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Sunday 29 April 2012

Black and White Birds

Magpie, mudlark, currawong
Wake her with their garrulous warbling song
As sunlight through the branches illuminates the dawn,
They boldly sing their joyful praise to greet another morn.
She sees them, from the hillside to the valley floor in flight
And spies them in the eucalypts, tiny specks of black and white,
For they are black as darkest coal, black as the midnight sky
And they are whiter than a cloud, or snowflakes drifting by

Magpie, mudlark, currawong,
If life was ever true, ‘twas never long.

Black days she knew, as if the sun forgot to shine
For night loosed fallen angels, evil their design,
When vengeance smote the heart of man and man to hate inclined
And painted strokes of black upon his body, soul and mind.

White days she knew, soft as the wing of a dove,
White as a bridal veil o'er the white-hot heart of love,
Bright days, the river flowing full and slowly by,
Hazy, dappled picnic-days, never wont to die.

Dark and light days, each a part
Of the stirring chords that fill her loving heart.

Magpie, mudlark, currawong are ever there,
Coldest black and cleanest white in the cool, clear morning air,
Distinct to all and yet with all around they harmonise
Lifting their wings and soaring, singing to the skies.

 
 
copyright Josephine Collett 2000.
This poem was written when I was recuperating from cancer surgery. It was inspired by two things - the detail of magpies flying through the trees in a print by Streeton which hung on my study wall at the time, "Still Glides the Stream and Shall Forever Glide" (a title which in itself comes from a Wordsworth poem); and an amusing black and white mudlark (peewee) which was wont to attack it's own reflection in my bedroom window. Women in particular are often critical of their own bodies and in a sense attack themselves. There's nothing like cancer to make you question the priorities we place on body image as opposed to what lies within. 
This poem was originally printed in GYCAN magazine, published by the Gynaecological Cancer Society of Queensland following a creative workshop addressing experiences of cancer.

Saturday 28 April 2012

Thy Will Be Done




We discuss and reason endlessly when it comes to the subject of suffering and God’s will. It is one of the most unfathomable areas of all. Dreadful events happen, Christians and non-Christians suffer, Christians and non-Christians are spared from suffering. Does prayer have any effect? How can we not reconcile our logic and understanding with God’s ways? He is all loving, all powerful, yet good people suffer. Is this not something that causes the enemies of God to scoff and gloat?
The whole area of suffering and God's will is a huge topic for Christians to grapple with, but one small insight which has offered me comfort over the years is found in the verses of Matthew 6:9-13 (the Lord's Prayer).

“Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done
On earth, as it is in Heaven.”

“Thy will be done” lies within two supporting lines.

“Thy kingdom come” means to me that we want to see Christ’s kingdom established in the world, in the hearts and minds of those we know and love and universally in every nation on earth. May Your will for my life, Lord, be part of what You are doing to establish Your kingdom in my family, my neighbourhood, my world.

“On earth, as it is in Heaven.” That phrase tells me that those things which are begun on earth will be continued in heaven. Those things that we desire and earnestly pray for which we believe to be in God's will, if not accomplished or completed here on earth, will be perfected in heaven. The sick will be well. Sorrow will be no more. Death will be gone forever. What a wonderful hope! What an anchor of comfort for those who remain on earth.

May Your will be done. May we pray those words trusting that Your will in our lives will help establish Your kingdom. May we know that Your will for our lives also extends to our eternal life with You. 


Tuesday 24 April 2012

Sex, Wells and Redemption


Two women, two wells

Wells gush forth throughout the pages of the bible. Like many natural features, they are both functional, providing people with water to drink, utilize, claim and fight over; and symbolic. Wells signify God’s provision, life, health, prosperity and cleansing.  In passages dripping with a prophetic signature, Jacob rolls a stone away from a well’s mouth to water the sheep (Genesis chapter 29); and David thirsts for water from the well at Bethlehem (2 Samuel 23). Biblically speaking, wells also have a lot to do with women.

Examine the wells in the bible and there will often be a woman nearby. Women would congregate daily in the cool of early morning or evening at the local well. There they would collect water and  (in the days before Facebook and RSVP) socialise, keeping an eye out for anybody new in town. Wells seemingly provided an acceptable place for young men and women to meet and greet one another.

Consider Rebekah in Genesis 24. An opulent- looking emissary and his entourage arrives in town. Rebekah comes to the well with her water jar, generously volunteering to draw water for him and his ten camels, no slight task. This offer is the specific answer to the prayers of Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, sent to find a wife for Abrahams's son, Isaac. Rebekah is of the correct kin group, pretty, kind, hard-working, adventurous, and a virgin - a desirable wife to be sure.

Rebekah happily received the gifts of jewelry presented to her and eagerly set forth to marry an unknown stranger. God led Eliezer to the place where Rebekah was waiting, and guided Rebekah into His plan for her life, as she was to play an important role in the foundation of the nation of Israel.

Wells can symbolise sexuality in the bible. It’s been suggested that the enclosed spring and sealed fountain (fountains and wells being sometimes used interchangeably) described in Song of Songs chapter 4 refer to the anatomy of a virgin. Married couples are advised to drink water from their own well (Proverbs 5) and for those contemplating adultery, Proverbs 23 reminds us that “a wayward wife is a narrow well,” not likely to be a source of delight for very long.

In John’s gospel, chapter 4, we discover another well, one of only a few references to wells and springs in the New Testament, and another woman, the celebrated “Woman at the Well.” This unnamed Samaritan is a very different lady to Rebekah. She too approaches a compelling stranger. His friends have left and he's alone and tired.

The place may be of significance also, for Jacob’s well, back in Genesis 33, refers to a site where Jacob took an easy option and camped near to the Canaanite city of Shechem, resulting in the subsequent rape of his daughter Dinah by the son of a Shechemite ruler, the first rape mentioned in the bible.

The Samaritan woman at the well is no innocent virgin. She sounds intelligent. She discusses spiritual concepts. She was probably beautiful – she certainly had no trouble attracting men. But she’s been around. She wouldn’t ever be seen as a desirable wife. No social life for her. She’s an outcast, gossiped about, likely as not to seduce a husband. She makes the trek for water alone in the afternoon sun.

There’s a man who wants a drink. What thoughts might have run through her mind? Maybe, like Rebekah, she was looking for a different life. What could he offer her? What could she offer him? He will even drink from her cup, Samaritan pariah that she is. What does he really want?

Was this a chance encounter? I believe not. He was waiting for her. She was looking for someone to satisfy the deep, lonely, heartbroken emptiness inside her. Like many of our "chance encounters" with someone we know, in stores, out walking, wherever;  God is waiting to reveal Himself.

Go and get your husband, says Jesus.
 I don’t have one.
 No, you’ve had five.
I see you’re a prophet.

It’s an interesting exchange. Why did she call him a prophet after he stated the number of “husbands” she’d had?  He knew all about her. What’s more, she knew he knew.  He knew how many sexual partners, when, who. Some could have been legitimate husbands. It was easy enough for men to gain a bill of divorcement in that time. Some could have been lovers. Some could have been abusers. In a culture where virginity was prized, what was the future for a woman who had suffered from incest or rape? Who knows what this woman's past history had been? Jesus did.

Jesus proclaims himself the Messiah to this hurting individual, offering her “living water”. An amazing transformation occurs. For the first time she’s invited to feel clean on the inside, freed from a life of bondage and sin, and in a lasting relationship with someone who loves her unconditionally, faithfully and respectfully. 

The outcast is changed into an evangelist who witnesses to her neighbours. She becomes one of the most well-known characters of the Bible, her story ministering through the centuries.

In any given group of men and women there will be those whose sexual history is uncomplicated and joyful. For others there may be great sadness over a record of wrong choices, or no choice at all. Rebekah and the unnamed Samaritan women may seem worlds apart. Yet they are united in demonstrating that in all circumstances God loves and esteems his created people and is in the business of redeeming their fallen lives.

God has a plan for every person who desires in repentance and faith to be in relationship with Him. As we seek to know Him through reading the Bible, prayer and Christian fellowship in a caring church, He will lead each one into the life that He has planned. He is the true lover of our souls, our Creator, Saviour, Counsellor, and so much more. Praise Him.

"To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life." Rev 21:6




The Tear



I saw the tear
before he turned away
and bade goodbye
And gave it not a thought
As the money pouch burned
its expectation
into my mind
I saw the tear
But I laughed
at his foolishness

In my swineherd’s rags
I recall
a dancing enchantress
a revelling drunkard
and the friends of my
pocket and table
abandoned, the gut twisting
hunger envelops, the bitter winds
seep into my soul
and more painful than this
I remember
The tear

He is waiting
He is watching
Arms outstretched in welcome

Father
Let me kneel at your feet
bury my face in your arms
Receive my pain
Forgive my shame
Accept your servant

He bids me rise
and I see
His tears, and then
My Father’s smile


copyright Josephine Collett 2012
(The story of the prodigal son is found in the gospel of Luke, chapter 15, verses 11-32)

Monday 23 April 2012

A Healing Exercise


It can be a powerful tool to write down all the things you're feeling when a situation has hurt you deeply.  An exercise I developed myself  was to write down your feelings or what has hurt you, (in point form or notes or a letter, any way that you choose), then read through slowly, concentrating on a sentence or even a word or two at a time. Reflect on how God would minister His love through each bad experience. Underneath or alongside, write a  positive sentence for each. For example you might write "she lied to me" and alongside write "Thank You God that Your words are always true" Each negative thing becomes an opportunity for God to demonstrate His love. It deepens and strengthens our relationship with Him. If you wish, after you have finished, you could choose to delete the list of hurt feelings. The positive replacements are a joy and comfort from God and a reminder of His victory over sin and hurt in your life. This was the result of one such exercise that I wrote, with the hurts deleted and replaced with a focus on God  :



Lord Jesus
You care about how I feel.
You stand beside me always.
You bind my wounds, You comfort me. You speak to me.
You validate me. You understand me.
I am your precious daughter, God.
I can let go of my hurts and give them to You for Your attention.
I can feel secure in Your presence anywhere, even in the presence of those who hurt me.
You lead me and appreciate me.
You know my heart when I speak to You.
You treat me with the greatest of love and respect.
You know what has happened to me and You will defend me.
You are my strong protector.
You will lead me into the paths of true friendship and honesty.
Your Holy Spirit will be my Comforter and Counsellor and will enable me to honestly and sincerely minister Your love to other people.
My walk with You will be real.

Thank You, Lord Jesus


Friday 13 April 2012

Signatures

 

 

Renoir to Picasso Exhibition, Brisbane 2001

 

Ah, if I could paint pictures like you, Renoir,
She states, with inestimable effrontery,
Pictures that soar in the mind like graceful birds,
Cadences of colour, that glorious memory of
wonder retained.
Yet I have only words, unworthy words,
Humble words,
A thumbnail sketch to depict a masterpiece.
Would that I could capture the essence of those images
that flows, in a river of eyes and trees and light,
Alas, as I bathe
It trickles like liquid sunshine through my grasping fingers
and cupped palms.
Words, regretful words,
Only love and desire of love remain
Like the thrilling signatures of those beloved:
Renoir, Monet, Cézanne,
Whose eyes and hands and loving hearts
created beauty.

copyright Jo Collett 18/5/01



I will never forget visiting the Renoir to Picasso Exhibition at the Queensland Art Gallery in 2001. After years of viewing images of great masterpieces in books and online, here were some originals in the gallery in front of my eyes. It was a wonderful privilege to see them. I was particularly struck by the signatures. Renoir’s hand had signed his name. Monet had written this. Unmistakable as they might be without, the paintings were indelibly connected by a signature to the artist. The names identified each as an expression of that person’s talent, love, life. For a true artist, his or her work is not what he does, it is who he or she is, a complete expression of self. It pours from the heart, a lifelong quest, a search for completeness and perfection.

God tells us through His word that “ we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10). I’d like my life to be like one of those paintings. Colour, light and darkness, movement, stillness, people, places, things, beauty, purpose, relationships. Even before they saw the signature, I’d want anyone who saw my life to know who the artist was. God the Father, Jesus Christ His Son and His Holy Spirit. His workmanship. His name upon my life. My Creator.

Thursday 12 April 2012

Dawn

Easter Sunday. We sit, chairs positioned on the dew laden grass, in a cool Australian autumn morning. The lightning sky holds promise of another fine day. Above, the towering eucalypts are alive with the sound of squawking lorikeets.
Our pastors gently strum chords on their guitars and in harmony of sound and spirit we welcome this new day, so symbolic of our new existence in our risen Saviour. We wait for the sun to gently tip over the edge of the surrounding mountain range, flooding our little grassy churchyard with its warmth and brilliant light.

“emptied Himself of all but love
and died for Adam’s helpless race”

As we sing the familiar strains of Charles Wesley’s beautiful hymn, “And Can it Be” the Spirit really prompts my attention to these two lines in particular. So often we see things in focus or in a different way through the Holy Spirit.

I look around at my brothers and sisters in Christ.
We are a group of frail, fallen people. We are helpless in sin. Adam and Eve sinned and through them, humanity was cursed. The sins of the fathers were visited on the sons. (Exodus 20:5). The legacy of sin was bequeathed to their children and their children’s children. Every person ever born on this earth has needed a Saviour. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
We cannot undo the things we have done, or unspeak the words we have said. So often we are blinded to our own faults and sinfulness. While we live in human form, we will struggle in the flesh to become more like Christ.
God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).
We remember all You have given Lord. We thank You that Your death was not the end. Today we celebrate the fact that You conquered death and rose again. You are the living, risen Christ who reigns on high. You make a way for us to be in right relationship with our Heavenly Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three in one, blessed Trinity.

Easter morning. The Son has risen.

Thursday 5 April 2012

Blood in the Garden


Dark night of the soul
Lonely night of the mind
Cruel night for the body
Friends left behind

Through the Spirit’s eyes
You saw pits of hell
Your life’s blood surrendered
as innocence fell

Poured out your life
as an offering
for human redemption
the Perfect Ones’ suffering

and You groaned in the presence
of what was to come
sweated blood for salvation
toiled to carry us home

May each drop raise to glory
the ones who have said
There is no other Lord than he
whose sweat was stained red


copyright  Josephine Collett 30/9/2010