Friday's Faith - Collective Wail

Friday's Faith

Collective Wail

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him."

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:

But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship Him."

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.

And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill Him.'"

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called My Son."

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi...

~Matthew 2:1-16 NIV

*****

Collective Wail

Even at birth, the king wanted His head

the night he ordered all Bethlehem's firstborn males dead.

Grieving mothers throughout the land

wept for their children, refusing comfort.

A grievous sound rose up through the land

When mothers cried out as their hearts did contort.

Jesus' life was saved that one dark night

while Mary's heart must have been filled with fright...

But You, O Lord, knew His day was to come.....

Did You grieve like me when Your will was done?

...A sound was heard in Ramah

weeping and much lament.

Rachel weeping for her children,

Rachel refusing all solace,

Her children gone, dead and buried.*

My heart grieves that familiar sound,

As tonight my baby girl lies in the ground...

*****

"If the grief cry were simultaneously expressed by each parent who has lost a child at The Compassionate Friends Convention, I would imagine that such a collective wail would go up, that it would bring down the entire building."

~Tommy Prince

Pictures: CartoonStock.com and FotoSearch.com

*Matthew 2:18 ~The Message (Translation of God's Holy Word) This verse marks the fulfillment of the prophecy made by Jeremiah hundreds of years before, found in Jeremiah 31:15

Poem - Collective Wail - Angie Bennett Prince - 9/23/10

Her Father's Love

Her Father's Love

You had the pow’r to save my baby girl . . .

When she was sad, You came to comfort her,

When she was harmed, Your protection would unfurl,

When she was lonely, You came t’ visit her.

When she sinned, Your own Lamb came t’ take her sin,

When she would cry, You wiped her tears away;

When she was estranged, You came, took her in,

When she was taunted, You kept th’ Fiend at bay.

When she was vulnerable, You gave strength,

When she faltered, You’d go to any length,

Ev’n parted the heav’ns to come, rescue her,

Sought th’ cherubims, on their wings You mounted . . .

You battled when foes were too strong for her,

In waters too high, You took hold of her.

When she could not hear, Your voice resounded.

But when You spoke, and she refused, You warned,

But when she still turned You away, You mourned . . .

And when she ran from You, asserting her will,

You let her go, but You loved her still . . .

When the Enemy pounced, her body killed,

You took her to Heaven, Your Love revealed.

But long before the bells for her life pealed,

Her Father’s Love made sure her soul was sealed.

Based on Psalm 18

Picture: Angel_of_the_Aurora_2A.jpg on http://www.skychasers.net/sue.htm

Written 6/16/09 – Her Father’s Love – Angie Bennett Prince

But I Want to Climb Your Heavenly Tree of Life!

But I Want to Climb Your 

Heavenly Tree of Life!

 (Poetry Prompt Challenge)

This Tree of Life’s in Heaven –it’s not fair,

For to climb up on its branches, I long—

O to jump on a branch, and hang on there …

While folks down here just jeer and jest their song:

 

“There is no God in Heaven!” they all shout;

“For if He were, there would be no more crime—

the hungry would eat; babies would not pout;

there would not be sickness nor vile wartime!”

 

The God of Heaven hung His holy head,

“Do they not know My kingdom’s not yet come?

You must go, appeal to them in My stead,

‘Such laws are true only in My kingdom!’”

 

“There is another prince at work on earth—

Prince of Darkness they unwittingly serve;

That’s why I provided a second birth:

For on their own, My laws they can’t observe!

 

 “Of course, they long for justice and peacetime;

I put a longing for them in their heart.

For now, I need you, this Tree not to climb,

But gather the lambs to, My truth impart . . .

 

“I would not lose any if they’re willing

To accept My Peace offering with My love;

I cry for them daily, My tears spilling,

Longing to bring them to My courts above!

 

 “Keep your eyes on Me, not on My Life’s Tree;

Your reward e’er awaits your arrival;

Climb into My heart, and then you will see

My urgent need for your heart’s revival.

 

“For how will they hear unless they are told?

And how will they respond unless they know

My heart will free them from Satan’s stronghold?

Don’t only tell, but My love for them, show!”

 

Forgive me dear Lord for my selfishness—

I just wanted my pain to end!  Your pain

Though was freely given; You weren’t woundless—

Man of Sorrows . . . suffered pain for my gain!

 

Here, You missed Your Heavenly Father too,

But You never forgot Your life’s mission:

You never thought Your life too precious to

Undergo—for our sakes—pain or bludgeon.

 

Give me the strength to climb into Your heart,

See blood and tears from sorrows ... ripped apart.

I must, when I long to climb Your Life’s Tree,

Remember . . . You climbed Calv’ry’s tree for me!

                                                

Poetry prompts jump, jeer, jest

Keith Haring's painting, The Tree of Life, 1985 http://simplysnickers.blogspot.com/2009/05/poetry-prompt-through-sunday-may-10.html

Written 5/9/09 - But I Want to Climb Your Heavenly Tree of Life! - Angie Bennett Prince