cross

We come with a renewed view

/ Joy Lenton / 12 Comments

a renewed view cross - PJ

It’s Holy Week and we come with a renewed view as we approach the calendrical remembrance of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Two thousand years of history as a body of believers marks us out in society as souls who have accepted salvation in Jesus and surrendered to God’s work in us.

We bear a banner of faith and hope to hurting souls, a breath of Holy Spirit air to those dying on the inside, a haven of peace and rest to the stressed and depressed as we share The Way to become eternally set free from the fear, sin and pain of our fallen humanity.

We are Christ followers, His grace revealers, Truth sharers and burden bearers as we carry the holy weight of the cross before a waiting world, and the sorrows etched within it to our loving Saviour.

We are also eager for them to see the other side of the cross and the new life ready to be birthed on the inside by believing in Him.

In the sharing of His Passion and suffering, we too walk the lonely road toward crucifixion, ours being a spiritual one – a daily dying to self and the resurrection powered, liberating living of a Spirit-led life.

We come with hearts heavy at the enormity of the task before our Lord, and with hearts made free by the very act of His willing surrender.

Each day we live with the potential of life transforming change wrought by the cross, and the glory of the empty tomb before us, but never more so than during a week of walking the path of remembrance with Jesus.

Our view is renewed in the remembrance, hearts are made warm with wonder and minds remain amazed by the selfless act of pure unmerited grace that has bought our freedom at such a great price.

A renewed view

We come with a renewed view

as we gain sight of the road

rising up to meet us,

the long one paved in agony

on which we have placed our feet,

soled in faithful pilgrimage.

Blood marks the path before us

as Via Dolorosa rises strong

to claim our heart’s affections

for what Christ wrought true

as He courageously fought

on a cross carved out of wood.

Staked out on this lonely hill

where His disciples gather still

JoyLenton2016

a renewed view poem pin PJ

New life through death

/ Joy Lenton / 4 Comments

kaleidoscope PJ file image

As Holy week comes toward its grand finale, it’s good to pause and consider the cost of our salvation.

I am pondering all that led to Jesus’ death and what it really means to live in the light of His finished work on the cross.

All that is lifeless within can be enlivened by His Spirit and changed by His grace.

New life through death.

New birth and new beginning.

We ponder and we wonder anew at all Jesus went through to bring us back to God the Father, to restore all that the enemy has stolen.

There is so much more here than one poem can convey.

Far more than I can easily express.

But I hope it will give you a tiny glimpse behind the scenes of Christ’s path to Calvary and its tremendous implications for all mankind.

‘An enlivening spark’

Kaleidoscope colours in your life and mine

collide in varied hues of the human condition

Fractured, splintered at times beyond recognition

So many shade to grey, loom dim and dark

without that vital, enlivening spark

We rest beneath the shadow of the cross

A place which collects all our pain and loss

We crest the hill of Golgotha rising

Eyes straining to see beyond its horizon

We witness a sacred flood of crimson-red

where our Saviour suffered, died and bled

Our own violence and tears join hands

with the punishment our sin demands

Kneeling, weeping, wondering anew

as resurrection Light and power break through

with glory, radiance of Love divine

©JoyLenton2015

cross PJ file image

Growing strong

/ Joy Lenton / 18 Comments

On a day when M.E symptoms are invasive, pain ever-present and mind fibro-fogged, I am thankful to God for enough energy and inspiration to join in (a little late) with the creative writing exercise that is Five Minute Friday.

Here, we forget about perfection and write free-flowing, as it comes, for 300 short seconds.

Then we link up to read one another’s work and offer encouragement, because that’s what it’s all about.

The prompt is:‘Tree’

START…

‘As oaks’

We sway, soft saplings weakly quivering in the breeze,

liable to snap, full of fragility, mere semblance of trees.

Supported, staked round, we swell slow

to sit rooted in solid ground.

Our branches thicken over years, becoming weather-resistant,

no longer so suggestive of disruption, surrender and tears.

Leaves begin to unfurl delicate to heat of Son

as sap runs through our bodies

and we expand to sing a universal song.

Tiime and tests strengthen our frame as we sit

rooted, deep in soil of Word and Name,

become as oaks ~ mighty, wide and strong,

encompassing, giving, enduring many years long.

Or bent and broken, storm~withered, dry and dying,

lifeless, weak, we sigh to ground,

longing for nourishment we need and seek.

Drinking deep draughts from waters of grace

and refreshment again, we rise high

 to tower over all our trials

and gain a view of heaven,

midst bare branches of a cross

stretched out for us.

©JoyLenton2013

STOP

“But blessed is the man who trusts me, God, the woman who sticks with God. They’re like trees planted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers ~ never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season” ~ Jeremiah 17:7 – 8

Linking here with Lisa-Jo Baker for Five Minute Friday. You are warmly invited and encouraged to join in.