sugar and spice

Thank God for spice
and all things nice!

If you hadn't given us roots, shoots and leaves
to munch and ruminate on,
to smell and meditate on,
our monochrome world would groan in frustration,
at the scarcity of gracious, lavish taste.

I can't imagine life without curry,
or fruit cake,
or custard tart, vanilla icecream, rosemary lamb, preserved lemon tagine, salsa verde, lemon thyme chicken, sweet chai, cayenne pepper or Moroccan sweet potato soup!

I would pine and die
if all I had to eat
was tasteless gruel,
or strawberry fool,
without the strawberries,
biscuits,
or vanilla cream.

We'd be the fools
if we weren't thankful
for every delicious bite you bless us with.

The story of spice, a classic tale
of the folly of human sin.

Delicious, vital, precious treasures,
belonging to no one,
shared by all,
until capitalism,
companies,
industry,
slaves,
turned garden plants into commodities,
wasted lives, lands, luxuries,
turning nutmeg bitter with blood,
spoiling cinnamon with slaughter...

I cry out for the redemption of sugar and spice!
I look forward to the lush gardens of paradise,
where cardamom and basil grows side by side,
in verdant pleasure
for the glory of your majesty.

Amen!

imagine

Won't it be good,

when everyone worships you,

and there's no strife any more

over which God to follow.

Won't it be good when we all acknowledge

and thank you for all your goodness to us,

living in the harmony so many of us desire,

when we're truly at one with nature,

because we're at one with you,

its maker.

John asked us to Imagine

all people living as one.

I rejoice that you are bringing us,

calling us to gather

round the tree of life,

with healing leaves...

And Yusuf and I won't have to fight any more...

That'll be good.

But we only won't be arguing

because he'll be gone...

And that is where my courage fails.

No Beatle, Bono, or Bon Jovi

ever ended a song for world peace

by proclaiming damnation.

No pop songs prophesy the establishment of righteousness

by the rooting out of all evil, rejection and dishonour.

Or if they do, it's about people 'over there'

instead of the ones in here...

Am I like a mistaken German,

loving Hitler?

You're not promising an Aryan paradise,

created by the extermination of all

destructive elements.

But there are many images

of gas chambers,

melting pots,

vats and floods of blood.

I think you promise resurrection

and restoration.

But there will be a charnel house for some...

What do I do with that?

I love you.

I love that picture of perfect peace.

I hope it will come.  

never give up, never surrender.

"That is why we never give up.
Though our bodies are dying, 
our spirits are being renewed every day.
For our present troubles are small
and won't last very long.
Yet they produce for us 
a glory that vastly outweighs them
and will last forever!
So we don't look at the troubles 
we can see now; 
rather, we fix our gaze 
on things that cannot be seen."*


It seems like a bizarre solution, God;
to stare into the distance at what we can't even see, 
like lunatics dancing in an Elysian field, 
when they're actually standing in the middle of a busy highway
about to get slammed by a semi. 


It seems like a hopeless solution, God;
to regard our present troubles as small and fleeting, 
when the fear and dread and weight of them 
far outweighs the phantasmagorical mirage of future glory.


It seems like a pointless solution, God;
to never give up though our bodies are dying, 
a hopeless, helpless battle we cannot win. 
A solution that feels ineffective against the current situation. 


We cry out to you in desperate hope. 


I pray for us all that it is not a 
turning
only
in 
a feeble
frantic
grab
for last minute items 
at the express checkout. 


I pray for us instead
that it is a 
rich
deep
joyful
lasting
hope
that worthily honours
your righteous, 
holy,
perfect and 
loving self. 


I pray for firm resolve,
steadfast love,
faithful endurance, 
quiet joy
and 
perfect peace.


Amen. 


*2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NLT.