The Resurrection and the Life – 16th May 2022

 The Resurrection and the Life

 – 16^th May 2022

 

Twas Thor’s Day, cold and Autumnal,

Cone Man contemplated life’s twilight years.

Youthful dreams, leavened by many a fall,

Wasted time the worst of his fears.

 

Five and twenty years in librarianship vested,

Only to see this career sprawl in the dust.

By life’s disappointments sorely tested,

Continue to strive middle aged males must.

 

Others had far better reason to despair,

Martha and Mary, sisters of poor dead Lazarus.

Man of their family, their brother, their care,

Lazarus lay in his tomb making no fuss.[1]

 

Their old world was ending,

And indeed, would truly end.

Their new world was pending,

The temple’s curtain it would rend.[2]

 

Bethany, Jesus finally approached,

“Lord, if you had been here,

My brother would not have died.”

Martha and Mary tearfully reproached.[3]

“Lazarus, come out.”[4] Jesus cried,

From the opened tomb Lazarus approached.[5]

 

“I am the resurrection and the life.”[6]

 

 

 

© Craig Turney

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[1] John 11:17

[2] Mark 15:38

[3] John 11:21;33

[4] John 11:43

[5] John 11:44

[6] John 11:25

The Way and the Truth and the Life – 6th May 2022

 The Way and the Truth and the Life – 6^th May 2022

 

Twas Wodin's Day, in a world worrisome,

Lon, La Tes Tribe’s Lord,

Paid a mighty premium,

Pouring wealth from his hefty hoard,

Unleashing outraged pandemonium,

Lon was now Twitter’s Overlord.

 

Lon's acquisition prompted wild hope,

Others expressed wary derision.

‘Free Speech’ party saw Lon as their Pope,

‘Social Justice’ saw a source of division.

 

Lon believed Twitterverse was big enough,

To accommodate myriad clashing visions.

'Social Justice' thought 'Free Speech" hateful, rough,

'Free Speech' thought 'Social Justice' enslaved to fickle fashions.

Both parties thought the other full of villains,

Neither party understood opposing passions.

 

None doubted that men lied,

Or truthfully spoke nonsense.

Men whose truthfulness was their pride,

Were often misinformed, ignorant or dense.

 

Men could not make perjury a hanging offense,

Men had to err on the safe side.

Politicians showed uncommon common sense:

Enact capital punishment for perjury, and you died.

 

“So” Cone Man reflected,

“The question is not who is lying,

but who is telling the truth?

And how to prove that you’re not lying?”

 

“Statements” he shrugged,

“The greater they come, the harder they fall”.

The harsh reality was simple and rugged:

Absolute claims were divine truth or demonic gall.

One absolute statement surmounted them all,

Jesus was who he claimed, or a madman or fiend.

 

“I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me”.[1]

 

© Craig Turney

 

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[1] John 14:6

The Gate – 3rd May 2022

 The Gate – 3^rd May 2022

 

Twas the Day of Mars, a marching day,

Cone Man engaged in an epic journey.

Seeking riches, making his manly way,

By rail canoe to Wellesley’s Town.

 

Seeking a post at the Hall of Wisdom,

Famous House of Chief Turning Bull.

Sadly, frustrated in this bid for freedom,

Finding no room at the Inn.

 

Keeping his manly calm,

Returning to the Land of the Huttites,

He next employed his considerable charm,

Offering his services to the Salvationites.

Their chieftainess, to his alarm,

Was too engaged with Managerites.

Twice finding the gate closed,

Cone Man wondered “Where is the gate?”

The “Gate”, was a person, he supposed,

If some person would let him in, great!

 

Thwarted in his search for the earthly “gate”,

Realising worldly position was temporal.

Ultimately needing a post in the Eternal Estate,

He’d have to find the One True “Gate” for real.

 

A long time ago, in a land far away,

A carpenter from Nazareth claimed:

“I am the gate,

whoever enters through me will be saved.”[1]

 

© Craig Turney

 

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[1] John 10:9

The Light of the World – 2nd May 2022

The Light of the World – 2^nd May 2022

 

Cone Man’s alarm rang too soon,

On the Day of the Moon.

Yet face the week he must,

Before more time turned to dust.

 

Time waited for no man, nor his game,

Cone Man’s body out of bed he lugged.

Thirty years earlier he’d pulled his weary frame,

Out of bed, when younger and more rugged.

“The more things change, the more they are the same”,

The Gallic tribe wryly shrugged.

 

Darkness cast a long shadow,

Over a troubled world.

Conquest, War, Famine and Death,[1]

Upon the Earth were hurled.

 

Political leaders tried all they knew,

Financial wizards were glum.

Looking around, they felt blue,

Seeking security at conference and forum.

 

Lights were going out all over Europe,

Particularly where there was no gas.

Many a chieftain tried to create hope,

Only to find that events made them an ass.

 

Darkness, try as it might, couldn’t extinguish,

One remaining, shining, radiant light.[2]

A still small voice[3] cried to men in their anguish:

“I am the light of the world.”[4]

 

© Craig Turney

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[1] Revelations 6: 1-8

[2] John 1:5

[3] 1 Kings 19: 12

[4] John 8:12