Love Slam

Sweet that the Canadian Olympic opening celebrations included a slam poet!  Especially since I have been introducing it to our church recently. With the new found attention on poetry slam and being that valentines day is tomorrow,  I thought I 'd writing another one on love.  A difficult task I found, the topic of love doesn't really lend itself to poetry of the slam variety.  What remains below is my work in progress, with much work left to do.  If you want to read some of the slams I have completed they can be found in previous posts of the following titles: "Levels of Grey", "Consider Your Ways" & "Forgiveness"

LOVE

You’ve spent a long time looking for love in all the wrong places, searching for someone to rescue you in a sea of stranger’s faces. I see you crying because he's broken your heart and the anger welling up inside when she’s ripped you apart. Love is a word, that you’ve heard, from a lot of people over the years, only to have those people leave you alone with your tears. With the way the word love is being thrown about, I understand you have every reason to doubt, especially when family, friends, and spouses say it and then turn around and walk out. It saddens me to see, that you haven’t been given many reasons to believe, that my love is true, love seeming more like lip service than something my children actually do, but listen to me now as I say this to you.

I LOVE YOU – just the way you are, every single hair on your head, every single scar. Even before your first day of conception, you had my attention. It doesn’t matter what you have done or what’s been done to you, you are my beloved through and through. I’ll comfort you in your trouble, helping you get through all of the rubble. When the pain stops stinging and the good times are beginning, I‘ll be there too, rejoicing over you with singing. 

It is you that I adore, and I have been waiting for you to open the door. Allow me to heal all the pain and hurt that you feel, proving to you that my love is real. I want to lavish on you my love, and give you every good gift that comes from above. I will complete you, and I will set you free, stop looking for it from everyone else, cause true Love comes from me. My love is everlasting it has no end, regardless of how hard things get, I will always be your friend.

Please let me love you, and I’ll prove myself to be true. If you stop hiding behind your doubts and fear, take a step of faith, my love will become abundantly clear. I know it’s hard to believe, trusting in something you can’t see seems kind of naïve, but I have shown you in the greatest of ways that I will love you for all of your days. There is nothing that I can do more, than to prove that you were worth dying for.

Love is not lip service, it something you do, and I proved it when I sent my own son to you. Stretching his arms out as far as they’d go, nailed to the cross for the whole world to know, I love you this much, and I'm waiting on you to make up your mind do you love me too?

Levels of Grey

I realized that I had in an earlier post unwittingly started what would be my next poetry slam.  So I took those first few lines and ran with it. I am trying purposely to balance grace with truth (forgiveness slam was all about grace).  However I can only write what comes to me and this is what came to me... 

Levels of Grey
Things don't seem to be as black and white as they were back in the day.  We live in a society crumbling in a torrent of moral decay.  When it comes to doing right, there are now all these levels of grey.  I don't get it, I can't understand, why it is that we continue, to despise our fellow man.  With more opportunity to come together, we're still falling apart, not due to a lack of knowledge or opportunity but a failing of the heart.  The most frustrating thing is who do you blame, how do you fix a problem you can't even name?

Nobody stays together anymore, husbands and wives walking out the door. Marriage is rarely seen as a sacred trust, simply a joke, or for some, a quick fix for lust.  A world where rules like promises are made to be broken, vows that are made but should never have been spoken. Lies and gossip are the name of the game, in trying to get ahead it doesn't matter who you maim or defame.  Integrity? Are you kidding me?  Even Martha Stewart got caught taking a little off the top, it seems there aren't to many people left, that can't be bought.  Everybody's looking to make a quick buck, forget working hard, let it all roll, take a chance on luck. The pain that we cause is not so overt, we create instead, a subtle kind of hurt, with the words that we say, and those that we don't, with the those we ignore and those we promote. Our heaven on earth is never gonna come, if we keep on hurting, ignoring and judging everyone. 

I wish sometimes that we didn't have the money to ease our conscience, using it to make up for the fact that we choose to keep our distance.  Going to church every week, tossing a twenty in the plate, thinking that this enough to get us through the heavenly gate.  What baffles me most of all, is how Oprah and Ellen can get people en mass to  answer the call, to help those in need, to step forward and serve, while those of us with the power of God, too often sit on the sidelines and observe.  A world desperate for the spiritual truth that will end their strife, are more drawn to lost symbols, a new earth, and the secret, rather than, the Way, the Truth and the Life. Forgive us Father for we know not what we do, too focused on ourselves, instead of pointing others towards You.  

I realize how far we are from who we need to be, but I am trusting in God's forgiveness and power to transform you and me. We're all a work in progress, so search our hearts Oh God, reveal any unclean way in us, so that we can lead and be led to the promised land like Moses.

I am not saying that there are no areas of grey, for certain there are choices that may, not be so black and white, but we've got to try and get it right.  We need to look at the results of all that we've been choosing and realize that it's more than just our way of life that we risk losing. Our souls are crying out for a better way, knowing there is gonna come a day, when God will wipe every tear away.
 
We're all meant to live a greater existence, but that means setting aside our vengeance, listening to our conscience, and accepting that Christ has already served our sentence. His Kingdom will not come, until we surrender our lives to the one, who paid the cost on the cross, giving up his own life, to seek and save the lost.

Consider Our Ways...

I have the privilege of facilitating a 48 hour prayer vigil this weekend at church.  While I was praying, I became distracted by the sound of the cars going by, which got me thinking and in turn inspired this - my 2nd attempt at poetry slam. Perhaps I`ll attempt to write one a week, but we`ll see how it goes. I could definitely use the practice. This is a spoken word art form, so a little is lost when it is read rather than heard. 

CONSIDER OUR WAYS...
I hear the cars driving by, whizzing, streaming by and I wonder why, they never stop to look inside - this sanctuary. Is it scary? Or is there something more ominous looming? Like the possibility that we are not choosing - to go beyond these stained glass walls to where it is dirty, messy and Jesus calls, us to start leading people out of the darkness, pulling them out of the muck and mire. Cause perhaps we're to concerned that it may ruin our image, mess up our attire.

You can debate me on this, argue that it's not the case but given the evidence or lack there of could you look me in the face. When people are lost more than ever before, many never having even darkened a church door. When there is so much space in this sacred place, full of empty pews and seats - tell me where is all the "Fresh Meat". I'll tell you where it is - in the world rotting away, unaware of their spirits decay, all because our fear or selfishness keeps us away.

Don't blame it on God when He has called you to get out of your pew, to start putting others ahead of you. There are people in Darfur dying, children crying, homeless people sleeping on the street, nations with nothing to eat. So many of God's children oppressed. this world is a mess. Yet we sit back and say it ain't our fault, wondering why the dark is so dark - pitch black like a moonless night. The question worth asking is why is our light not so bright.

Blood stained sacrifice paid the price - Do we honour the cost? When our inaction seems to indicate that we don't really care about the lost. Do we even care to bring them inside - this place where we hide? Or are we embarrassed and ashamed that our church is not all that we've claimed. Maybe we will recognize the error of all that we've been doing, building palaces for ourselves, while God's temple inside our hearts lies in ruins.

I don't mean to rant or come down to hard, my intention is not to have you leaving here emotionally scared - but if you are getting a little offended -then perhaps your heart needs to be mended. Maybe this Def Jam Slam was meant for you, because God has powerful, incredible things for you to do. Don't pack your bags, I'm not sending you on a guilt trip. These words are meant to challenge and edify the church not break the spirits of the saints like a whip. I am there with you, trying to get it right, considering my ways and how to brighten the light within me so that others can see when I venture into the dark, someting worth having, a spark, that will ignite a desire to know of God and his refining fire. Let's consider our ways and how to ensure this is a place of God's glory, where people come and sing praises, sharing their own story - Of how God's servants came blazing bright, leading them out of the darkness and into the light.

I Remember When You Use To Love Me

I do not have much to say today. Shocking I know. I am preparing my sermon for Sunday Morning, and thought I would try to write another Poetry Slam for it (my first attempt is revealed in yesterday's post). I love this art form, relevant,  interesting, engaging, hard hitting, Christ centered, Scripture based. I do not yet do it justice. So I thought tonight I would include a video for those of you who are not familiar it. Listen to the words, nothing less than powerful - sharper than any double edged sword!

Poetry Slam

-->So I have wanted to write a poetry slam for a while now, but the whole thing intimidated me - a lot.  Last night I decided to try to write one for tonight's Sunday evening service, wanting to offer something a little different to the college & career crowd. I was nervous to present it and probably would not have posted this, but by all appearances, thanks to God, it seems to have ministered to some, so perhaps some more via this forum.  Not sure it comes off the same way by reading it than by hearing it, but here goes.

Forgiven and Free is all I want to be 

The preacher starts preaching from the pulpit above, Speaking of redemption, grace, mercy and love, I sit in the pew finding it hard to believe, cause I can’t really see, after all that I’ve been through how this perfect God could even set eyes upon me… Forgiven and Free is all I want to be.

Ashamed and embarrassed, living in the darkness of a closet of lies, if one were to sneak out it would certainly be my demise.  I watch as the perfect churched people fidget in their pews, I wonder if their nervous as well, as they listen to the good news.  Probably not what do they have to be nervous about, squeaky clean Christians have no reason to doubt that this good news was meant for them, but certainly not the likes of me…Forgiven and Free is all I want to be.

* Slept with a relative stranger, after a hard night of drinking, looking for love what was I thinking.  A baby on the way I wasn’t prepared I had an abortion I saw no other way, I was scared. Now I live with the regret of all that I’ve done, to bad to be forgiven, to bad to be loved.  I look in the mirror and what to do I see, a failure, a mess-up, a shadow of me…Forgiven and Free is all I want to be 

* It started on the weekends, back in the day, hanging with guys drinking the afternoons away, but now I’m 45 feeling barely alive, need it to get up and to sleep at night, hardly ever see my kids, I’ve lost my wife.  Not to another man or to death thank God, but because of a bottle and drinking to hard. I’d give anything to have it all back, I’d do what it takes to make it right.  I’ll go to AA – I’ll go tonight.  I can’t take it back the pain that I’ve caused can’t be undone, in fact why even bother, I’m to far gone.  I can’t do it on my own, and now I’m alone, what’s the use when it’s just me…Forgiven and Free is all I want to be 

* From the first time I saw it on my laptop I was hooked, now I am sneaking downstairs at night just to get a look, tripping with fear, wondering what will happen if my mom catches me here. I Feel like a loser full of shame and disgust but I can’t control the urges, I have tried on my own, but I can’t beat this demon of lust. My mom, my sister, not to mention my girlfriend would be so ashamed, knowing how I defile these woman for my own gain. I can’t tell a soul, they’ll never understand, seeing only a perversion of me instead of a man.  I feel powerless over this enemy… Forgiven and Free is all I want to be. 

* The last words she heard from my mouth were teasing and taunts, making fun of her style, her walk and her words, not really caring of the wounds she incurred.  She wasn’t like me, in retrospect she was better, which made me angry and jealous and detrimentally bitter. I could not see the pain, she was feeling inside, I didn’t know her problems at home, the secrets she'd hide.  She took her life and while I know it’s not my fault it sure didn’t help my adding to her strife. I wish it wasn’t her lying there in that coffin, I'd rather it was me cause all I want is to be forgiven and free 

* I let everybody down, I'm lower than gum stepped on over and over on the ground.  Like empty candy wrappers tossed aside, I feel like I’ve already died inside.  Why hold on to this shell of an existence, trying to dull the pain with knives and razor blades. It’s just not cutting it anymore, there is nothing worth living for.  There’s no turning back, when the preacher’s done preaching I’m out the door, I’ll be looking down the barrel of a gun, pull the trigger than it’s done, and all the pain just fades.  Cause I am messed up, I’ve messed up and there’s no worth in me… Forgiven and Free is all I want to be 

I snap back to the here and now, the preacher begins telling of Jesus and how, he came as a babe born in a manger, grown to a man who would become our Saviour.  Certainly not for me I thought, but then he preached on, quoting scripture, the words in red in the bible, words of Jesus, words pointing to my survival.  A story of a sinful woman sitting among the religious, who wanted to be forgiven and free, though her deeds were grievous, just like me.  Luke 7:48-50 Then Jesus said to her your sins of forgiven. As hard as I fought, those words penetrated my heart, as if Jesus was speaking those words right to me, giving me a reason to stop sinning, a reason to go on living. Luke 5:20 Jesus called the sinner friend, me a wretched mess of despair, he called me friend and on the cross he proved that he did care. He quoted from Matthew 26:28 of how Jesus was forsaken so that I might be forgiven, he gave up his life, so that I could go on living. I could picture him hanging on the cross for all I’ve done wrong, picturing my face, enduring the pain so I could be extend forgiveness & grace. I realized then & there that all my fears and failures were wrapped in swaddling clothes, placed in tomb and raised from the cross.  My eyes began to well up with tears, and as I walked out in faith, I relinquished my fears, my heart cried out to Jesus, as I prayed with might, placing my faith in Him, walking out of the darkness into the light.  

Forgiven and Free because of Jesus - now that is me.