Fire once flame
Enkindled by the Spirit,
Smolder.
Embers still aglow,
Await a new Wind,
And a prayer,
Sent on the breath
Of the will,
Catalyst and fuel.
O Spirit blaze again
To the heavens,
Sending heat and light
To ignite those cold,
World-weary and, now, ready.
Then will the sparks fly
And the earth shake.
Lord Jesus, send forth Your Spirit,
We are athirst and longing.
©2012 Joann Nelander
It seems…
I am always talking to You,
That I am always with You,
And have no doubt
You are with me,
Listening and silent.
I am an endless monologue.
You, hovering Spirit,
Wordlessly eloquent
Abide.
You are Presence and Truth,
Listening and silent,
Thunderously silent,
Save for the stirring of my heart,
And the sometime rush of thought,
Coming, as it were,
From the bowels of my being
With frightening conviction,
And challenging my reticence
To speak aloud
The thoughts of solitude.
Reluctant always
To go about,
And leave the cloister of my heart,
Where in Your chambers I find,
And hold dear,
Private audience with the King,
The world without is a noisy charade,
And woos the pride of me take center stage.
Where suddenly I realize
I have been talking much, too much,
To my regret.
I, naggingly, suspect
I have diminished
What was my treasure
And ceased to learn.
Cacophany of me,
I cease to learn,
And simply rearrange,
That with which I am familiar.
Where do prophet, poet and a would be recluse
Find voice if not in You,
Rejecting even audience
To find You in my silence,
Your silence?
©2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
“Tolkien and Dyson showed Lewis what Christian doctrines are not actually the main thing about Christianity. Doctrines are translations into our concepts and ideas of that which God has already expressed in a language more adequate, and this language more adequate is the lived language, the actual historical lived language of the incarnation, the crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ . That’s the primary language of Christianity. It’s real; it’s historical, it’s visible; it’s tangible. It relates to an actual person, actually being born, actually dying, actually living again in some new ineffably transformed way.” (Michael Ward Lewis’ Apologetics: Imagination and Reason)
Grey the day with cloud and clutter,
Music’s muted melody obscured,
Discord in search of harmony,
Gives lie to the Promise of His Presence,
If Truth were only that which can be seen.
Faith, though,
Believes not vision, but God,
For God’s sake.
All powers of perception,
But a touch of His finger,
A curtain parted for a peek,
Hardly the measure
Of the Almighty’s might.
By Faith,
The eyes of the soul see,
And pierce the veil,
Rendering gain,
That gleaned in blindness,
So I count the clouds joy,
For Faith keeps hope alive.
I am all believing,
And with conviction,
Clutched and cradled,
Felt with the fingers of my trust.
I live the Promise of His Presence.
© 2012 Joann Nelander
Who is the poorest of the Poor?
Is it not the one deprived of womb?
Is it not the one gone unnamed?
Given a frame
But denied rightful claim,
Stripped bear of place,
No space to grow,
Deprived of a proper birth?
Is it not the one evicted,
Before drawing it’s first breath,
Whose beating heart is silenced,
With the sanction of the Court!?
With privacy,
Lest the whole world hear it’s cry?
Though a mother forget her child,
The Father of all fathers
Will not, no never, forget.
He has a place,
And a name,
For all the poor,
For the poorest
Of the poor,
Called “Beloved”
And “Poor No More”.
©2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
Be Holy! 