Mary's Song - Call Her Blessed (Tim Knipp)

Young as I am -
You found me.
Flawed though I be -
You called me.
How can it be?

I sing Your glory and wonder
at the amazing story
You gave breath to.
How delightful is Your hand
that caresses my cheek,
softer than a breeze.
That touch will mark 
me for eternity
as Your choice -
the One to bear Your Son.

O marvelous are You, Lord!
The longing of generations
will be met through me
and You.
You, who bring grace 
to those who fear You.
You have invaded kingdoms
and overthrown dictators -
You rescue the oppressed,
feed the hungry
and 
overturn tables
of money changers 
in temples.
You reach across 
the barrier between
heaven and earth
with Your mighty arm
and interfere with
the powers of darkness,
lifting us
from 
danger.
You rescue those
who call out to You.
You challenge our hubris,
expose hypocrisy
and pry our fingers
off riches
that can ease 
a thousand hurts.

You remembered us -
that we are Yours
and that You promised
to bless us.
Call me blessed
that I may bow
graciously
before Your will
in spite of the unknown barbs
that will inevitably 
scrape my soul.

Call me blessed.

Mary, Call Her Blessed - Shanon Kempt (Luke 1:26-38)

In a time of waiting
we reflect
on what has been
and will be.

Miraculously implanted,
the child gradually grew -
nubs became arms
and legs,
lung sacs and organs -
those mysterious machines -
sprouted and 
began their functions.

All begun with, "Yes."

As Mary submitted to God's invasion,
so we can choose
to begin the orchestration 
of divine growth in us.
How frightening
that decision is!
How revolutionary
to allow Him to overthrown
the current regime
that rules our hearts;
to imagine Him entering
the impoverished shanties
within me,
the scorecard of failures
and belligerence 
prominently displayed...
How can this be?

"The Holy Spirit 
will come upon you..."
O, how the Spirit hovers
over darkly shadowed crevices,
waiting.
Our, "yes" allows the Spirit
to let light in,
light that exposes, yes,
but also brings life
to barrenness,
the seed implanted.

What emptiness lurks
inside me that I have yet
to open to His Spirit?

What sterile soil
has crusted over
that cries out for the delirious
rain of His prodigality?

What incremental growth
has already formed
in me
that I can celebrate -
aware of pressure against spine,
a kicking at the ribs
of my routines,
reminding me of His
miraculous indwelling;
His breath
in my veins.

He chooses me daily,
giving me again and again
the chance to answer,
"Yes, come grow
Jesus in me
so I can be
a blessing."

Who Are You? Wounded (Tim Knipp)

It will never be 
the same
after pain.
How will we bend?
Loss and 
unfulfilled hope
leave craters --
sink holes --
and acquaint us
with shadows.

Hunger drives 
a woman and her family
far from home.
Death strikes 
and Naomi,
embittered,
turns homeward,
determined to
need no one
ever again.

With stalwart devotion,
wrapped in grief
of her own,
Ruth
commits herself to 
The Embittered One,
a cushion
for pain shared.

Inescapable wounds
can bind us together
or divide us;
trap us in an endless loop
or free us to face
the fragmented 
mirror;
to read the scars
like Braille,
telling the story
of God's heart,
broken for us.

Fallen creatures
are prickly
as porcupines,
the wounded often lash out
in terror,
slashing the very hand
reached down
in kindness.

We cannot escape
this world unscathed.
What story
will our scars tell? 

Ruth 1:1-5

Who Are You? Renamed - Dan Pursley (John 4:4-30)

The spit-upon
are nameless
shadow puppets
hugging the wall.
They lurk at the edges
of our vision,
flickering dimly.

Yet the Rabbi
made eye contact
and spoke 
life in metaphors
confusing
and inexplicable.
"Identify yourself" 
is the moment of truth.
She does not flinch
but names herself
as fallen.

He opens the door
to her understanding
by reading her
brokenness,
then stuns her further
by offering His hand
and
a future.

The spit-upon
became the daughter
of the King -
head held high
she rejoiced
and called all
to meet the One
who renamed her,
Beloved.

Why Do We Hide? Tim Knipp - Who Are You #3

Who Are You? A Mercy Channel (Tim Knipp)

Lying ideas circulate
and breed
more lies.
Couched in psycho-jargon
and hissed
in hungry ears
ideas shape us
and
misshape us.

Self-serving
inflates egos
and distorts reality.

God's mercy overflows,
transforming our
crooked souls.
 He blesses us with gifts -
not to adorn our mantels
with shining trophies -
but to equip us
for service.

Lay down your rights.
Surrender
to Him who lavished
mercy on you.

Become a channel
through which mercy flows,
your specialness
a conduit.
So open up.
Open up.
Let it go.

Feel His pleasure as you
give it up.
Give it up.

Rom. 12:1-8

Crafted & Cherished - Who Are You series (Tim Knipp)

 
Measured by mirrors,
media and
multiple fears,
my value is
pin-prick small.
Sized up to
the immensity of
spinning galaxies,
I am a grain
of sand.
My spot in time
is a mere
millisecond,
faster than a blink.

Yet You crafted me carefully
and endowed
me with eternal 
significance.

You take my breath away,
Majestic God!
How can I wrap
my limited mind
around this paradox?

Made in Your image
to reflect Your loveliness
to all,
to see Your loveliness
in every one.

Seen as accidental products
of evolution,
no lives truly matter.
Survival of the fittest
reduces every interaction
to a power struggle;
the hero is the last one
standing
though the streets
run with blood.

Left without a maker,
I will make myself
and inherit arrogance.
When plans shatter,
I inherit self-loathing.
Both twist my soul
and pervert
my reflection.

I am more than my successes
or failures.
God, give me Your glasses
through which to see
this truth.
Help me shed the lies
and shiver,
speechless 
in a shower of
Your unconditional love
daily.

(Ps. 8 and Isa. 14)

See How He Comes - Prophets & Kings series, Tim Knipp

What was said
about Him
pointed forward.
Jesus is the bulls-eye
that the arrows
of Law, prophets
and psalms
all aimed for.






Fulfillment in the lines
and between the lines
is in Him.
Text and subtext. 

At the start
our spirits fractured
and the rescue mission
was born.
"Your descendants will
be blessed."
But how long, O Lord?
In exile the people moaned,
awaiting the promises'
fulfillment.
Where is this 
promised King?
The line from David
is stripped,
but intact -
it quavers 
and survives 
on an allowance.

God had spoken
through the prophets:
the awaited One
will be a Prophet-King,
out-wisdom Solomon,
restore temples to places 
of meeting between God
and man,
and trust in God
even in the inky darkness
that threatens
to tear Him asunder.

See how Jesus is the One?
He kneels and draws in sand,
confounding the sages,
cleanses His Father's house
and, when sweat turns to blood,
cries out, "Thy Will be done."

Our hearts yearn to meet
this promised One.
See how He comes.

Little People God Uses -- John Koeshall (2 Kings 5)

Never too insignificant
to be of use
to God. 
Never too flawed
or damaged.
Kingdom efficiency.

Willingness 
and faithfulness
the only price of admission.

Choosing trust over anger
when life 
wrings you out
is one choice.
Blessing those  
who spit upon you
and force you
to grovel
is an option.
Struggling against
strangeness
and being an alien
in a foreign land
with persistence
can bring fruit.

Trust your place.

Consecration
can do wonders
beyond
money,
power,
or influence.

Power
perfected
in weak-
ness.

Hope Rises - Prophets & Kings; Tim Knipp

Deepest hopes.
Deepest fears.
Dread drives us
like a strong wind,
blowing our hopes
into crannies
and culverts
and down sewer drains.
The Living God blows life
into the seeds
of hope,
restoring what is lost
and even
reanimating 
dead flesh.
Wonder of wonders!
Billboards spring up:
"It happened HERE! (x2)!!!"
"O Death, Where is your sting?"

Hope rises
and conquers dread
resoundingly.

I can trust Jesus
in the face
of what I most fear. -- T. Knipp

2 Kings 4; Luke 7

Tim Knipp 1 Kings Change in the Desert

God uses the desert as a pivot point,

Abraham, the children of Israel,  Elijah

Jesus, Paul 

Us?

Without comfort without resources

Within a stirring, a ripple for change

Our choice

Plans for profit, fame, distraction

Or His shining dream 

Shimmering in the desert heat

requiring a shedding of the old

His dream for us is calling

Let go and bloom.

 

Tim Knipp - Silence (1 Kings 19:8-13)

Missing the kernel
of peace,
I swirl from
chaos to turbulence
and ricochet
off urgency.
Seeking solitude
is my instinct
yet I am 
sucked into 
the whirlpool of cacophony
and drown.

God is in the whisper,
the background
of silence,
thin and quavering -
strong as steel thread.

Listen for it.

Wait for it.

Breathe with it.

Embrace silence.

Be present
as you await
His presence.

Moses, Elijah,
and Jesus
waited for God
in solitude.

Like fractious infants
we fight
the stillness
we crave.
Imagine
His Father hand
patting us patiently,
nudging us
closer to
the sanctuary
of thinnest silence.

Tim Knipp - Silence- 1 Kings 19:8

In the stillness You are there...

Any Place, Anytime (Eph. 2:17-18)

When the earth cracks
and we are crushed -
it's hard to breathe.
We choke on dust
and hopelessness.

You bring water
to soothe our throats
and balm
to ease 
our wounded hearts
as we hear
our children
laugh again.

Becca Johnson - Nehemiah 1-3 - To Bellingham and Beyond

God Comes Through - Carlo Furlan "Prophets & Kings" series (1 Kings 17)

 

Darkness chosen,
it hovers over the land
rumbling and
threatening.
Enter Elijah
who says, 
"Enough!"

Clouds shrivel
and evaporate.
Earth cracks.
God points to a widow
and
Elijah follows,
one foot
in front of the other.

The woman is in dire straits
when Elijah
innocently asks for
bread and water.
It is too much for her
and she
lashes out
at cruel circumstances.
She has lost hope
and swallows despair
instead of food.
The future looks bleak;
all doors shut tightly
against her.
God's back is all she sees.

Elijah's words
cut a passage 
through her fear.
He offers his hand
and God's promise.
Limbs atremble,
she puts her bony 
hand in Elijah's
dusty palm
and
steps out.

God comes through.

David Knebel - Prophets & Kings 5.1.16

1 Kings 11:4-6, 9-11

God Comes Down - Tim Knipp, Prophets & Kings series (Gen. 3:8; 1 Kings 6)

Strolling through Eden
just to be with us,
God offers Himself -
a companion 
for life.

A temple rose slowly
in the desert.
Excellence graced
carved doorways
and statues
of awesome size,
Evocative of 
garden space
shared.

God comes down
to be with us
in the here and now,
to stitch Himself
as permanently as shadow
to our fractured
souls
so that we might
never
be
alone.

Prophets & Kings - Johanna Vicklund - 1 Kings 3:16-21

Missions Sunday

Celebrations God's Works

What is it? - Prophets & Kings series, Tim Knipp (1 Kings 3:4-7)

At the beginning
it was good
until the fractures came.
Since then
You have battled
to mend and bring us back
to good.

There came a time 
when we clamored 
for a king -
tired of differing 
from other nations -
and You relented,
though likely with
saddened heart,
knowing the bruises
and dislocation
to come from
our foolishness.

Such children we were,
blinded by the need to fit in,
follow flesh
and have our own way.
Looking back,
the stumbles are easy
to see
as are Your infinite
tender 
mercies.

You asked me in a dream
to tell You what I need
and I asked for the wisdom
to handle my task
with justice.
You showed up 
again and again
to guide me through
the obstacle course,
bandage my scraped knees,
and turn my face
back 
to good.

You are asking 
that same question today:
"What do you want?"
And the question echoes
and trembles 
with significance.

What do I want?