

Girl of two worlds

I am the girl of two worlds, My heart belongs to here and there, Two worlds profoundly different, United in my highest regard. Do I live in or between these two worlds? I am the girl of two worlds.

Holy Spirit: in Christian Experience

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Believers: Assured, Called and Prayerful

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Batter my heart!

Batter my heart!

  Batter my heart, three-personed God, for you As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me and bend Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. I, like an usurped town to another due, Labour to admit you, but...

The Church: Provisional but Necessary

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Church: a meeting place for me and God

Church: a meeting place for me and God

  In a busy world, A place to be still; In a divided world, A place to find friendship; In a confusing world, A place to find direction; In a sinful world, A place to know the love of God. A place for loving, When the world hates; A place for hoping, When the...

The Mission of God

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I Am a Child of God

I Am a Child of God

When a person acquainted with the music of God appears, one who is wise both in words and deeds (Luke 7:32)… then this person will produce the sound of the music of God, since he has learned from all this how to strike the chords at the appropriate time: now the...

Moral Justice: a Vision of God’s Kingdom

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Glory: Now and Then, Here and There

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Nothing can die

Nothing can die

  In the book of the earth it is written: Nothing can die. In the book of the Sioux it is written: They have gone away into the earth to hide. Nothing will coax them out again But the people dancing.   Mary Oliver (1935-2019),  Ghosts, 2017.    ...