O.K. then what or who is God?

[redwhine 10]

Would anyone like to be part of my new Christian rock band...

 

"Faith Yes more" ?

 

Sign up here fellow christians and lets send the devil straight back to hell with our rock.

Sorry, but I'm with the Big Yin on that subject...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUSwLWh5Huk

[FACEBOOK 10]

////////////////////////

Edited January 13, 2013 by FACEBOOK

[redwhine 10]

So what are you trying to say? Do you want to be on bass?

Bass, Whitbread, Tetleys. I like Abbeydale beers. Absolution is AWESOME"

[Lockjaw 11]

Seems to have degenerated in to some Radio 4 "we-are-o-so-more-intelligent-than-our-listeners" word association style fiasco.

 

Can we get back to the god nonsense please?

[mikem8634 10]

R.S. Thomas approaching some of the issues around spiritual conviction and faith. Puts it a lot better than I could. May prove interesting for some.

 

 

The Empty Church

BY R. S. THOMAS

 

They laid this stone trap

for him, enticing him with candles,

as though he would come like some huge moth

out of the darkness to beat there.

Ah, he had burned himself

before in the human flame

and escaped, leaving the reason

torn. He will not come any more

to our lure. Why, then, do I kneel still

striking my prayers on a stone

heart? Is it in hope one

of them will ignite yet and throw

on its illumined walls the shadow

of someone greater than I can understand?

 

 

 

Threshold

BY R. S. THOMAS

 

I emerge from the mind’s

cave into the worse darkness

outside, where things pass and

the Lord is in none of them.

 

I have heard the still, small voice

and it was that of the bacteria

demolishing my cosmos. I

have lingered too long on

 

this threshold, but where can I go?

To look back is to lose the soul

I was leading upwards towards

the light. To look forward? Ah,

 

what balance is needed at

the edges of such an abyss.

I am alone on the surface

of a turning planet. What

 

to do but, like Michelangelo’s

Adam, put my hand

out into unknown space,

hoping for the reciprocating touch?

 

 

 

Kneeling

BY R. S. THOMAS

 

Moments of great calm,

Kneeling before an altar

Of wood in a stone church

In summer, waiting for the God

To speak; the air a staircase

For silence; the sun’s light

Ringing me, as though I acted

A great rôle. And the audiences

Still; all that close throng

Of spirits waiting, as I,

For the message.

Prompt me, God;

But not yet. When I speak,

Though it be you who speak

Through me, something is lost.

The meaning is in the waiting.

 

R. S. Thomas, from The Collected Later Poems: 1988-2000. Copyright © 2004 by R. S. Thomas. Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books Ltd. 

Edited December 10, 2012 by mikem8634

[janie48 98]

Well, I take What if god was one of us to be much more than a question.

 

It is to make us think on a higher level.

 

Maybe god is one of us,

 

maybe god is the paramedic that saves a dying child by the roadside

maybe god is the surgeon who performs a miracle surgery

maybe god is the kind range rover driver that pulled your car out of the snow

maybe god is the bus driver that saw you running and stopped for you

 

maybe god is one of us, maybe god is you and me when we are at our best, helping our fellow man simply as an act of kindness for no gain, just love.

 

amen

 

R.S. Thomas approaching some of the issues around spiritual conviction and faith. Puts it a lot better than I could. May prove interesting for some.

 

 

The Empty Church

BY R. S. THOMAS

 

They laid this stone trap

for him, enticing him with candles,

as though he would come like some huge moth

out of the darkness to beat there.

Ah, he had burned himself

before in the human flame

and escaped, leaving the reason

torn. He will not come any more

to our lure. Why, then, do I kneel still

striking my prayers on a stone

heart? Is it in hope one

of them will ignite yet and throw

on its illumined walls the shadow

of someone greater than I can understand?

 

 

 

Threshold

BY R. S. THOMAS

 

I emerge from the mind’s

cave into the worse darkness

outside, where things pass and

the Lord is in none of them.

 

I have heard the still, small voice

and it was that of the bacteria

demolishing my cosmos. I

have lingered too long on

 

this threshold, but where can I go?

To look back is to lose the soul

I was leading upwards towards

the light. To look forward? Ah,

 

what balance is needed at

the edges of such an abyss.

I am alone on the surface

of a turning planet. What

 

to do but, like Michelangelo’s

Adam, put my hand

out into unknown space,

hoping for the reciprocating touch?

 

 

 

Kneeling

BY R. S. THOMAS

 

Moments of great calm,

Kneeling before an altar

Of wood in a stone church

In summer, waiting for the God

To speak; the air a staircase

For silence; the sun’s light

Ringing me, as though I acted

A great rôle. And the audiences

Still; all that close throng

Of spirits waiting, as I,

For the message.

Prompt me, God;

But not yet. When I speak,

Though it be you who speak

Through me, something is lost.

The meaning is in the waiting.

 

R. S. Thomas, "Kneeling" from The Collected Later Poems: 1988-2000. Copyright © 2004 by R. S. Thomas. Reprinted by permission of Bloodaxe Books Ltd. 

 

Very meaningful.

[redwhine 10]

Very meaningful.

How about...

 

"When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea." Eric Cantona.

 

But seriously, if you find those poems meaningful... sorry, very meaningful, what is the meaning that you perceive in them, please?

Edited December 10, 2012 by redwhine

[janie48 98]

How about..

 

"When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea." Eric Cantona.

 

He should keep his mouth shut,and stick to what he does best,kicking a football.

[redwhine 10]

He should keep his mouth shut,and stick to what he does best,kicking a football.

You replied while I was editing.

 

What is the meaning that you perceive in those poems, please?

[janie48 98]

You replied while I was editing.

 

What is the meaning that you perceive in those poems, please?

 

That the presence of God can be anywhere which is what i believe, without necessary having a comprehention or definition of what God is, or an image as such.

 

I'll ask you the same question,but its getting late so save it for another time now.

[redwhine 10]

That the presence of God can be anywhere which is what i believe, without necessary having a comprehention or definition of what God is, or an image as such.

"...can be anywhere..." But isn't the Abrahamic god supposed to be everywhere?

 

I'll ask you the same question,but its getting late so save it for another time now.

I perceive no meaning in them, which is why asked you what you found meaningful in them. Your response is even more cryptic than the poems themselves. You seem to be saying that you believe in something, but have no idea and need no idea of what it is that you believe in.

[Lockjaw 11]

"...can be anywhere..." But isn't the Abrahamic god supposed to be everywhere?

 

 

I perceive no meaning in them, which is why asked you what you found meaningful in them. Your response is even more cryptic than the poems themselves. You seem to be saying that you believe in something, but have no idea and need no idea of what it is that you believe in.

 

Maybe that's where we're going wrong, we seem to have this strange need to know what something is before we can "believe" in it.

 

Pesky spiritual void!