Rupert Bear on the radio

I've just turned on my radio - I do from time to time,
A man was reading Christian verse, it really was a crime,
The tone of voice 'twas dripping honey, so sincere, so blinking funny!

Thought he was speaking holy writ. Like Olivier? Nah, like a twit!
And every stanza worked so well, it really was a rhyming hell!
His tomes were reaching to God aloft - I had enough, I turned it off.

Strange how many think that Church,
being a place where people come to seek God's face
Need to make the whole thing rhyme
And yet when gazing at His creation,
Ebola, ISIS, war and starving nation:

It doesn't!

Footprints - part of Holy Writ? (3)

The famous 'Butt prints in the sand' version:

One night I had a wondrous dream,
One set of footprints there was seen,
The footprints of my precious Lord,
But mine were not along the shore.

But then some stranger prints appeared,
And I asked the Lord, "What have we here?"
Those prints are large and round and neat,
"But Lord they are too big for feet."

"My child," He said in somber tones,
"For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait."

"You disobeyed, you would not grow,
The walk of faith, you would not know.
So I got tired, I got fed up,
and there I dropped you on your butt."

"Because in life, there comes a time,
when one must fight, and one must climb.
When one must rise and take a stand,
or leave their butt prints in the sand."

(Suggested by the Pioneer Minister ;-)  )

Footprints - part of Holy Writ? (2)

There are many really interesting parodies of 'footprints'. This offering is one from an obviously Catholic source and uses the vehicle that is 'footprints' in a rather pointed manner:

Footprints - part of Holy Writ? (1)

Many years ago (when the earth was young) I was sitting in a service one day when one of the church members got up to do a 'reading'. Now the reason for the ' '  is that what they got up and read wasn't, as was the usual practice, something from the Bible but that wonderfully reflective offering ' Footprints'. To top it all when she had finished reading it, in unusually hushed and sombre tones, she added an 'Amen' for good measure and walked away looking as if she had just read something that had just come down from the mountain.

"Hey Ho!" I thought (as I often do) - whatever floats your boat. But sadly, that day, I remember that we didn't get another reading and this was indeed the text from which the sermons was to be drawn.

As much as I think there is something wonderfully supportive and true in the words of footprints, I'm not so sure that I'd place it us there alongside scripture and even if I was to use it as the primary focus of a sermon, I would be looking at passages that could be drawn in to support, challenge and bless.

With that in mind, I have to say that the cartoon below (which I first saw this morning) made me smile as I sat in my study (now a balmy 11.7 degrees C) and so I thought I'd perhaps share it with you as I embark on a journey that considers footprints (and perhaps some others that I struggle with) and the reasons for it.

Please feel free to offer correctives and bring other perspective into the process - This is merely my brain bleeding onto the keyboard and screen (now there's a nice Advent image for us all):

Pax

Dodgy Doggerel - man and God!

A circumstance I find quite odd is those who live denying God
Yet when disaster comes a calling upon whose name are they a calling?

Wickedness done, who shall we blame, who carries the can?
The choice is surely God or man;
It isn't me it must be God, to blame another would be odd
"Why did God let it happen?' is our cry,
As innocently we pass by.

But those who choose to live apart
from God
and so deny His heart
and love
and justice
and mercy too,
must bear the blame for this human zoo
for greed
and murder,
rape
and pillage;
these things define our global village.

And in the cold light of day,
whilst choosing to live in our own way,
we cheat
and lie
and steal
and kill
and look to God to pay our bill;
and stop the wars
and set us free?

He has

He did it on a tree!