You, by Your Presence, O Lord,
Are Light to my darkness.
You are the kiss upon my brow,
The oil upon my head,
The arms of sweet embrace,
The banner over my heart.You, All Love,
Bless this child of Your magnificent
And magnanimous Mercy.
Day by day.
I find You all about me.Flowers and fields,
Spread before me
As a welcoming blanket.
Come rest awhile, You invite.
I come and I delight.©2011 Joann Nelander
'All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well' Bl.Julian of Norwich
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
By Your Presence
Listening and Silent
It seems...
I am always talking to You,
That I am always with You,
And have no doubt
You are with me,
Listening and silent.
I am an endless monologue.
You, hovering Spirit,
Wordlessly eloquent
Abide.
You are Presence and Truth,
Listening and silent,
Thunderously silent,
Save for the stirring of my heart,
And the sometime rush of thought,
Coming, as it were,
From the bowels of my being
With frightening conviction,
And challenging my reticence
To speak aloud
The thoughts of solitude.
Reluctant always
To go about,
And leave the cloister of my heart,
Where in Your chambers I find,
And hold dear,
Private audience with the King,
The world without is a noisy charade,
And woos the pride of me take center stage.
Where suddenly I realize
I have been talking much, too much,
To my regret.
I, naggingly, suspect
I have diminished
What was my treasure
And ceased to learn.
Cacophany of me,
I cease to learn,
And simply rearrange,
That with which I am familiar.
Where do prophet, poet and a would be recluse
Find voice if not in You,
Rejecting even audience
To find You in my silence,
Your silence?
©2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
The Breech
How great is the distance between us?
Some would say
The span from East to West,
Or measure in miles the chasm
Stretching from Heaven to Hell.
Others count the centuries
Since Your earthly Presence
In hallowed flesh.
There is no numbering
Eternity or Divinity.
You are closer than my breath.
Your Heart beats within my breast.
Day by day,
Nay, moment by moment,
I pick up Your rhythm.
Traversing the breech,
You make me Your own.
Small, but beloved,
I repose in willful abandonment.
Grace-filled faith,
A movement,
Not a measure,
Soars to the heavens,
In flights of trust in You.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Kremlin-Paid TV Anchor Goes Rogue
Via Mediaite – Abby Martin , “An anchor for the English language network RT — a Kremlin-controlled news outlet”
“Condemns Russian Actions in Crimea”
At the end of her show, Abby Martin, host ofBreaking the Set, asserted her strong disagreement with Russia’s actions, which she explicitly called a “military occupation”:
“Before I wrap up the show, I wanted to say something from my heart about the ongoing political crisis in Ukraine, and Russia’s military occupation of Crimea. Just because I work here, for RT, doesn’t mean I don’t have editorial independence. And I can’t stress enough how strongly I am against any military intervention in sovereign nations’ affairs. What Russia did is wrong.”
Martin admitted she did not have an expert’s grasp on the history of Ukraine’s relations with Russia (perhaps a dangerous admission, as we’ll see below), but objected to military intervention in any and all cases.
“I admittedly don’t know as much as I should about Ukraine’s history or the cultural dynamics of the region, but what I do know is that military intervention is never the answer. And I will not sit here and apologize or defend military aggression.
[snip] “All we can do now is hope for a peaceful outcome for a terrible situation, and prevent another full-blown Cold War between multiple superpowers. Until then, I’ll keep telling the truth as I see it.”
Her reward? A free trip to the Crimean Peninsula. RT responded shortly after Martin’s missive
Cry of One Forgiven
How can I thank You
For Your forgiveness,
For that moment,
In which You scattered
My accusers,
And took my part?As I looked up
From the mud of my despair,
Your majestic countenance
Was all.
You loomed before me,
Brighter than the Sun.Who could have imagined
Such grandeur?
You wore holiness like a crown
That more than circled Your brow.
Rather, it emanated,
As light from Your Being,
Announcing Who You are?Only humility can receive You,
And dare Your gaze.
For Your Eyes
Pierce the soul,
Revealing all.Only those crying for a Savior
Dare look up,
To confess with that glance
Their fault and nakedness,
Helpless and all pleading.Only the thirsty
Can drink in the majesty
Of Your knowing.
For pride is the travesty,
That hides,
For fear of revelation.That moment shattered my fear
And rent the clouds of all my life.
Taking proffered Hand,
I rise to my feet
Then, as now, again,Light embraces me
As my rags fall to my feet.
In their place
Love has woven a mantle,
A robe of Being,
That more than clothes me.It is a signal grace,
That names me,
With it, You announce
To all Creation
Who I am in You.My "Yes" reverberates
Throughout the Universe.
I am new,
Like a star at its birth,
Bursting forth
With Your Holiness;
Baptized in Your Redemption.How can I thank You
For Your forgiveness,
O, You, Who took my part?
Go now,
In search of my accusers.Copyright 2011 Joann Nelander
Upon the Cross
Upon the cross,
Your blood flowed
from Crown to Foot,
in streams upon Your Body,
so that there was not one space
that was not touched by Your Blood.
Your Body, the Church,
covered in Your Blood;
saved throughout Time
and for all Time
unto Eternity,
covered by Your Blood.
by Joann Nelander
Friday, February 28, 2014
Bathed in the Spirit - #ChristianPoetry #HolySpirit
I bathe my whole life
In the Blood of Christ.
In Spirit, I place my Soul,
Envisioned as a new born,
In the water that flowed
From the Side of Jesus,
At the piercing
Of His most Sacred Heart.
O Holy Bath, flow over me.
Flow within me,
Permeating even
To the marrow of my bones.
Embrace my thoughts.
As a river in flood,
Envelope all in Your path.
Possess all.
Carry the delinquent and wayward,
As a torrent,
To the ever peaceful Mind of Christ,
Redeeming and reconciling opposites.
May the Christ,
As priestly chrism,
Penetrate the mundane of me,
And divinate my being.
Heal forever my disparity,
Remove all trace
Of Sin’s dominion and damage.
O Holy Love, at Your insistence,
I trust in You.
Coming forth from this bath,
Dry me, Your child,
As tears upon Your cheek
to honor all the tears
You shed for want of me.
Be solace to my regret .
Be comfort in my sorrow.
Wrap me, in my infancy,
In the heart of the Mother,
That Immaculate Heart
That longed with You
For my birth anew,
And enflesh me as a child.
By water and the Spirit
As Your child.
Sweet Peace, O Holy Peace,
You are All in All.
I, a child of God, will thank You
For all Eternity
In Triune embrace,
A happy word, whispered in Spirit,
From the Son to the Father.
© 2013 Joann Nelander
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