A prayer poem byJon Elvrum
These are times of great disarray it might appear that God has for a time, turned away. Eli. Eli! Lama sabacthani! There is death, and doubt, there is arrogance and terror there is confusion there is lying and disreputable behavior It seems that God does not know what to do, or where we are. God knows exactly where we are. We are standing by a bloody Nile, no longer a river, but a torn artery hemorrhaging blood, not water, Dead, stinking fish line the shore Pharoah is unimpressed. After all, he thinks that he is God, What would impress him was not a dead fish. Pharoah is an arrogant man. Dead fish are not enough. A week passed and Moses returned to Pharoah He restated the case: Let my people go and worship their Lord! Pharoah was unpersuaded. Frogs were the next plague. Not annoying groups of 10 or 15 frogs in a blockage of a pathway, or a closet, but millions of frogs, hopping along roadsides, filling streets; in rooms, covering all floors, covering beds and chairs and tables, rolling across bare feet, lurking inside sandals, Frogs...everywhere. A cacaphony of frog sounds interfering with sleep and speech; frogs crawling through food plates Frogs...everywhere. "Let them go!" Pharoah said, but as the Lord restored the land, and sent all the frogs back to the Nile, Pharoah hardened his heart and reversed his promise to allow the Hebrews to go. He was the Pharoah! The truth was whatever he said it was. His truth was another's lie. He was God, in his own eyes! So, the Lord sent swarms of gnats, great swarms, so that it felt like night, dark, black midnight, impossible to see where one was going, stumbling and falling. So thick were the swarms that they clogged up the noses and stung the throats. Animals gasping everywhere, Pharoah's magicians failed and were unable to do what the Lord had done. They warned Pharoah, told him, "God's finger is in this!" Pharoah's heart grew hard, and he ignored these false profits just as the Lord said he would. And so, the next day, the Lord sent flies...by the millions, maybe billions of buzzing flies, stinging flies, unrelenting flies. The Lord spared his people by protecting the area of Goshen making it safe from all the flies, Goshen was where Hebrews had dwelled since the days of Joseph. In time Pharoah chose to lie again, he said the people could go and worship their God. Moses went before the Lord to pray that the plague would end, and the Lord ended it so that not one fly remained. But Pharoah had lied again! Pharoah hardened his heart and refused to let them leave. The fifth plague came very soon. Pharoah remained stubborn and hard-hearted. The Lord sent a plague against the farm animals, at the same time placing a protection, a covering over all the animals of the Hebrews, and so, their flocks and herds were safe. Pharoah learned that while all the Egyptian animals were destroyed, not a single Hebrew animal was lost. In spite of this, Pharoah's heart remained hardened and he continued to deny the Hebrews permission to go and worship in desert. Proud, and arrogant, cruel, evil, this man who thought of himself as God, as a holy man, is revealed as powerless and inept. He did not relent even in the face of more plagues. He was a very stubborn man. The sixth plague was delivered. Moses and Aaron were instructed to take handfuls of soot into Pharoah's presence. They were to fling the soot into the air, and where the fine black powder touched skin, fierce and festering boils appeared on the necks and faces and other exposed skin, developing painful boils. The Pharoah's magicians could not avoid the boils and they were left powerless in Pharoah's service. The seventh plague came upon Pharoah's people, attended by a stark promise to Pharoah from the Lord, Jehovah God. the Lordtold Pharoah that now, he would be dealing with Pharoah and his officials directly. Future plagues remain to come, they are fully the result of Pharoah's intransigence, his stubborn unwillingness to recognize and accept the power of the Lord God, Jehovah God, and the Lord sees that Pharoah continues to exalt himself against the Lord's people,. This time the Lord is very specific. Tomorrow at this hour I will cause the heaviest hail that has ever fallen on Egypt from the day it was founded until now. [Exodus 9:18] The Lord counsels Egyptians further: if you blieve me, take your animals, your families, your servants, and take them to a secure place out of the elements, and they will be saved because you have believed me. And then Lord instructed Moses, and everything in Egypt that had been left uncovered was destroyed. Animal and human suffered alike, no property in Egypt was unaffected. Only in Goshen, where Hebrews dwelled was there no damage. Pharoah did what he usually does. He lies. He confesses to Moses that God is right, and pharoah and his people have sinned against the Lord. Moses accepts his false answer and signals to the Lord, Pharoah's reply. As soon as the hail and winds and rain cease, Pharoah turns his back on his promise and once again hardens his heart, refusing to release the Hebrews. We see, when a man plays God even for a little while he loses more of himself, every day. Eventually he becomes completely lost, irredeemable outside of the full power of almighty God. The eighth plague is a terrible plague to consider, especially in an enhanced, advanced agricultural society, which Egypt clearly was. The eighth plague was locusts. It is difficult to explain to modern readers about locust They have been mostly contained by pesticide use in these days, so it is difficult to imagine mile long, mile wide living carpets of voracious grasshopper-looking creatures, literally eating every single scrap of grass or grain lying in a field, every tree in their path is food to them. Nothing will remain. Nothing of value remains. Where this path is taken, only devastation remains. This is the eighth plague. Men are not Gods. Nor ever will be. God, our God, knows all that can be known and all that is beyond us. Pharoah, when he had seen the devastation wrought by locusts, reached out to Moses and Aaron, beseeching them, praying for his forgiveness, and once again promising that the people will be allowed to go out into the desert to worship. At Moses prayer, the Lord created a strong west wind and blew all the locusts out, out into the Red Sea, where they perished, every one, The ninth plague was darkness.. Not just darkness, but darkness you could feel ... cold and oppresive, dense thick darkness, like pea soup, or marine fog. In this darkness, for three long days, no one could see one another. This is the darkness that attends depression...humorless, daunting, terrifying, seemingly unending and from which there is no apparent way out. It seems that this time Pharoah is going to let them go. But Pharoah presses them to leave their livestock behind, and Moses holds out for all the people and all their belongings to be allowed to leave at the same time. The Lord hardens Pharaohs heart again, and once more he refuses to let them go. In a final cry Pharoah swears to Moses that if Moses should ever see Pharoah's face again, on that day Moses will die. And Moses says to Pharoah, "As you wish. I will never see your face again". And so, the first passover is set to take place. The Lord tells Moses and Aaron that Pharoah will not speak with them again, but the Lord says the leaders of if Egypt will come and ask the Hebrews to leave at once. The tenth plague will claim the first born in every house. The Hebrews are instructed to visit all the Egyptians with whom they have found favor and ask for some token of gold or silver for them to take when they leave. Many are friendly with Egyptians, and have maintained good relationships. At the same time, the Passover lamb is established as a basic celebration meal, and importantly, the blood collected from the Passover Lamb is to be painted on to the doorposts and lintels of the doorway, so the house can be recognized by the Lord, and when He sees this blood, He will pass over it. No one in this place will die. As for Pharoah, he never did see Moses face again. But life in the times of the plagues goes forward even under great duress, and in the control of men who imagine themselves to be Gods, yet who are always broken down by history and shown to be nothing but men, weak and afraid, men who seek to control by fear, or by the exercise of raw power. In difficult times God is always present, always willing, and always God, who when we learn to trust is always able. BELIEVE! AMEN.
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We put ashes on our heads to:
-Remind us of all those around the world who are mourning and suffering -Remind us that we all have sinned, we all need repentance, all must cling to the promises and love of Christ -Remind us that in the passage of time we must all at some time, die -Remind us of Christ's suffering, death and resurrection -Remind us that in the midst if this, we are still called, named, claimed and loved Children of God PRAYER FOR FORGIVENESS Merciful God, I confess that I have not loved You with my whole heart. I have failed to be obedient. I have not done Your will, I have broken Your law, I have rebelled against Your love I have not loved my neighbors, and I have not heard the prayer of the needy. Forgive me I pray. Free me for joyful obedience, through Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. Amen When Jesus saw their faith, He said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven." Luke 5:20 and Matthew 9:1-8 I KNOW
I stand before you, a changed man. The life I once lived, I live no more; I am a man changed. Once, I thought I knew, so much more, I thought, than what was merely true. Once, I fancied myself to be wise in worldly ways, imagined I was clever, capable of carving out my own way in an unfriendly world. Once, I believed that I knew all that was needed to be a great success in the world I had set out to conquer. My wisdom was revealed to be merely worldly ignorance, a house built on sand built of sticks and straw, and being built on sand, it could not stand but swiftly collapsed during the first strong winds. I was left seated like Job, in the rubble of my life, shaken to the core, having lost faith in myself as champion, as shepherd of my soul; and more. I could not summon the strength to press on. Left, seated; defeated, and alone. I testify today to undergoing a radical reformation at the Lord's hand, one challenging all my assumptions about who I was, or what I had really accomplished within my empty life. I was compelled to see how little I had achieved by my own hand. I was disquieted deeply by those whom I had caused sadness, and brought distress and pain. I could see that most of what I considered my successes had been claimed at the expense of so many others. And then I WAS changed, transformed, with numbing and deliberate speed, into a new person, one distinct from my former self, yet, one aware of all my failings and false narratives, but also, aware that a new opportunity had come to me to recover wasted years and days, to restart my life all over, again. My life IS changed! It IS new! All doubts about my purpose in life have been erased, my purpose is aligned with the will of God, the will of Him who is able, of Him who enables me to labor in His fields, to accomplish that which, in my other life, I could not even see. I have been inhabited by the Holy Spirit since my surrender to His transforming power, since I accepted and embraced His yoke upon my shoulders. All is right. All is well. This is the way I know I should go. And now that I know, it is with Him I go! Amen. Surprise, Sorpresa, Wundern, Quelle Surprise. (English, Spanish and Italian,
German, French) Whatever the language, the word, Surprise, carries a special meaning, it is a special word with the power to change anything, to change everything to create a new circumstance to create a new paradigm to give voice and life to a real change that is at once startling and at the same time wonderfully welcome. Surprise. Can you see the hand of God? Can you hear a prayer being answered? Do you recognize a need being met? Is it your need that is being attended to? For whom is the Surprise intended? Is it for you? Is it for one for whom you pray? Surprise! It may be for all of these. It may be totally unexpected. Does it affect you deeply? Then think hard upon it until you see the hand if God within it, until you receive the surprise into yourself. When God is recognized for the gift He gives to you, or to one you pray for, or know, or care about; then be thankful. Be joyful in the thanks you give. Tell others of the gift which you receive, gifts which God has shared with you, Then, testify. Tell the story, how God is good, and you know, all over again, from this surprise, how good a God He is. Then, go... Glorify God, Grace others, Grow disciples! And when you do this, you will see. He lives! Surprise! Amen. A poem by Jon Elvrum, 1/7/2020 11/26/2019
A poem by Jon Elvrum It is You whom I see pinned, nailed to the cross dying there for me even as He is dying there for you. It is exactly this moment that has called out to me these more than twenty centuries later. See now, the moment when the sky grows dark dark as the moment seems as dark as the moment feels. I see that He has given nearly everything for us, to achieve our salvation, yours and mine. He has nearly nothing left to give...yet He is not finished. He thirsts for our redemption for our reclamation and salvation; yours mine all the lives of everyone still lost all those still unredeemed. I thirst, He said Among the seven last words recorded His words remembered, His words written down there can be found these two pain-filled words... I thirst... and a soldier squeezes vinegar into a sponge, lifts it up on spear's point history does not know if this was just more abuse or a sad attempt to offer help, even misbegotten help ... an attempt to offer something... anything that might assuage the dryness, relieve the parched throat; soothe the broken body; something offered when no other thing seemed available to give. Lord, I see that you rejected the sponge as soon as you knew it was not the water that You intended it was not the Living Water that You offered the woman at the well not the Revelation water the Holy Water, water meant to redeem water meant to restore; not the water from the rock at Meribah that kept the earliest of the Chosen together, even in their deepest disarray. It has always been about water... The creation story tells about all was water then water divided, earth formed; water mixed with earth used to form Adam. It was always about Your thirst for us always about Your love for us about Your desire that we be obedient that we come to the water that we come to You for baptism by water, water for relief water for forgiveness for healing, for cleansing, for repair, water for redemption. I thirst, He said... "Come," He said, "all who are heavy laden and I will refresh you." He offers us His water to drink... The old song says it: "Come to the water. Stand by my side. I know you are thirsty. You won't be denied..." He said it first to us, first for us. I thirst, He said. We should be obedient. We should be thirsty. We should come to the water, His water. And we should drink deep! He thirsts for us. SELAH! Amen What is meant by the promise of God? God's promises are His word: Intended for us meant for us to consider for us to meditate upon finally, for us to believe whole-heartedly in God's son believe in JESUS, the Christ; which is to do with all our hearts mind and soul all that He says. And what does He say to us? He says that the Kingdom of Heaven is near He tells us not to be afraid He invites us to come... He asks us to follow Him wherever He leads us. He promises He will never leave us, nor forsake us we will never be abandoned by Him for the only inescapable reason, for one undeniable truth, because of His Father's love and His Father's will we are secure in our position. Thanks to God's promise and God's provision We can believe the promise , we can embrace the provision We are free to join Him in His new life for us, free in wholeness, new in our restored beauty, in the final, full dimension of His perfect newness as He told us when our conversation of promise commenced, when we first explored the premise of His promise, when we began by understanding first, His Incredible Sacrifice and it's stunning result, how Christ was broken for us, How He was broken by us, broken because of us. In His suffering we are complicit, as our sins are taken and laid upon His already broken body adding to His pain the additional weight of our own sins. We are not afraid for we know the Kingdom of God is here For we have come, now knowing; we are glad to be here where His promises are no longer the subject of faith But are now the very substance of our new eternity. Us resting forever in His promise, knowing it is true. That IS Believing, and I believe it IS true. Is it also true with you? Be not afraid! The Kingdom of God is near. Come and follow. Reach out and taste His love, feel His presence. Believe He has called you to Himself. Draw near to Him, be reconciled. Do not be afraid! He has come, and He will come again! Alongside His perfect life, He has laid His perfect promise. Rejoice. Believe. Amen. A poem by Jon Elvrum, September, 2019 Poem by Jon Elvrum
Here we go again! Blessings. Lord, I have read stories of those who met you Blind no vision, perhaps blurred vision seeing figures more like trees than men. There are so many stories... Lord, I have read stories of those who encountered You who were changed forever from unclean to clean; from once deaf to now hearing from hemorrhaging to wholly restored by Your holy restoration, Lord, I have read stories. I have wondered how one can read all the stories stories of forgiveness of healing of correction and re-direction of penitence and remorse, stories so many stories, stories of sinners confronting their sin through their encounter with You sinners being changed in a radical, life-altering moment. There are so many stories told with such passionste candor such calm assurance sustained by the kind of absolute certainty which allows one to say to the powerful skeptics of their day "I only know that I was blind, but now I see!" Or, "I knew if I could touch even the hem of His robe that I would be healed." There are so many stories... With so many stories stories from Scripture with so many examples examples from old to new history, so many real life experiences about miraculous healings, of life and lives transformed; with all we know, by what we have read, what we have heard,from those we know or have known of... How can we doubt any longer? What "new" news are we awaiting? If you still doubt all this, all this gathered information, if you still wonder what to do? Then turn today turn to the one who saves to the only one who elected to die for you chose to offer himself as earnest payment for all the sins for all the evil and selfish acts ever committed even those particular and special ones all those done by you. His gift has been freely given. One time for all of time. Take the time to put your heart into a place of penitential preparation Confess that you are a sinner Say aloud, you are sorry for your sins, sorry you have been so long away, say that today, you want Him to come to make your life into a new life a changed and corrected life Declare all this in the name of the One the One who is able the only One who died to save you the only One who lives to see that you receive the gift He gave Why do you hesitate? Come to the water, He said. Drink all you will. Come to the water. "Freely, freely, you have received, Freely, freely give. Go in His name and because you beliehve, others will know that He lives." Chorus from a Christian song of praise. A poem by Jon Elvrum I never knew how lost I was
I never knew why I was lost. I thought I was my own master, my own keeper of my own keys It was not true. I thought, I knew, that life was often cruel. Was often sad, sometimes lonely and difficult to make sense of. But I believed that I would make it through to wherever was the next place to that next thing, that next situation, which always managed to occur. just before ... before I was really ready for whatever was to be; then as my ability to control events failed once again I heard a word asking me quietly if I would allow myself to be helped? if I would be still, and know who it was who could help? Who, could help, but GOD? but O how greatly did I need His help? This was a very radical idea to me, convinced as I was that only I could control my life's outcomes only I could fight my own battles, overcome my own inadequacies. My failure was very hard to embrace difficult to admit. and yet I heard You speaking into my soul and at once I knew it was You. You were with me How did You know? What could You see? Suddenly I knew that though I desperately tried to hide my failure from You, You saw it clearly. How did you see, how did You know what I so fully needed from You? You never lost sight of me, I know now that You are always aware, on the alert, ready to cover me with Your grace to cover me with Your favor to inspire me to take on a different path, a new path where I never would have gone in my own will. suddenly I am on unfamiliar yet confident ground; suddenly, I know, I feel that You are with me I am not alone. In an instant You have me, more than I can believe that I have You. How? How can this be? Because Your love is greater than my every weakness; because Your faithfulness, is stronger than my every misstep. You do the impossible. I am left to embrace the impossible things You do because of who You are and for what You have done for all of us for all of time. There are things written down in deathless Scripture never to be forgotten or ignored. We are covered and lifted up We are exalted by Your Word and by, for, and through Your Will which was always in Heaven and is now on Earth as well. How? Because You are all You have declared, so much more than we can ever merit, because, in spite of our weakness and even in our sin: we are wholly Yours forever. We are Holy! And that Is How. Let us all as one, say Amen! |
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May 2020
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