The “Wow” Commission Offered by Doug Blair, Kitchener ON, 2021
Great and Good High Captain
on October 16, 20
The calling of Matthew by Caravaggio
I need you now And will not stray Lord help me Grace To guide today To know the hurt I am to heal To hear the needs
1
Of suffering real. Lord use me as Your will proclaims Providing chance And hearts and names. For nothing else Should guide my years Once handicapped By self and smears The smears of doubt And hurt giv'n sway. But praise you, gone They are today. You called me lost I came to see That life with You
2
Was full and free Just listening For the call within Ignoring hate And greed and sin. I must believe I'm born again Brought way up past The ways of men. All done by You Our Great High Priest To partner with The very least.
Matthew the Publican
3
I am thinking of Matthew, a Jesish man hired by Roman occupiers to levy taxes from the citizens, using extortion if necessary. This profession was feared and loathed, as a betrayal to the God of Israel and to Jewish neighbours. Consequently he found himself much alone and resorting to other publicans who spoke most often about money and methods. But then came a day when at his post he thought about a miracle he had either heard of or seen. The rabbi Jesus had been teaching in a home crowded with enthusiastic listeners. No doubt subjects taught included the Kingdom of Heaven, Mercy, the Love of His Heavenly Father and the delightful prospect of forgiveness and freedom from guilt. Suddenly the presentation was interrupted by noises from the roof about. Some men were zealously tossing off the tiles, creating a hole with sunlight blasting. They lower by rope a friend, a cripple on his portable bed. Jesus watched the whole thing with delight and compassion. Soon he was to raise the man to full function, telling him also that his sins were forgiven. This remarkable vignette was to change Matthew’s life forever. The man invited Jesus to a meal with many questionable guests of his past included. Religious frauds took offence that Jesus would attend. But He had other motives, enlightening and redeeming ones. (Mark 2: 1-17)
4
Self Doubt Shall Lose Its Hold
You probably think You don’t stand a chance The past full of stains And base darkened plans. You’ve lived with it now So dismally long You cringe as you hear Of Calvary’s song. Two thieves were upraised For some heinous crimes With Christ in their midst And crowds screaming “Shame”. The one saw Him weak As hate jeered below. 5
The other saw King And wanted to know. Could he be included In bright Kingdom come. And Jesus responded It’s done Friend, It’s done. Now where do you fit In this timeless tale? The offer a free gift No purchase, no sale. You feel it? The pull? The miracle relief? An end to all doubting Self-loathing and grief.
A Crumbling Clan 6
I can tell you how He helped me. I can tell you what He said. I consider each day gifted. I have lost my greatest dread.
I embrace a broader family. I have dropped my trust in self. I am focused on the treasure, Which transcends all earthly wealth.
I would love to take you with me On this Christ-embracing trek; But I know just how the Spirit
7
First must leave your plans a wreck.
And the brokenness He looks for Seems a weakling's lot to you. And that list of natural talents, He will, every one, subdue. It must rate a poor investment While the game is still at hand, And the friends still pull the levers, And your house seems sure to stand.
But if Love once grabs the heart strings And reveals the Cross in power, You may join the clan whose crumbling Has become their finest hour.
Are you sure that it won't happen? That this Gospel is a lie? Comes to mind another breaking, But the rebel, then, was I.
8
at May 07, 2011 Labels: Bruised Corn is Bread, Poetry, Relinquish, Way of Salvation
Prayer: Lord it is a bafflement that you chose any mortal, imperfect and confused and self-centred, to enter into your Kingdom. But Love and Mercy have wooed many, so that they recognize the hunger of their hearts for righteousness. This can only be accomplished as Holy Spirit gains access to our innermost chambers. The miracle of “repentance unto life” provides the way. Let us not think that it is a cozy, pillowed, gradual evolution; rather it is a revolution, an upheaval, a glorious surrender. Initiated always by the Most High. Years ago I read a marvelous account of revival in Wales in the early twentieth century. Prayer had become delightful nourishment, community and preparation. Hear the words of one small boy at a gathering never to be forgotten: It was one of his children, raggedly clad, that left every heart in one prayer-meeting aching and yet exultant, as in his childish prayer he used phrases that must suffer in translation:“Dear Jesus, I thank thee for coming here as a poor man, so very poor - perhaps as poor as I arn. Thou couldst have chosen the finest palace in the world to be born in, but Thou wouldst have been too high for me then. But I know how to come to a manger. I wish I had been living when Thou wert here. Everybody will want to cast their crown at 9
Thy feet in heaven, but I should like to have laid my crown at Thy feet when they were stained with the dust of the road, bleeding and wounded.” Besides this child’s personal sentiment of Jesus, we place this portion of a womans prayer:“Dear Saviour, I thank Thee that Thou wert crucified with Thine arms outstretched, to show that there is welcome for every one to come to Thee. Oh, I thank Thee that the old devil was not allowed to tie Thy hands behind Thy back, or at Thy side, or folded on Thy breast, but outstretched wide, to tell the world world to come to Thy bosom. Until these last days my prayer was very small - for myself, for my friends, for Wales; but I have looked between the outstretched arms, and now Lord, save the whole world! Save everybody!” Taken from With Christ Among the Miners by H.Elvet Lewis
10
11