If Santa Couldn't Come to Town

IF SANTA COULDN’T COME TO TOWN

If Santa couldn’t come to town,

What would all the children say?

If Santa couldn’t come back home,

Would we turn and walk away?

If Santa couldn’t find the light,

Through the dark and snowy night,

If Santa couldn’t find the strength

To guide his sleigh……

If Santa couldn’t find the hope,

That makes the sun shine on our way…..

If Santa couldn’t see the light,

I’d have to pray.

(bridge) – I’d have to pray, I’d have to pray, I’d have to pray…..

(refrain) – Please tell me,

Why can’t we see Santa?

Why on Christmas Eve does my heart shed so many tears?

Why can’t we see Santa?

I’ll have to go find Bethlehem to chase away my fears.

If Santa was lost in a store,

I’d pray that he would find the door.

If Santa was stuck on a tree,

I’d pray that he’d see me.

If Santa was shut in a box,

I’d lift the lid that laughs and mocks.

If Santa was found on the ground,

 I’d bring him back to town.

If Santa Claus has lost his eyes,

To see The Star of Bethlehem’s skies…..

If Santa Claus has lost his way,

He now is found.

A Curse'd Christmas

A Curs’ed Christmas

A Baby, just maybe, on an old, old, winter’s morn, so old, yet, oh so young,

Silent singing of silvery angels, a song that’s never been sung.

A mother, a father, like, and not alike, and smiles in laughter invisible,

And quiet and prayer, and joy that sparkles, never cheap or “frisible”.

Colours, all the colours under heaven embraced in sudden wonder,

And never, never, forever and a day, our loved ones torn asunder.

“What’s wrong with that?” “Imagine that?”

“Let’s blast him, and waste him, and shrivel it up, and bury it under a hat!”

“Kill it! Kill the boy baby! Roast him forever in fire,

Crush hearts, Crush limbs, Crush house and home, Crush every newborn desire!”

“Tell them its Chance, and Happenstance!” And curse it with heartless curse!”

“Tear him from Mother, and tender touch, and the warm’ed breasts that nurse!”

“Never, never again, let them gain any gain from Good News dressed in bright bows!”

“Rake them with whips, that are dragged through the Night, and bloody their unbandaged toes!”

“Let there be no more healing this Night!” “Curse it, peel it right down to the bone!”

“Drown it, and sink it with sad country songs, sang by two men without a home!”

See the Sadness Sweeping Bye

See the Sadness Sweeping Bye

I saw something that we all see, when bad things shake out our heads,

I saw bright rainbows, in summer afternoons, sweep away grass that was dead.

I saw a smile go walking by and I wondered and wondered at that,

I saw a red furry, funny thing, go swishing by with a hat.

I saw a rocket-like star, shooting up to a sky, higher than the Night,

And a snarling rascal, slide slyly away, passed a wildly running sprite.

OOOOOOH! It was scary, and YIKES! It was hairy,

A black that shriveled my bones,

Yet my heart grew warm, when a ringy, jang, jingle, was heard at the top of our homes.

Swirling silvers, fireworks laughing, and giggles, and winking all night,

Laughter so quiet , a rumbling merry, and then shooting swiftly from sight.

On Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve

Leave him, leave him, let him go, who gives a blast ‘bout that store,

And the whimpering, whining, runny nose, and the boy’s who only want more.

Come with me, up Sunshine Mountain, and ride the Happy Day Express,

Who wants fancy pants, and lousy lucky charms, and a lifetime adjustable dress?

Not me, I want to ride on a Racing Star, that rises above the sky,

In hopes that sail beyond the Night, and the darkest dreary sigh.

Horses on fire, that fly passed the shadow of curses, when my only Grandpa died,

To a land that is fairer and brighter than smiles, when sunshiny eggs are fried.

Oh the food, and the old fat man who rocks ‘side the fire and smokes his pipe,

And tells crazy stories, you only believe, in blankets wrapped up at night.

It’s goodness, real goodness, in warm chocolate, fire reds, jade greens, and sunshiny whites,

Not chores without money, or songs that bring sadness, and homework given for spite.

And prayers, not so long, that you just get mad, no music that makes you weep,

And listening, just listening, for a song from the rooftop, that sings you softly to sleep.

It cannot be seen, it cannot be heard, with these hands it cannot be felt,

But, I heard the Star’s sing “Your Never Alone”, on a cold Christmas Eve, when I knelt.

A Hallelujah Christmas

A Hallelujah Christmas

I am a grouchy old grandma, grumpy right down to the bone,

I creak, and I croak, and I cramp, and I crykie, and crackle out every last moan.

But, I do love presents at Christmas time, and visions of old Saint Nick,

Some how, at Christmas, I feel so happy, I could just give grandpa a kick.

I don’t want fancy, I don’t want wancy, or wincy, or wimpy, or wazzle,

Those cheapity, cheap, cheap, or wee willie winkies, or wire and wrappings that dazzle.

I want you, and you , and you ,alone, to come to my house and be near me,

I want to see your heart grow big, and your smiling eyes not teary.

A pinch to grow an inch, a prayer so we’re not scared,

And to waffle our noses in snow,

To hear the jingle, and watch the laughter, go clear to the ends of our toes.

A brightness not bought, at the base of the tree, a tickling right down to the heart,

In quietness, quietness,

Oh so silent night,

Really knowing we’re never apart. 

Sunshine Christmas

Sunshine Christmas

Tired, tired, Oh so tired, at Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall’s Night,

Where’s the wink of an eye, and the twist of his head, where’s the silhouette’s sailing from sight,

Up high overhead, to the round moon’s laughter, and the Milky Way’s Christmas delight.

And the brightest of stars that guided our path, while our hearts burst with hope just for fun,

And after the frost of a cold crispy sleep,

We rose with the warmth of the sun.

We shook, shook, shook, shook, all the scales from our eyes, in sheer vigor, life, and hope,

And climbed Jacob’s ladder with Tarzan’s ease on sunbeams woven in rope.

We wiggled and rolled and rollicked and tumbled, in crisp winter skies so high,

While night rolled in without any fears, and a sleigh filled with joy soared by.

“Oh, Goodbye, goodbye, old Christmas cheers!’

“We loved you when hearts were young!”

“Please, come back, again,

after long night’s shadow,

In God’s dear land of the Sun!”

Christmas Wishes

      Christmas Wishes

A little boy and a little girl,

Sat staring at a night time campfire.

Sliding in snow had been so much fun,

Now hot chocolate was all their desire.

“Oh, I know what I want for Christmas,”said the little boy,

twirling a silver spoon,

And, the marshmallows swirled around in his cup,

While the little girl gazed at the moon.

“I want a bike, and I want muscles,

And, I want a baseball glove!”

The little girl giggled, and smiling, shyly, replied,

“ I just want some one to love.”

The New Winter's Morning

The New Winter’s Morning

A crackling branch below a tree, where the snow is not too deep,

A friendly tread, in the thick of the forest, where even silence sleeps.

In the quiet of a silvery morning, as the last star winks at the sun,

A round silhouette, etched in sparkling snow, is flitting about in fun.

A baritone chuckle and a flash of red, in powder snow up to his knees,

Something or someone has come back to life, where the deepest snows blanket the trees.

Then a single shrill whistle, before the song of the first morning bird,

And, the “flufflings” of snow, and the “hufflings” of breaths, on the edge of the wild is heard.

Soon, the shakings of frosty coats, and rattling of  many an antler,

And, harnesses cinched, soft bells jingling, mutterings and quiet banter.

Finally, lifting, and sailing up above the trees, in a roar of laughter so strong,

A herald’s joy, in flight toward Christmas, in Heaven’s Glad Tidings and Song.

Santa's Birth

Santa’s Birth

‘Cross the River of Diamonds, behind the bright moon,

beyond the flaming oceans of the morning sun,

O’ertop the rising chorus of the Seraphim’s tune,

Where the crystal loom sings, and time has been spun.

Here, in one brilliant moment, joy sang out a ruby red note,

A cheeky smile flashed out on high,

Heaven’s scribe paused from what he wrote,

The teary-eyed mother abandoned her sigh.

Then, the quick and powerful word,

Etched in lightening and in thunder,

What was visible and unheard,

Into visible rollicking wonder.

Turning, twirling, swaying merry circles,

Sweeping, dipping, bowing, oh so low,

Reds and greens, deep burgundy and purples,

Soaring, reaching , beyond the highest bow.

Drinking in the wandering laughter,

Basking in the noonday rays,

Meandering in the Ever After,

Feasting on Eternal Days.

One Christmas Eve

                                       One Christmas Eve

Clouds in smouldering foment , enraging the dark boiling skies,

Foretold in any moment , all Hell would break loose in our eyes.

 An old farmer hurried the last herds in, to their mangers with all of the rest,

His daughter soothing the noisy din, her small brother clutching her dress.

    

 It was Christmas Eve, but like no other, the brewing weather forecast,

In dense and heavy smother, we hoped the barn door would last.

From the barn, passed the pen, through the gate, to the house,

We leaned straight into the wind,

Dodging tumbleweeds, in britches, bonnet and blouse, we prayed we’d make it back in.

      Cracking open the front door, a dust devil tore by,

In his whistling dervish dance,

Ma reached for the Bible, on the mantle hard by,

Before we fell for his demonic trance.

He spun backwards, as Ma read the story,  a stunned, reeling, servant of sin.

Fearing the fire and rainbow glory of the one spurned at Bethlehem’s Inn.

Then out and away he wildly flew, through the window’s billowing curtain,

Back to his dammed ,tormented, tortured crew, this we knew for certain.

The winds grew still, the drapes fell back,

into silence deep and low,

Quietly, gently, creeping over the night,

came downy feathers of snow.

In shear weariness of heart and soul, we collapsed in a cold tired sweat,

Our spirits were sinking into hellish holes, and we had not seen the end of it yet.

A wretched slumber overwhelmed us all ,as we shriveled into deepest dark sleeps,

We all slipped down into Satan’s ball, where the ten horned dragon creeps.

There his seven heads vomit out fire, at the woman clothed in stars, sun and moon,

This was no slumberland, no dream of desire, no dance with the silvery spoon.

Yet, even as the nightmare began, like the parting of a black sea,

Struck the trident of Michael,

with his angels in hand, unmasking the ageless tree.

Now drooping with glorious fruit, 

A horror turned into wonder,

To the music of the silver flute,

and a majestic distant thunder.

Then swirling, twirling, into rich red leaves,

Circling the green and the white,

Came the untamed joy whom nobody sees,
His great antlered team in full flight.

Whirling downward under that tree,

Like a distant gentle thunder,

From riding those winds so wild and free,

In Bethlehem’s full wonder.

Th Christmas Messanger

                              THE CHRISTMAS MESSENGER

By The North gate of Heaven,  the round cherub sat, tossing the cherry wood in,

he fed the great furnace of the bright northern fires which boomed out a long lonely din

“Gabriel, smabriel, woopteedoo whoop, is no sculpture of marble, but a pillar of poop!

He blares his big trumpet, ho rooty toot tooty, 

with his nose in the air just so snooty, snoot, snooty!”

The cherub rumbled, and tumbled, and grumbled away, till his firelight rosy-red cheeks, splashed tears of his sorrow, down the sides of the oven, in down- streaming bubbling creeks.

The spattering and sputtering wide rivers of desire, in such sighings, and heavings, soon drowned out the fire.

Soon the cold crept in, the flowing rivulets froze, and the sniffling cherub grew a cherry red nose.

“Hoh! Hoh! Hoh! that smarts!” he said shaking his pate, 

when a great voice echoed ‘round that cold northern gate.

“Nicholas, has your jealousy of Gabriel been so worth this folly, 

you once were so rollicking, merry, and jolly.”

The Cherub hopped to his feet with his hands in his back,

whistling nervously, ‘Simpleton Jack.’

“So you wish, like Gabriel, to bear good tidings,

winding down through earth winds, in soaring and glidings.”

“Oh, everlasting master,” and with sparkling eye, added, 

“I could do it far faster.”

“Faster than Gabriel , the great messenger angel?”

“Certainly,” answered the cherub, coyly grinning his ‘angle’.

“I would charge down through the clouds with great breathless speeds, if you lend me the chariots and heavenly steeds.”

“My boy, you shall race winter clouds stormy and wild, but you’ll bear your graces on behalf of the Child. 

And so, a new messenger took old Gabriel’s place,

with a red cherry nose and a bright cherub face.

                     1.When   Santa   Came   To   Town

The flocks slept in silence on the brow of the hill,

while the shepherds were snoring long after their fill.

A descending white star cracked open the sky,

with such force a young shepherd boy quivered, then cried.

“Don’t cry,” boomed a voice, “shed all nightly fears!”

A red sash that swept upwards was drying his tears.

Out stepped a red robe, trimmed in white furry lace,

and a white-bearded, apple-cheeked, sun-ripened face.

The blinding starlight slowly dimmed in his eye,

while the young shepherd boy shed his fear with a sigh.

“Who are you?”yawned the boy, with his mouth opened wide.”

“A messenger charged with an endless night ride.

But, no longer shall I steer the star-chambered sea,

I’m now summoned to sail your night wild and free.” 

He whistled, out sprang his great team wreathed in fire,

twelve white-winged stallions enflamed with desire.

One leap to his chariot, one crack of the whip,

one white blinding moment, resumed his long trip.

Never again to descend in sweet Bethlehem’s sight,

still he drives his great team every cold Christmas night.

Just You and Me

Just You and Me

I’ve sat beside windows lit on fire,

And winged my flight through pure desire.

Passions, flung this way and that,

as screechings of the midnight cat.

But, I cannot see, I cannot see,

like Polyphemos, lost, hard by the Sea.

I listen for the morning hour,

peeling backward my soul to scour.

It seems hopeless, and my friends are all lost,

At such great cost.

It makes me weep myself to sleep,

Yet, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

So, when I wake,

My friends to take,

Close to his heart, not to forsake.

For, I have heard , in shining hours,

That near four rivers, of antediluvian flowers,

That once we walked , hand in hand,

Before our pride sunk through the sand.

We took sweet breath,

Long before death.

And, in that moment, by the Crystal Sea,

We wept in joy, just you and me.

We sang and sang, to bells that rang,

And , it was long before a fang sunk in our necks,

And , life reduced to lifeless wrecks.

       For this blessed grace, for you and me,

For this blessed grace, hard by the Sea.

That, we’ll just sit and sit, under that Tree,

And, weep in joy,

Just you and me.

If I should die, before I wake - By Freda Baker

   If I should die before I wake,
As I sometimes feel I will,
   Please, give no flowers for my sake,
It is my wish, my will.
   No flowers will help me when I am gone,
from this old mother earth,
   to comfort me in any way,
The dead can't know their worth.
   They will not bring me back to life,
Just money spent in vain.
   Instead, give it to some poor soul,
Who is lying here in pain.
   Someone who needs a lift someway,
who's down, and out, and through,
   For where there's life there's hope, you know,
T'will make you happy, too.
   So, don't go mourning when I'm gone,
Death can't be very bad,
   It's just the sudden parting,
That seems to make us sad.
   But, I'll be waiting for you there,
On that eternal shore,
  and we will just go on from there,
and there we'll part no more,
   God bless and keep you night and day,
stay in his guiding light.
   Do what is right, keep watch and pray,
Please try, it's worth the fight!

Poetry: Le Chanson d' Logres

   I stand astride the worlds,
a giant amongst men.
Singer, singing slumbering measures;
pacings, swayings, sighings.
stringing shimmering strands,
oh, so softly, beyond all ken.
     Soulful Nature's Symphony,
beyond all bend and spray.
 Silent, Sweeping, Song of Songs,
the truth, the life, the way.
 Trembling Viel, pierced by a trillion diamonds,
glistening teardrops, deep wells of reflection,
  yet as flaming messengers.
Then, the leaping chorus, shooting stars, rocketing, richocheting,
beyond all bounds,
until, suddenly caught and down and down again,
into fading, spiraling, winding white rivers.
   Bright hues, living waters, rainbow covenants,
prisms of a trillion colours, descending voices,
flickering white torches.
  The white flowing downward,
the ever-lengthening, widening,
train upon the stairs.
   Bells of joy, peals of laughter,
ringing loud and clear.
     The mighty voice upon the waters,
La Chanson d' Chanticleer.

When voting is too Hypocritical

Judge not , that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged : and with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again  ....  

....Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye.... (Matthew 7: 1,2.5a).

It is about hypocrisy. Jesus never tells us ,anywhere, we are never to make judgements.  

Even deciding what is hypocritical ,and what is not, is base upon judgement - let alone Christ’s whole “Sermon on the Mount”, which is an exhortation to judge our lives in the light of Christ’s teachings.

.........I could not bring myself to vote in our last provincial election. Of course, I was scolded by two friends down at the coffee shop.

“You have to vote, Ron! Look, Ron, even though I don’t agree with the Green Party, I voted just to weaken Christy Clarke and the Liberals,” said my coffee friend.

The end justifies the means. If you have to, vote the worst political party out.

       My answer to my coffee friend, was that I have voted for the lesser of the two evils in the past. This time ‘round, I could not bring myself to do it.

       Why? I cannot see any political party out there, that truly supports “LIFE.”

I only see the lowest dregs of political utility, rife within every political party. Death is the result. Only death, only social death is being preached.

       Why?

Because Western Society has abandonned the heart of any society - the Family.

The family is the life-giving, and life-affirming, foundation to all society. Attempting to change the family, to man and man, or woman and woman, in place of man and woman, can never maintain a true and living society.Instead of breeding life into society, same-sex marriage bears no children - no life to replenish society.

Further, our society has enacted laws that destroys the ‘fruit’ of the family - children. Abortion on demand is the second death knell to Western Society, besides same-sex marriage. The end of these two modern distortions can only be a protracted social death - no more life.

For any living being, to vote for any political party that encourages anything but life, is utter, shameful, hypocrisy. 

Ron Benty

Getting Married

                                                       Getting Married

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).

Marriage is the most ancient social agreement recorded in the Bible.  Marriage is intended to be a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman, for their mutual benefit and the benefit and stability of a community (Malachi 2:10-16; Matthew 19:1-9).  When children are the fruit of this relationship, they are to be the beneficiaries of the stability and safety of this lifelong commitment (Ephesians 5:31-6:3).  Marriage was never intended to end in divorce, and divorce was only tolerated when the marriage agreement was violated by adultery or abandonment (Matthew 19: 3-8; I Corinthians 7: 10-16). Even in such cases, forgiveness and the restoration of the marriage was encouraged as the greatest alternative to divorce (Hosea 3:1-5; Ephesians 4:32; Matthew 18: 21-22).  In light of the Bible’s encouragement of  lifelong marriage commitment, any decision to marry is a serious decision.

How, then, can we encourage lifelong commitments to love and faithfulness in marriages?

                                          Togetherness

Love always protects, always trust, always hopes, always preservers. Love never fails. (I Corinthians 13: 7-8)

According to “Divorce Magazine”, 45% of marriages in Canada end in divorce (Divorce).  This means that if a couple are deciding to marry, today, there is, roughly a 50/50 chance that they could end up being divorced.  If a couple truly desires to make a “so long as you both shall live” marriage, how can they avoid being another divorce statistic?

                                                   -2- 

Mary Fairchild suggests five very practical steps to building a committed and lasting marriage (Fairchild).

1.  Pray together.

2.  Read the Bible together.

3.  Make important decisions together.

4.  Attend Church together.

5.  Continue dating.

Fairchild’s list of steps toward a lasting marriage seem, at the outset, so very simple, yet how often do married couples practice any of these activities together?

Certainly, the operative word in Fairchild’s “five steps” is “together”.  How can a man and woman achieve this kind of “togetherness” as a couple?

“Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” (Amos 3:3)

This passage from the book of Amos emphasizes a kind of “togetherness” that is founded upon agreement in spiritual matters.  According to the prophet Amos, the Israelites were not “walking together” with the Lord because they were not living in faithfulness to the Lord according to the “agreement” laid down in the Law of Moses.

Instead of serving the Lord alone, the Israelites were also worshipping other gods at competing altars (Amos 3: 2-4, 13-15)  The behavior of the Israelites undermined the covenant.  In other words, because there was no true agreement in spiritual matters, the “togetherness” that was supposed to exist between the Lord and the Israelites was destroyed.  According to Amos, then, the basis of walking together in harmony with another is some kind of agreement on spiritual matters.

Agreement on spiritual matters is crucial in a marriage.  Faith convictions, while never perfectly followed, still form the basis of our actions toward and relationships with other people.  If a couple are in agreement over regarding their spiritual convictions, then they tend to

                                                   -3-

be in agreement over other matters.  This claim is true simply because faith convictions tend to be the convictions that are the governing convictions over the lesser convictions of our lives.  For example, if a couple believes in a beneficent God who desires them to love others as themselves, then that spiritual conviction is going to underlie the numerous relationships that daily enter their lives - how they treat their colleagues at work, how they greet the neighbour on the street, how they treat each other - every relationship in their lives will be effected by the governing faith conviction to love their neighbour as themselves.  If, however only one of the couple held this belief, it would be far more challenging for that couple to stay together since there would be no agreement on this core belief.  Where there is no agreement, there is no harmony, and where there is no harmony, there is no togetherness.  

It would seem that a lack of “togetherness” on spiritual matters is exactly what the Apostle Paul has in mind when he speaks about followers of Christ being “unequally yoked” with those who do not follow Christ (II Corinthians 6: 14-18).  You will not be able to “pull together” in the same “yoke” as your spouse, if you do not share the same faith convictions - instead, you will be “pulling” away from each other on this serious matter.

Keeping your marriage together, then, can be greatly influenced by spiritual activities that Fairchild encourages, such as: praying together, reading the Bible together, attending Church together, etc....  Yet, this “togetherness” has to be first based upon an underlying agreement on the important spiritual beliefs which govern our lives, otherwise, there is no true harmony on which a couple can base a marriage. 

                                                   -4-

                                         Companionship

             “A friend loves at all time” (Proverbs 17:17)

One of the hallmarks of friendship is the enjoyment that comes from being with that other person.  What draws two people together into a friendship is not merely that they agree on everything, but also that they derive enjoyment from being around that other person.  It might be something in other person’s personality - the person’s exuberance, or seriousness, or thoughtfulness, or intelligence, or kindness - whatever trait it is, it draws you like a magnet toward that other person.  And, because you like that person, you want to be with that person, to be that person’s friend.

The question, then, is simple.  Are you and your spouse good friends?

The question about friendship between couple goes far beyond sexual attraction.  As our fallen nature teaches us time and again, two people can be sexually attracted to each other and have nothing in common except their mutual lust.  This lust might drive them together for a “one night stand” or longer, but their togetherness will only last as long as their lust will allow.  After the sex is over, those two people might even hate each other.  The story of Amon and Tamar is a case in point (II Samuel 13:1-19).

The question about being friends with your spouse to be is not then a question only about sexual attraction (which is a wonderful thing); but also a question about “liking” that other person (wanting to be around that other person once the sex is over).  A couple then has to not only be sexually attracted to each other, they have to enjoy each others company. 

                                      

                                              -5-

                                     Forgiveness

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you”.  (Ephesians 4:32)

Pope’s maxim, “to err is human; to forgive is divine”, is most certainly true.  We are all doomed to err and those that say otherwise are simply not telling the truth (I John 1:5-10).  No one but God is perfect. Call it what you will, the tragic flaw, human weakness, honest mistakes, or just plain sin.  It does not matter what tag you put on it, we all err, period.

What does this mean to a marriage?  It means that no marriage will ever be perfect.  It means that to expect more than what your spouse is able to give is not only naive, but it is also unfair.  One way or another, your spouse will fall short of the expectations you had for her or him, when you first got married.  The claim is an absolute.  Everyone will eventually spy a flaw in their spouse that they never pick up on while they were only infatuated with each other.  True love is not blind.  God is not blind to our sins and He is love itself (I John 4:7-8).

The Bible’s command to forgive is so important because we all need forgiveness, and especially in our marriages.  Does forgiveness mean license to take advantage of your spouses generous heart?  Of course not.  There is a reason why divorce is permitted, although not encouraged (Matthew 19:1-9).  However, forgiveness is always preferred by God in the Bible.

Yes.  Some offenses are extremely hard to forgive.  In fact, some offenses, even when your spouse is truly sorry, will haunt you the rest of your life; yet, you must remember that you also have offended your spouse.  Words you have spoken, and sins you have committed, against your spouse will also haunt him or her even if you are truly sorry.

                                                   -6-

Forgiveness, then, becomes the touchstone of marriage.  With forgiveness come the opportunity for a wonderful marriage, without forgiveness your marriage will most certainly fail because you and your spouse are certain to err. For this reason, we are reminded, emphatically, to “forgive as the Lord forgave us” (Colossians 3:13).

                                          Works Cited        

Divorce Magazine.com (2007).  http://www.divorcemag.com/statistics/  statWorld.shtml.

Fairchild, Mary.  “Five Steps to Building Your Christian Marriage”,

     cited in About: Christianity-General.  http://christianity.about.com/

     od/practicaltools/p/christianmarria.htm.          

Think on These Things - Marriage and The Titanic

                                            Think on These Things

Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning

made them male and female.  And said, for this cause shall

a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife;

and the twain shall be one flesh?  Wherefore they are no more

twain, but one flesh.  What therefore God hath joined together, 

let not man put asunder.  (Matthew 19: 4-6)

I quote these words of Jesus, intentionally, from the dated King James Version, to underscore the reality that I am part of that fossilized, submerged, wreck called traditional marriage.  Although I was being put to rest by the law making community, it was not those people who released my coffin from the port bow.  The people most truly responsible for my passing were those who once claimed they treasured me most.  The sad truth is that I was eventually ignored out of existence by those who left their first love ....

It is always so easy for me to point my withering finger at the other guy, so pragmatically useful, and such an easy way for me to escape the inevitable responsibility of my own self-sacrifice.  If there is anything that stood out, during my own pathetic attempt at Lent, is that Jesus, who claimed to be the Son of the Living God, always led by example. He allows the scourge to tear His bloodied back, rather than use His words and actions to tear the other guy to pieces.

I am ashamed at how often my accusing finger wags it’s damning condemnation in that other person’s direction, while I sit there basking in the raging inferno of my own inexcusable, and outrageously indiscernible, hypocrisy.  Oh, it is certainly obvious to the rest of the world - like an emblazoned flag-announcing, look my foolishness! Yet, the more strident my preaching at the other person, the more and more and more my flagrant hypocrisy is ever more oblivious to my own self.

How then am I to react, when I see, all around me, a world, which, in my best judgement, has ignored, is ignoring, and will continue to ignore, the most basic model of all human relationships laid down in Holy Scripture.  Namely, the covenant relationship between the man and the woman, that has served as the model we are to aspire toward - marriage.  How does the preponderance of scripture writings encourage me to react, as biblical marriage continues to go the melancholy way of the once great dinosaur?  Scripture, overwhelming, encourages me to “weep, between the porch and the altar” - to bury my heart, in prayer.  As one writer once said: “We are never so tall, as when we are on our knees”.  When we hide and hunker down in prayer, then Jesus, the one who died, and rose again, and ascended into glory, becomes more visible, and far more compelling, than my hypocritical escapades.  And, then? Well, if Jesus is still rejected, and His message on marriage, then I will have done everything I could have, safely, done by the grace of God. 

And biblical marriage?  Well, even if it dies out completely to our society, as apparently the evidence indicates, then, at least we can take heart, that, as a earthly prototype of the eternal marriage between Christ and His heavenly Bride, it will forever remembered.

Still, now, biblical marriage, remains, down here, as a hollowed shell, like the once great Titanic, but now only a barely remembered underwater site, for daring and adventurous deep sea archaeologists and lovers of the bizarre and obscure.

Ron Benty,

Wynndel Community Church 

The Garden People

Click here to read The Garden People

Thoughts on unconditional love

Think on These Things

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou

shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy.

But I say unto you, love your enemies bless them that

curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for 

them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in 

heaven:  for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on

the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

For if you love them which love you, what reward have ye?

Do not even the publicans (the tax collectors) do the same?

And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than

others? Do not even the publicans (tax collectors) do so?

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father 

which is in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5: 43-48)

Christ’s teachings on love crack like a whip.  The snap of the lash to 

our conscience, has to do with loving the people, you normally cannot 

stand, the most.

The sad truth, is that we already have a hard enough time staying in love with the people we usually agree with.  How many people (like myself), who claim to be ministers of the Good News of sacrificial love and unconditional forgiveness, fail in even loving their own christian brothers and sisters - let alone those who disagree with Christ’s teachings.

To be blatantly transparent, I struggle, daily, in loving my wife and children, in true, sacrificial, ways.  I also struggle, daily, to love my christian brothers and sisters.  The sad reality, is that, apart from being graced to pray for the grace of love, I am one of the most miserable curs alive.  I am always complaining, “on the outside or on the inside”, about helping with the dishes, the laundry, the lawn, the recycling, picking up after the kids, or God knows what.  And, as far a loving the people at church? Well, ask my wife how much I grumble and rumble about “so and so” that “drives me nuts”.  If you truly do not struggle in this way - God bless you so much -  you are a rare gift of grace , and I would love to meet you, because I need more of what you have got.  

Still, I have discovered, much to my inner angst, that Jesus’s teaching, about really loving, and really blessing, and really praying for people who we disagree with the most, just will not go away.  This command, to truly and actively care the most, for the people you will always disagree with the most, is so far beyond the range of my own ability, that, apart from the sheer, miraculous, gift of God’s grace to my shriveled soul, I, literally, am ashamed to even read it.  For, normally, and usually, I am only willing to show any love, at all, to those others whom, I, secretly, think will be willing to “come around” to my own, personal, way of thinking.  It is quite pathetic.

In the end, I can only see, by grace, two options.  I continue, in my own human capacities, to love like I normally do - and, to forever question if that was “real love” at all.  Or, I can be graced with a grace of God.  A grace that, in spite of my pathetic limitations, lifts my soul, gifts my soul, with His sacrifical love.  .... Love that conquers all sins, love that lays down itself, so that its enemies have a bridge to walk on.

Love that bears all things, believe’s all things, hopes all things, endures all things.... Love that never fails (I Corinthians 13)

I, by utter grace, alone, have discovered a bizarre irony.  As I, naturally, become more miserable with age, I, ironically, am being graced to pray, daily, to really, and truly, love the people, I disagree with, the most. And, not with that conditional “Hidden Hitch” - that there must first exist a detectable willingness to eventually share in my own convictions. 

I, by sheer grace, want what the Holy Spirit desires to birth in my soul - a sacrificial love, that actively loves the people, I most disagree with, the most of all.

Ron Benty, Wynndel Community Church