thoughts out !oud

a Christian’s news, views, opinions and occasional poetry …

Poem: Touches in the dark hours

touches in the dark hours

what’s desired
the most
we deserve
the least –
that’s biblical, that is –

to be left
to hurt
is worse than being left to die –
or is it there being no hope
for atonement?
or redemption?
no soft touches
in the dark hours
when your spirit has no words
to speak
because they’re empty
and so there’s a guttural
yelp
a vacuumed cry for help
followed by the mind burst
that the worst
is yet to bear its teeth
expectation can be equally painful

trickery is at work
in these dark hours
thoughts jump over balcony railings
to fall
lazily
into foul language in a foul world
rushing upwards
with greetings of a sudden kind
so much for civilities

but we have no Superman
nor Spider-man
nor least of all good ol’ Captain America
just a man –
weeping
offering
the soft touches
that we need
in these dark hours
he’s been through them too

© 2007 mathew hamilton… Continue reading Poem: Touches in the dark hours

Your love is like a beetroot stain

There are many grand, romantic, humorous and satirical quotes on the topic of love that anyone could find nowadays. It seems that we toss the word ‘love’ around quite freely – perhaps we have even diluted it to an extent – so that it becomes just something that is so abstract as to be almost meaningless or at least devalued. We say things like ‘I love Nutella’, or ‘I love my cat.’ What we really mean, of course, is simply that we really like the object of our ‘love’. Yet scripturally, love means something much, much stronger than for what we give it credit. Truly, there is no greater love, as the Lord Jesus says, than to give up one’s life for another.

CS Lewis wrote… Continue reading Your love is like a beetroot stain

How to get your fear of death to drop dead

I wonder how many of us fear death? If even only on a subconscious level, perhaps? I think it would be fair to say that the majority of people really don’t give much time thinking about death. I mean, why dwell on something that is so morbid and dark, right? Wouldn’t we rather just think of the happier things in life and tend to what is present than to waste our grey matter thinking of death?

Since you’re reading this, do you? Are you scared of death? Or are you somewhat like me … not really fearing death itself but not looking forward to how it might actually take place?

At one point, I used to think that Christians had the monopoly of not fearing death… Continue reading How to get your fear of death to drop dead

Fruit-loops and ding-a-lings

Sometimes the most insightful tidbits you learn about the Christian faith come neither from the church pulpits nor from the myriad of sermons/messages available on the internet. Sometimes they come from estranged conversations with faceless strangers. The one I’m about to extrapolate a little on happened in a Christian channel on an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) server. The simple truths just blew me away at the time. Let me try to relate them.

I have long had a feeling that the segregation of the mainstream churches into its various denominations (and non-denominations) has made genuine Christian worship a stale affair. That is, each church community has enmeshed its specific style of worship into its doctrinal beliefs - which serves only to muddy the waters of true and… Continue reading Fruit-loops and ding-a-lings

Christians: not perfect, just forgiven!

For the skeptic, Christians are nothing but a hypocritical community group, bent with the same greed, self-promoting motives and double-standards as that of many individuals out in the secular world. And you know what, the skeptic is right.

There is a small church I drive past almost everyday on my way back from the office. It is situated on the corner of a reasonably busy intersection and is making good use… Continue reading Christians: not perfect, just forgiven!

Poem: Jesus on a skateboard

Something of a slightly different flavour today. Hope you enjoy.

Jesus on a skateboard

This morning
I saw Jesus on a skateboard
In the middle of a wave of bodies
Pouring out from the high, proud doors
At the front of the church
After Sunday worship

Perhaps they mistook him for Moses
For they (de)parted in a wide V
As soon as they saw him

Either way
They moved from him
As though he embodied something unholy -
Scarey and alien and unclean… Continue reading Poem: Jesus on a skateboard

Next stop: Karma Central

It’s a subtle reference, to be sure. Unless you’re in the clutches of the menace that is Melbourne’s public transport system, you are probably blissfully unaware. Fare evasion is nothing new to any transport system, but in Melbourne’s beloved train, tram and bus network, Metlink believe it’s a big deal. A big enough deal to presume guilt on its patrons before innocence. A big enough deal to launch a quasi-spiritual campaign against the ticket evaders and freeloaders that must ’surely be the reason’ for our failed and troubled transport system. A’la karmacentral.com.au.

Their whole campaign revolves around the simple notion that if you don’t buy a ticket or otherwise avoid paying your way on public transport, somewhere, somehow, something bad is going to happen to you… Continue reading Next stop: Karma Central

Not so much a ‘handout’ but a ‘handup’

Some time back I was involved in a discussion about Jesus’ redemptive work. My chief point was essentially that there is nothing that we can do in order to please God by our own efforts. We are so decrepit and sinful by nature and by choice that we cannot help but sin and, therefore, can never hope to reach the purity of God’s standard. Enter Jesus into human history - God’s plan to set the record straight: acknowledge your sin, trust in Jesus (and let him take our punishment in our place) and obtain redemption.

The person I was discussing this with surprised me with his response. He said, in more or less these words: if the only way to be accepted by God is… Continue reading Not so much a 'handout' but a 'handup'