Amy’s Wedding

I’ve just been to the wedding of a girl I’m proud to know.

I met her when she was quite small and I’ve watched her grow.

She came along to cricket to support her Dad

And, with her sister, did her best to try to make me mad!

They would pinch my cricket cap and jump upon my tummy

Despite the remonstrations from their strict but loving Mummy!

She sat behind me in our church and always made me smile

Until the choir position changed in a little while

I watched her in the Christmas plays the little children do

She always had a roguish smile and sense of humour too!

I helped with the youth group when she was in her teens

As they learned what following our gracious Saviour means

With her great friends Anna and Martha at her side, 

She would almost make me want to run and hide.

Add to those three, Emily and little sister Kate

It wasn’t any wonder that the youth group crack was great!

These youth group friends and others too numerous to say

Were all involved with relish in Amy’s wedding day

The sight of Edd in morning suit standing at the door

Is one that will stay with me today and evermore!

A very moving service with all in happy mood

Was enough to make me smile and left me feeling good!

All the best to Amy and her loving husband Ant

May you have all the bounty a loving God can grant!

God Bless

Scottish Independence

I’m proud to be British and Northern Irish too.

But going independent? I think you’ve lost a screw!

You may not have noticed but there’s lots of Scots abroad

They don’t just live in Scotland. Do you think that’s odd?

We are a tiny country that fights above our weight

It’s working all together that really makes us great!

I think of all the trouble in the place where I was born,

With internecine warfare, till we were all forlorn.

I always hoped that Europe was a dream where we would find

A way to all forget the past and be of single mind.

Of course the little Englanders have tried to kill such dreams

And now the Scots would do the same, as crazy as that seems!

Let’s remain together all Saxons, Danes and Scots

And Picts and Celts and Normans, we racial polyglots.

The Afro Carribeans, the Asians and the Poles

All add to our great culture and gladden British souls.

We all know some Englishmen who think they are the best

But we all know such people are really just a jest!

Together we are stronger. A match for any nations.

And is there anyone convinced by Salmond’s explanations?

I Don’t Trust Theology

Many sermons start with prayers that their words may be right

And anything that’s not of God will fade right out of sight.

This is my prayer with all the odes I write and what is more

That God will give you guidance on what you should ignore!

I really love the bible and I know it’s God inspired

With prayer and contemplation we may know what God desired.

Some tales were passed by word of mouth for many, many years

The subtlety of tone and stress depends upon one’s ears.

Of course the ones who scribed it were merely mortal men

Subject both to error and bias now and then.

Some wrote in Aramaic and others wrote in Greek

And none of them were certain of the truth that we all seek.

Then they were translated more than once or twice

But by then the book translators could not ask them for advice!

Finally in English there’s more versions than enough

To say which one is better is very, very tough.

One thing is for certain they all have the same theme

But if you think they’re all the same you’re living in a dream.

You can choose the one you like, the one that suits your mind

To say you might be prejudiced would be most unkind!

Whichever version suits you they all need lots of prayer

All of them are God inspired so you should not care.

Faith is not a matter of finding solid proof

So do not quote the bible for I will stand aloof.

Your belief is personal, between you and your maker

Be you Jehovah’s Witnesses, C of E or Quaker.

The church’s theologians have argued from the first

And I hope that by this time they have done their worst!

They labelled those who disagreed as the devil’s breed

And death and persecution was what was then decreed.

Does this sound like Jesus’ way? Or sent by God above?

Did not our Saviour tell us God was a God of love?

I really love the bible and the stories it relates

Of a God who wants us all to enter heaven’s gates.

I say the creed with everyone and mostly I agree

But I must say that lots of it don’t matter much to me.

I cannot tell if some of it is either right or wrong

Luckily God knows the truth so I can play along.

When I get to meet him, God will put me right

And whatever others think, I will sleep at night!

God Bless you all.

 

Dartmouth

I am in love with Dartmouth with it’s college on the hill

Sitting on the patio with lots of time to kill

Looking out on Kingswear my eyes can take their fill.

The river with its busyness just gives my heart a thrill

Sitting on the terrace with the sail boats floating by

Listening to seagulls screeching up on high

Watching ancient engines puffing steam into the sky

And looking at the ferries as back and forth they ply.

The views across the estuary and further out to sea

The stone of forts and castles as solid as can be

With rows of ancient cannon to keep the country free

And the steep sided valley with many a mighty tree.

The children with their crab lines trailing off the side

Or on the paddle steamer going for a ride

The dedicated sailors who sail their yachts with pride

And the river flowing seawards, fighting with the tide.

What more could a man desire than beauty such as this

With tranquil rolling river that gives the hills a kiss.

Being here in summer time is undiluted bliss,

Certainly a paradise I wouldn’t want to miss!

Attitudes of Hate

Persecuting people is not the will of God

And anyone who does it must be distinctly odd!

God made each and everyone as different as can be

And gloried in variety as everyone can see.

To persecute another for colour, race or class

Is undiluted bigotry, in fact it’s really crass!

As for the religious who claim they know it all

And condemn all others – such attitudes appal!

Why be homophobic when you could just be nice?

And do other people need all your advice?

A faith is very personal between your God and you

And no one else should mock it or say it isn’t true.

When I see atrocities I cannot help but grieve

For the perpetrators and what they must believe.

They may claim to be Christians, or people of Islam,

Or Hindus, Jews, or Buddhists who climb out of their pram.

If they think that violence is the only way,

A plague on all their houses is all I have to say!

Understanding

I do not understand why wicked men succeed.

I do not understand their violence and greed.

I just know that I have everything I need!

I do not understand why cancer holds such sway.

I do not understand why disasters have their day,

I just know my major role is just to care and pray!

I do not understand why some must linger on.

I do not understand why their faculties have gone.

I just know my Saviour is the one to lean upon!

I do not understand why some will die so young.

I do not understand why their death knells must be wrung.

I just know You hear me when my orisons are brung!

I do not understand why nations have to fight.

I do not understand the gunfire in the night.

I just know that all should see the beauty of Your light!

I do not understand why people can’t be free

I do not understand why blind men cannot see

I just know my Saviour gave his life for me!

I do not understand why famines hit some lands

I do not understand why we live on shifting sands

I just know to follow Your life giving commands!

I do not understand why nations live in strife.

I do not understand why a man would hit his wife.

I just know I’ll follow you throughout all my life!

I do not understand why Christians can condemn.

I do not understand when each person is a gem.

I just know that my Saviour is still forgiving them!

I understand on meeting Him my Saviour will explain.

I understand He’ll leave me with no cause to complain.

I just know there’ll be no cause to question Him again!

Reflections on a Poppy

When I see the poppies pouring from the tower

I’d love to think them only a very lovely flower!

However, in the context of the sadness and the grief

I remember all the carnage of a war beyond belief.

We may not remember them, the men we never knew

But surely we’ll remember the conflict they went to!

The bloody awful tactics of the men who were in charge

It somehow makes you wonder were there lunatics at large?

The bravery and sacrifice of countless common folk

In hellish field conditions that were surely not a joke!

The families who waited for a telegram to come

The result of some proud General’s casualty sum!

The streets in every city where all the blinds were drawn

For the bands of brothers whose futures had all gone.

That was a generation whose like we’ll never know

Gone singing into battle, then fell like crimson snow!

Surely we’ll remember their glory and their pain

And would to God, there’ll never be a war like that again!

I will revere the poppy, I have done all my life,

And do my best to try to find an end to hellish strife.