The Darkest Day

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The one on whom we pinned our hopes is now forever gone;
His broken, twisted corpse has shown all witnesses Rome won!
His promises of life and mercy clearly all a fraud,
Hide and lock yourselves away before you face a vicious sword!

What was he thinking? When they came he told us not to fight,
He surrendered with such calm, as if he controlled that night.
We could have made a break for it and seen another day,
With all the wonders that he worked, there had to be another way…

When he merely said his name, they all fell to the ground,
Wasn’t he supposed to clear the temple then be crowned?
Clearly not, no king would choose to die the way he did,
When morning comes it will be time that we all fled and hid.

Deny you ever knew him, or you’ll share his shameful fate;
Our home towns might just take us back, if it’s not too late.
Our women want to see the tomb, embalm his body right,
There they go, despite the gloom of dawn’s approaching light…

Different Eyes

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This is one of the first songs I ever wrote, with a very simple haunting guitar accompaniment (stretching my very poor guitar skills to the limit). I was sure I had it written down somewhere but couldn’t find it, so have reconstructed it from what I remember. It is about Good Friday, which is today. If I can get them finished in time, I hope to have a poem about Easter Saturday up tomorrow, and one about Easter Sunday the day after, we’ll see how that goes. Continue reading →

Book Review: The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach by Michael R. Licona

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Given that Easter is upon us, I’d like to do something a little different.

A few months back, one very intelligent man whose opinions I deeply respect on a number of matters (he’s an agnostic, or at least he was at the time, he prefers to keep his beliefs to himself) was asked what single event in history he would choose to witness if he had a time machine. He replied the resurrection, since it would answer a lot of questions.

My response was to recommend the next best thing to such a time machine that I know of, which is the book I am about to review here.
The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach by Michael R. Licona is the most thorough and balanced treatment of the subject I have ever seen in a single volume. Recommendations for further reading are given, but here is a brief summary of some of the topics covered: Continue reading →

Nobility Among Us available for free on Amazon Prime

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Due to an eye problem and severe headaches, I am unable to look at computer screens for long, so there will be no major post this week, only an announcement that Nobility Among Us is available for free via Amazon Prime (It can be borrowed for free for an unlimited period if you have such an account. It has been this way for a long time, but I neglected to formally announce that fact).

Far Above

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Far above the haggard woe
Of life lived purely here below
That seeks to merely join the flow
Ignorant of heaven’s glow;

Unbounded joys and passions strong,
Glorious hopes for which we long
We ally with a holy throng
To put right what has gone so wrong

We walk a tightrope every day,
We treasures housed in pots of clay,
To keep desires most foul at bay
By following the narrow way.

We face our doubts, confront our fears,
Hear news unpleasant to our ears;
Times will come to shed great tears
In these dramatic holy years.

To those we hurt we make amends
Although truth oftentimes offends.
When evil’s dark deception ends
We’ll celebrate with our true friends.

Aflame with glory, clothed in white
Each heart will lift at the great sight
Of that vast city, shining bright
Filled with holy healing light.

Life in abundance evermore
We can’t imagine what’s in store
For those who worship and adore;
Come join us, always room for more.

The Joy (and Terror) of Judgement Day – Part Two

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Where I wanted to go with last week’s post reminded me of something from a little series I wrote a decade ago entitled ‘Thoughts Inspired by Psalms’, my first attempt at a series of opinion pieces. The first piece was translated into Czech and published in the national newsletter of the Czech Salvation Army (looking back now, it is probably the weakest of them all and most in need of revision, I have learned a lot since then). This is the second: Continue reading →

The Joy (and Terror) of Judgement Day – Part One

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So, following on from last week’s entry, your life on earth is borrowed, your possessions are borrowed, the atoms in your body are all borrowed, your every waking (and sleeping) moment is borrowed, entrusted to you.

This reminded me of the words of the Inquisitor from Red Dwarf:

“You have been granted the greatest gift of all, the gift of life. Tell me, what have you done to deserve this superlative good fortune?”

It is a sobering question, because the honest answer is nothing. Life has been granted to us not out of obligation to us for something we have done, not a reward or wages, but as a gift, the greatest of gifts, perhaps even something, dare I say it, that is worth being grateful for in of itself.

In context however, that is not really the question that the Inquisitor was asking. What he was asking was far more serious, even terrifying:

You have been given this astounding gift, this incredible range of opportunities. What have you done with them to justify this enormous investment in you? What reasons will you give to dissuade me from erasing you from history and giving your opportunities to someone else? Continue reading →

The Joy of Borrowed Time

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The Parable of the Drill

Let’s begin with a little parable. A man wishes to build a support frame in his garden to hang a swing for his children on, but finds that he needs to drill holes in the beams so they can be bolted together.

He is on good terms with his neighbour, so he walks over to the fence between their two gardens.

“Hey Frank!”

“Hey, Bill. What is it?”

“Could I borrow a drill?”

“I don’t have one, but I can borrow one from Jim next door.”

Frank walks across his garden to the fence on the other side and calls across: “Hey Jim!”

“Hey, Frank. What can I do for you?”

“Could I borrow a drill?”

“Hang on a sec, I’ll go and borrow one from Greg next door.”

Jim asks to borrow from Greg, who asks to borrow from Mark, who asks to borrow from Neil… You get the idea.

Continue reading →

Mum to Be

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The talented artist who did the cover and internal artwork for Nobility Among Us has a birthday tomorrow and is expecting her first child after many years of longing for such a blessing, so here’s to you, Anna! (I don’t know if it’s going to be a boy or girl, so if it does turn out to be a girl, please replace all instances of his/him with her.)

Mum to Be

Mum to be at thirty-seven
Waiting for a piece of heaven
In human form to join the world
His beauty slowly here unfurled

Days of discomfort, restless nights,
Aching backs and little frights,
Hormones toss and turn your moods,
Grant appetites for curious foods.

At times you’ll feel you cannot cope;
Those storms will pass, do not lose hope.
Pain like you’ve never known will come
But then at last you’ll be a mum.

A look upon your baby sweet
Will fill your heart with love complete
The challenges have just begun
As you walk down the path marked “Mum”

Adventures, joys, discoveries
An album of sweet memories
And messes, tears and nappies piled
All worth it when you see him smile.

The Joy of the Immaterial and Material

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The English word ‘immaterial’ has an interesting couple of meanings, based on two different meanings of their root word, matter. One meaning of matter, that of physical substance, has it’s root in the latin word materia, ‘substance, timber’. The other, that of the subject or problem under discussion comes from the word mater, ‘mother’, i.e. what gave rise to this discussion. These two roots give rise to the two meanings that at first glance may seem highly related, especially given the materilistic slant of much of Western popular philosophy, that

1. Something immaterial is something that cannot be physically interacted with, which has no resting mass,

2. Something immaterial is something that is irrelevant, something that makes no difference to the discussion at hand.

Some people seem to act as though one meaning is the same as the other, that whatever cannot be physically interacted with is irrelevant and makes no difference, effectively (or literally) not existing at all.

Let’s look at that for a moment. Think of your favourite story. What is it, materially? Continue reading →