Wednesday, September 25, 2013

For Offering Love – v3


For sharing God’s grace
offering love
sharing their love
in the temple, the chapel,
standing before God
For this shamed
judged guilty
for this alone
the stones at the ready.

A prayer for mercy
for those in the crowd
the thirteen judging
may they rest tonight
Hearing Christ speaking
calling to them
to offer compassion
to set down their stones
to offer their love

The same challenge
others standing accused
new martyrs, new pilgrims
following the word
a prayer, the same prayer
for mercy, discernment
that the breach would not be widened
too many innocents injured
in the name of piety


Edited September 25, 2013
For Offering Love – v3
(editing original again)
Edited September 7, 2013
For Offering Love – v2
June 22, 2011
For Offering Love
&
new poem September 7, 2013
“Making the secular Holy”
This poem is about my wife and me when we got married
civilly on December 17, 2004 in Concord, NH in White Park
and then before our church family at
Wesley United Methodist Church in Concord, NH
on April 23, 2005.
We celebrate 2 anniversaries because they both mean a great
deal to us, in very different ways.
I grieve for those who are able to marry civilly in so many
states now, such as NH, but are unable to marry in their
United Methodists churches and for the clergy who are put on trial
for choosing to go against the Discipline to marry them.
&
trials of Rev. Frank Schaefer
and Rev. Thomas Ogletree
and  Rev. Steve Heiss
&
Love on Trial,
the case against the Reverend Amy DeLong,
which begins on June 20, 2011
&
John 8:1-11
&
Samuel Thompson’s
Inclusion Essay
shared at the New England United Methodist Church
Annual Conference
in response to call by Reconciling Ministries Network
for essays describing, “My vision for an inclusive church”,
June 10, 2011
&
in part inspired by conversations with
the Reverend John Makokha
Riruta UMC
Children of Africa Hope Mission Project in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. http://rirutaumc.homestead.com/children_of_africa.html
&
Matthew 25:31-46
The Sheep and the Goats
&
Matthew 28:18-20
Great Commission

All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 25,340+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

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