Author: Kate & Roger

We’re Kate and Roger. We live in Shropshire, England on the border with Wales. Click on the about link above for more info.

The Grandeur of God

I was speaking to a friend this morning out in our garden. Actually she had come to tend the garden for me….such a blessing as I don’t always have time or energy these days.

I happened to walk outside without anything on my feet and she remarked that it was good to see that. It was a way to be “earthed”. I asked her whether she knew the poem by Gérard Manley Hopkins called The Grandeur of God? When she said that she didn’t I tried to summarise it but then said I would share it with her.

As I haven’t posted a blog for ages, I thought I would have a go, so others could read it, too. I’m using my phone to write it and it doesn’t seem to work as well as my laptop but I’ve pressed on.

So, bless you all, dear friends, and here’s the poem. 

God's Grandeur 
BY GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
    It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
    It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
    And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
    And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
    There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
    Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
    World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Source: Gerard Manley Hopkins: Poems and Prose (Penguin Classics, 1985)

The Road to Emmaus


During the past week, even though we had celebrated Easter Day, my heart was cast down. In fact it was so low at one point, that all my hope seemed gone.

Out of that pain the Holy Spirit birthed a poem. He led me to the story in Luke’s gospel of the two followers of Jesus who, having seen Him crucified, couldn’t understand how the One who they thought was God’s Messiah had been killed. All their hope seemed dead.

So, here’s my poem. First on Soundcloud as audio, then in the verse I wrote.

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/L497R

The Road to Emmaus

We walked along in deep despair
We wondered what had happened there
Our hopes and dreams lay in the dust
That cross destroying all our trust

Yet as we walked a stranger came
A man who didn’t say his name
His hooded cloak obscured his face
And as we walked he stayed in pace

He asked “why are you cast so low?”
We wondered why he didn’t know
We told him of the crucified
As he remained right by our side

We told him of our expectation
Of One who’d come to save our nation
That He had been upon that cross
And all our hopes had come to loss

Our hopes had died with the Messiah
We thought He’d come with Holy fire
But now that flame had been snuffed out
And we were left with fear and doubt

We told him what some women said
That Jesus lived. He wasn’t dead
The tomb in which his body lay
Was empty in the light of day

And angels, too, were in their story
Saying that Jesus rose in glory
But this we found too hard to know
And to Emmaus we must go

But as we shuffled on the road
The stranger with us firmly strode
And as we struggled in our grief
He called us out of unbelief

He spoke the prophets’ words from old
And showed how this was all foretold
Our hearts then burned with revelation
For understanding God’s salvation

He walked on with us to explain
Why Jesus had to die in pain
As victory from great defeat
Came through those nail pierced hands and feet

Our hope deferred, our pain of strife
Gave way before God’s tree of life
So hearts cast down could lift up high
By God’s Messiah, born to die

It was for us. He took the cup
Of bitterness, to free us up
And from the searing pain of weals
Jesus is still the One who heals 

We stepped along more briskly now
“Who was this stranger anyhow?”
He’d met us at our time of loss
To show the meaning of the cross

And when we reached our place to stay
The stranger meant to go away
But we had been so truly blessed
We asked him then to stay and rest

And he agreed. We found the inn
And three of us now ventured in
A quiet spot. An empty table
To bless this man as we were able

The bread arrived and then a cup
The stranger moved to take them up
And as he blessed and broke the bread
The hood was lifted from His head

We took the bread he gave us there
Our mouths were wide. Our eyes did stare! 
Jesus Himself. Yes, our Messiah
The One who carries Holy fire!

But as we looked, yet He was gone
Vanishing with the setting sun.
It was enough. Now we had seen
Let us tell others where He’d been

We left the inn. With hearts aflame
We knew the stranger by His Name
And we could say with joy and zeal
That Jesus lives. This faith is real.

From Jerusalem we came
We rushed back there to speak His Name
To tell the others Who we’d found
To testify to all around!

When we arrived we found His men
And others gathered there, with them
Excitedly, they told us, too
The Lord is risen! Simon knew.

We told them then of where we’d been
And of the stranger we had seen
And of His Presence on the way
And all the things that He did say 

We won’t forget the revelation
The cross he chose for man’s salvation
And then in breaking of the bread
How He revealed His sacred head.

And as we finish this long story
We hope we’ve told it for His glory
For he chose us to walk beside
We who believed that hope had died. 

Jesus, our Messiah, is alive and burns with Holy fire on the altars of our hearts!

Hope Revisited

Kingdom Heritage Videos

As some of you know, Roger and I have recently made a number of videos about Signs of Hope & Revival. We started this series after being led to “walk in revival” as we visited the Telford and Wrekin area of Shropshire. This is the link to our YouTube channel:

https://youtube.com/channel/UC1OKiQxQ7MYMN9SFwOQDBQw

Those videos now include (in our Revival playlist):

Signs of Hope & Revival – parts 1 and 2 – focusing on some of the spiritual foundations of Revival including the prayers of God’s people spoken over centuries; the church’s positioning for revival and other places where early signs are being seen.

Signs of Hope & Revival – spotlighting two new churches in Telford: All Nations (which has a Community Grocery) and Telford Minster (which is situated in the heart of the shopping centre and is a CofE plant aimed at the younger generations, although not exclusively).

Both of these new churches have had many full immersion baptisms since the beginning of 2022. Some of these were outside in very cold weather!

Further videos include two testimonies of young men who were on the very edge of despair and suicide. Victor and Lee. They are now, through a Community Chaplaincy, baptised followers of Jesus and more are being added to their number with a real regularity. We have these two stories in our good news playlist.

Our latest one in the same “Signs” series is called Talking Revival. We have strung together some interesting comments from people we’ve met to act as a catalyst for discussion and prayer. That’s in the Revival playlist, too.

Our next project is to edit some excellent material we’ve gathered from Yellow Ribbon, the Community Chaplaincy I mentioned above. These things take time!

Encouragement

We produce our videos to encourage God’s people and to stir up prayer and discussion. So please do share the links around, if they encourage you.

We were personally encouraged to visit a local Baptist Church on Easter Sunday, only to discover that the minister was going to show Lee’s Story. It was such a catalyst to that congregation! It gave an opportunity for some prophetic words to be spoken and received. God was in the house!

Hope deferred

God’s Word tells us this:

Hope deferred makes the heart sick but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Proverbs 13:12

Jesus is that tree of life. I plunged into a spiritually low place in the last day or so. It just happened. But God used it to bring forth a poem from my low point. It’s the next post on this blog as it’s long!!

Blessing you all with fresh hope as we move from Easter to Pentecost.

The Kingdom

I mentioned in my last post that some dear Christian friends had given Roger and I a word about “small things”.

Another very dear friend who lives in California responded to my blog by sending me a photo of a ceramic tile she has at home.

The Kingdom

Jesus said so much about The Kingdom of God. He came to bring the Kingdom to earth. He then sent His disciples out to live and preach His Kingdom and make disciples in His Name.

As the centuries have passed we have built a “church” of many types of expression. Sometimes, sadly, our “buildings” are no longer revealing the Presence of Jesus or the power of His Kingdom.

Jesus said that His Kingdom was like a very small seed. 

Then Jesus taught them another parable: “Heaven’s kingdom can be compared to the tiny mustard seed that a man takes and plants in his field. Although the smallest of all the seeds, it eventually grows into the greatest of garden plants, becoming a tree for birds to come and build their nests in its branches.”
Matthew 13:31‭-‬32 TPT

A poem: The Kingdom

I didn't really get it. 
I needed revelation.
I knew that Jesus came on earth 
To offer God's salvation 

But what I hadn't understood
Although I thought I had 
Is how He brought His Kingdom near
To make the poor ones glad

The "church" has been my "go to"
It's where I found His people
But now I see the problems
Of tower and of steeple 

Religious enterprises 
Replaced a simple thing
And ruins in the buildings
Have hidden God's true King 

The Kingdom is with Jesus
His Kingdom is around
We need to walk with Jesus
The King whom God has crowned 

We are His new creation
No robes for pomp or show
But seek His living water
So streams from us can flow

Those streams of life will change things
As we are filled with grace
His truth will bring His freedom
To those who seek His face 

His message is so simple:
"My Kingdom comes on earth
So turn away from sin and death
I offer you new birth"

Scriptures

I based that poem on a number of Scriptures. 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:16‭-‬17 NIVUK


‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:3 NIVUK



Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, “Here it is,” or “There it is,” because the kingdom of God is in your midst.’
Luke 17:20,21 NIVUK


As you go, proclaim this message: “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Heal those who are ill, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Matthew 10:7‭-‬8 NIVUK


The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 NIVUK


Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!
2 Corinthians 5:17 NIVUK


On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’
John 7:37‭-‬38 NIVUK


From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’
Matthew 4:17 NIVUK



Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no-one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’
John 3:3 NIVUK

Easter

I was wondering how to finish this message and then I thought of Jesus, the King of the Kingdom.

Once crowned with thorns, now crowned with glory.

Praise King Jesus!

Happy Easter, dear friends!

Blogging

Too much information?

When I had the idea of writing a blog back in January it seemed like a natural outflow of my need to communicate, whether in prose or poetry. But, as time has gone on I’ve begun to wonder what it’s all for.

We are constantly receiving communications today. Our email inboxes, our what’s app group messages, our phones and texts, notice boards and adverts all bombard us with messages!

How do we sift and sort, choose and reject the flow of these messages and stay with the ones that we might need to help us navigate our lives or illuminate our thinking and discerning?

The answer must be – for those who believe – the leading of the Holy Spirit. We need a pure filter; a peaceful, gentle guide to the messages that carry personal insights for our growth, encouragement and to help us to make sense of our journey through the days of our lives.

We are subject to so many pressures. The digital age has intensified and multiplied those pressures. We find it hard to “be still and know that I am God”. At least, I find it hard…

Taking stock

So, as I take stock – hopefully with the Lord – of my own journey so far in 2022, I once again thank God for a gift of writing. And, having done so, I ask Him afresh who it’s for and how I might reach those who might find my reflections and poems useful in their own faith journeys.

Finding the mark

I’m not good at self promotion. I think that must be true of many of us; particularly as we seek to live selflessly in Christ in an age of self promotion. So, I’m trusting God to multiply my efforts so that anything I write, which might bring a message from Him to another person who may need it, will find its mark.

Starting small

Yesterday a word was given to Roger and me in prayer by some very mature and loving Christian friends. “Do not despise the day of small things…”

I was encouraged by this word, as I remembered where it came from in Zechariah 4: a time when some of God’s people in exile were allowed to return to their homeland but were faced with the ruins of a once great and glorious temple and the huge task of rebuilding it. It was not going to be “by might or by power but by My Spirit” said the Lord God Almighty.

Finding encouragement

As I wrote that last paragraph I started to look for the Zechariah scripture (and came across an article from a ministry that I trust called Desiring God:


https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/do-not-despise-the-day-of-small-things

Here are some extracts from that article by Scott Hubbard, an American pastor, to give insight into why God told His servant Zerubbabel, as Governor of Judah, who was entrusted with overseeing this huge rebuilding project, not to despise the day of small things:

What will it mean for us to worship a God who works like this?

It will mean praying for the big, longing for the big, and working for the big — all while faithfully and contentedly devoting ourselves to the small. Pray for revival, and then prepare breakfast for the kids. Dream of the knowledge of God’s glory flooding the earth (Habakkuk 2:14), and then bring a taste of that glory to the neighbour next door. Preach a grand vision to dozens or hundreds on Sunday, and then sit and listen to the wounded one on Monday.

The day of big things is coming. Until then, do not neglect the day of small things.

An arm of flesh can never produce the day of big things, at least if we allow God to define big for us. Big things come only from the Spirit as he works through his small but faithful people.

As long as we are in the day of small things, then, our job is to bear the Spirit’s fruit of faithfulness as we wait for God to bring the big things (Galatians 5:22–23).

And our job is to see, by faith, all the big things right in front of us.

Sharing this blog: for “small things” to grow

At the moment I know that only a few people follow this blog. I’m not looking for fame!

I would ask you, please, to pray and to ask the Holy Spirit if there is anyone else you might share it with? It might include a message that someone else needs to hear today, or another day. I’m asking the Lord to multiply what I am seeing as something to be distributed, perhaps in the way that a small offering of loaves and fishes was supernaturally used by Jesus.

You may also have comments to start further prayerful discussion. These are uncharted waters for God’s people as we begin to understand more about what we might be asked to do about the “ruins” that we are facing – in both the church and society.

We, God’s people, have been in various types of exile and we long for His Kingdom to come in ways we have not yet seen on earth. We need to pray and find ways to connect together across the miles to start something new.

Something small.

Asking God to help us build upon it.

For His is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever!

PS: if you want to contact me personally rather than posting an open comment, you can use my dedicated email for this blog/website:kate@poems-and-reflections.com and/or you can simply share with others the website link www.poems-and-reflections.com

Come on, Church!

Family Time

It’s early afternoon and an unseasonably warm and sunny one. We’re on a caravan site near Frome in Somerset. It feels very much like a summer’s day.

We’re here visiting family as my niece and her 4 year old son are visiting my sister. They’ve come from Japan and it’s been nearly 3 years since they were here due to the pandemic closing off travel. We’re enjoying family time.

Telford Minster

While in the caravan, Roger and I are taking the opportunity to edit our latest video. For the past two Sundays we were blessed by the opportunity to visit a very new church, built by the Church of England in Telford, called Telford Minster.

It’s actually the refurbishment of a large upstairs space in a building called Meeting Point in the heart of Telford. The renovations cost the Anglican church around £1.7 million.

Excited expectation

This is a very different Anglican church. As you will see in our soon-to-be-published video, it is a place of excited expectation; planted in the midst of a town with a reputation for being the most unreached place in England.

The space is large. There’s plenty of room for growth! It started with 6 people in 2020 and the expectation is for at least 600. Already it is vibrant and growing. Jesus is in the midst.

Come on, Church!

I truly believe that revival is very near. In fact, I sense that it has already started – mostly outside the church. The Spirit is moving on the broken and the hungry. The Kingdom is very near. Jesus is visiting His Church and being joyfully welcomed by those with eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to understand. These places will become centres of His Presence and power through His Word and His Spirit.

Poem

A few days ago I was moved to write another short poem. It’s not the greatest verse ever! But it does express my own heart cry in His Spirit to see the church wake up into this season of visitation. I pray that it is inspired by the prophetic gift that God has given to me. 

Come on Church!

Don’t you know it’s started? That the new way has begun?
It’s moving in God’s Spirit. It’s coming through God’s Son

Church, this is your time on earth. The Kingdom comes now here
This is God’s time to rise and shine. His purposes are clear

For those of you with eyes to see, and hearts to understand
His signs are all around you. They’re showing on the land.

I counsel you to ask Him - for salve that opens eyes
So you may see His kairos. It isn’t in disguise

Our Lord is clearly coming. As Aslan on the move
He is the King of Glory, His purposes to prove
He’s asking for a following. A people for the hour.

So Church will you arise and shine?
And demonstrate His power.

Light

As I write this I’m sitting in our caravan on a very open site in the warmth of the afternoon sun. It’s a lovely sunny mid-March day.

We’re in the van because we’re on the road, looking for signs of hope and revival. All this came about because I sensed the Spirit saying to me “walk in revival” in February this year. That doesn’t mean that we are in a season of a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit just yet, but it is a bit like someone setting out on an expedition anticipating a new discovery. Or it’s like looking for early signs of a coming movement of God.

Dawn

The great blessing of this caravan site is that we are looking across an expanse of flat land towards the hills with a southern view so that we see the sun rise and the sun set on the horizon. Dawn is now starting much earlier; in fact it seems that suddenly, after a winter of dark days, we are excited by the light coming up before we wake.

Hazy Sunrise

This morning the light was up early but in a haze of morning mist. It was really beautiful.

To the east there is a large rectangular brick chimney and the sun rises behind it. The effect of that combination this morning was to make the rising sun appear as a candle flame.

Roger was so inspired that he put his coat on over his pyjamas and went out to film and take photos. He also found a field of friendly sheep that looked wonderful in the early light. God’s own lighting!

I was also inspired by the hazy sunrise and wrote a poem. Here it is:

Hazy Sunrise

Softness of light awaking
Misty morning breaking
Sun looks like a candle in the sky

Bird song clearly rising
To the soft horizon
Waiting for the perfect time to fly

Praising God’s pure lighting
His creation sighting
As His sun lifts up and rises high

Misty morning clearing
A new day appearing
God’s glory in the beauty of His sky

And here’s the video that Roger and I made this afternoon to combine my words with his photos and film:

New Dawn

We have a dear friend – Mike Davidson. He also loves to write poetry. He sent me a link to his blog and he has a recent poem called Dawn. I sense that we are in a season of new dawns. The link to his blog follows. Please note that to read his poems in full you need to click on the titles!

https:// rhymesforareason9.webnode.co.uk/

The Power of Stories

Personal stories are so powerful; particularly if they speak of dramatic turn-arounds in peoples’ lives.

Jesus had the crowds hanging off His every word. It wasn’t just that His words were Spirit-filled words of life, but that He used the every day circumstances of life to illustrate profound truths about the Kingdom of God. He was (and is) the greatest story-teller!

Testimonies

When someone gives their “testimony” – a witness to what God has done in their life – we are excited to hear that personal story. It brings faith and encouragement to us, too. I wrote a poem in 2020 called “For Such a Time as This”. It was inspired by the way that the story of Lazarus in The Bible continues to reverberate down the thousands of years between us and him and his two sisters, Martha and Mary. But in my poem the story of being divinely called out of the grave has a resonance for revival of a greater kind. God’s people being raised to new life for a new season. The end of this poem actually leads into another poem called Royal Justice…to be shared another time! 

For Such a Time as This

For such a time as this, You stretch out Your sceptred hand
And with a great and mighty roar, You speak into this land
You’re speaking truth and justice, You’re calling time on death
You’re calling hearts to turn around, to speak life to the breath 

The breath that You alone can give, Your people raised from sleep
To see the newness that You bring, stirring something deep
Within their souls and spirits, as they come alive in You
Oh I remember Lazarus. Lord, is this really true! 

Take off the grave clothes, set him free, he needs to live on here
Lazarus will die again, but that time is not yet near
I’ve breathed My Spirit into him for life and joy and peace 
And He will tell my precious ones about his sweet release 

To give them hope, to raise them up, to glorify My Name
Mary, Martha, Lazarus will never be the same 
And by their testimony true My power will be revealed 
The power that only for a while has had to be concealed

For visions wait appointed times and they will surely come 
The timing is the Father’s yet given to the Son
And given to those here on earth, with ears that they can hear
The sound of Royal Justice. His timing draws now near.

Timing

God’s timing is perfect. Jesus didn’t go straight to Bethany when He heard that Lazarus was sick. He knew that Lazarus was going to die, but Jesus always obeyed His Father’s timing. He knew that in letting Lazarus die, a far greater miracle and demonstration of God’s glory was going to take place. What testimonies were going to be given by Lazarus, Mary and Martha and the other mourners at the grave when Jesus called the corpse to life! A story that would take people’s breath away!

Lee’s Story

For those of you who follow this blog (and please share it if you enjoy reading it – just send someone the website link www.poems-and-reflections.com) you will know that we went out in our caravan in February seeking stories of hope and revival to be an encouragement to God’s people. We’ve already published 3 videos and now we’ve completed the fourth. This story is told by Lee, who was addicted to drugs and on a path of destruction before he was rescued by God and brought into His family. Here’s the link: