NOTICE

Attention! Behind these doors we worship regularly with liars, thieves, gossips, backbiters, people with troubled marriages, alcoholics and drug addicts. We welcome hypocrites and jealous, envious, coveting, materialistic sinners of all sizes, shapes and colours.

But the good news is that we all have something in common. We have all learned that the Church, the body of Christ, is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints. We have all learned that the Lord is our rest, that he reaches out to save us, and that we are the redeemed community of the saints.

We come here to worship and to praise God, and to continually plan how we might be better agents of change, salt and light in a darkened world that needs the good news that Jesus saves. You are welcome, but be warned, that we take Christianity seriously!

Dandelion clock

Hope is a dark elusive child
curled in the womb
cradled in our arms.
It can be lost,
disappear,
blown on the wind like a dandelion clock.

Its going,
its ebbing away
leaves us
grieving,
empty,
hopeless.

‘But’ is a hopeful word.

But even as the gossamer
powder puff
disintegrates,
the seeds are carried
to cling to distant crevices.
As it recedes
it reseeds
to grow again.

God, giver of peace,
grow hope within and around us.
God of steadfast love,
never leave us hopeless.

Galloway, K (ed.) The Pattern of our Days, 1996: Wild Goose Publications

this year

i've gotten rid
of all junk:
chips, chocolate, cola;
the fridge is now stocked
with fruits, veggies, juice -
this is the year
i get into shape!

no more contrived reality,
no more glazed eyes
from watching "Idol" wannabes;
it's public radio and tv,
it's a stack of bios from the library -
this is the year
i form new habits!

but you would
take my twisted logic
about 'who deserves'
and reshape it
into compassion;

you would
take my bitter heart
and fill it with
hope and joy;

you would
take my hurtful ways,
and reform them
into acts of gentleness;

this is the year
you take delight
in making me
a servant!

(c) 2008 Thom M. Shuman
http://prayersfortoday.blogspot.com/2008/01/this-year.html