Pentecost 3

“Our life is as a fire dampened,

or as a fire shut up in store.

Dear children, it must blaze …”

anonymous

Burning, fiery brightness,

Blazing from hot heaven,

Blazing, consuming, destroying, refining

Come, O come –

Make ashes and smoke of all that is dead within me;

dead wood,

thorns of bitterness,

mould of resentment,

love false, dire, forgotten, faded

like an old photograph.

No life there.

Burn, oh burn with living intensity,

And fashion from the ashes and smoke

A new life,

Clear,

Radiant with power of your brightness, –

the warmth and strength of your mother-love

Holding, protecting, blessing

With the healing power

Flowing out from you

to the broken,

the sorrowing,

the afflicted,

the poor.

O Jesus,

All brightness,

Flame, heat of desire

For fullness of life

To bless your most beloved children,

Come to us, oh come –

And bless us with your most precious Gift;

May we, too, be clothed with power from on high.

My children,

I would give you the fire from heaven,

Poured out in armfuls of flames

To clothe you with glorious brightness –

New light, life, leaping,

Dancing, colours, crackle,

To warm and glow, and renew you

Through and through

My beloved children,

I would give you the power from on high,

the water that turns to wine

Your dullness, dreary dreaming.

Brimful I would have you be

As those jars at Cana,

Spilling over,

Bursting with new wine,

As of the promised banquet

That is to come.

O how I long for you to come

And share with me,

With my Father,

the glory we have had together

from the beginning,

From before the world was made;

This foretaste now,

A faint shadow only

Of the glorious banquet

That is to be.

So take my Gift –

It is my joy to give –

For you to share,

Throwing about in armfuls

Like children splashing in the sea,

And tell my other children

All to come and share

This marvellous feast with me.

The blind indeed will have new sight,

The lame leap with joy,

And the tongue of the dumb

Shall sing my praises

Over all the earth.

Do not hold back

Shout it out, my glory;

Do not be afraid or ashamed

To tell this good, great news.

Here, receive my power from on high –

Hold out your hands, heart, mind,

Open – Receive

As the humble earth her seeds.

I come to you

Will you receive me

In flame of power and healing love?

Do not reject me, as before,

Closing the door of your mind, heart;

You did not recognise me then

When I came to you as man,

Carpenter, wanderer –

Will you recognise me now

When I come in tongues of ecstasy,

Healing,

Prophesying,

Guiding?

O my children,

How I long to give you

Such marvellous gifts.

Open your hearts –

I stand, longing, at your door,

knocking, eager, waiting –

Will you allow me entrance?