Tag: new creation

Posted in Spoken Word

resurrection

Posted on by Wick


The dawn arrives, bursting through clouds which were
allowed their moment to shine, but now was time for revealing
All the healing now possible as Christ has become Lord
A sword piercing death right through the heart, a start of something
So much greater than the rebels had in mind
Those who thought they’d find themselves at head of table
Find the man born in a stable has now made all able to dine
On food and wine from an age which is to come
The only begotten Son, firstborn from among the dead
Crown of thorns scar still visible across His head
Reminders to we for whom He bled…of Love.

Love that submitted to the worst of our munitions
His mission finally fully revealed, All Creation healed
And we, sealed by the Spirit for a Kingdom now beginning
Done with sinning, and not looking forward to winning
But having won, sun still setting on a past we’re letting go
Nurtured seeds now grow in fields of promised land
Standing on the shoulders of those who’d come before
Great clouds witnessing not about some yonder shore
But this world transformed, where what we see is not the norm
But a storm of redemption, flooding all we’ve ever known
Kingdom seeds now fully grown and bearing fruit
Corrupted systems moot, blown away from stem to root

As New Creation takes its place even now
His whole life was spent showing us how not to bow
Any longer to the patterns of this world, He hurled His gravestone into
The middle of an ocean of status quo – rippling out tsunamis long ago
Peeling back the layers of facade, in a world creating its own god
And failing, still today to fill our deepest void, annoyed when we can’t
Be charged by our own devices, and our vices lead only to crisis
That reveal the price is too high for us to pay the cost
Nowhere to turn, we look again to the cross
We see a life laid down, and a crown not seeking to control
But seeking to take our pieces and make all things whole
Starting right now, right here, within your soul

Letting you know you’re known, and dearly Loved
And He’s less concerned with getting you “up above”
As letting you know, in Him, you’re enough
That Kingdom would come on earth as where He is
And helping others see this, is why you are now made new
Not just to do, but to be
One brought to New Life completely
One who is not only glad to Live
But quick to forgive, slow to anger
Quick to find reasons to welcome the stranger
One whose life flows from their King born in a manger
One who Loves instead of hating
One fully participating in proclamation of Life made New
Looking through the lens of resurrection
Not just some day to come
But revealed now, as all else is undone
We look to the Son, rising
Realizing in this world where so many seek to be thriving
His Kingdom has already begun arriving.

Posted in Different Thoughts, Uncategorized

A Woman of Prayer

Posted on by Wick

Sometime in the early-middle of my serving as one of the pastors in Decatur, Illinois, there was a woman who impressed me in the area of prayer. We were hosting an “All Night Prayer” at Moundford Free Methodist Church. We weren’t a giant congregation, and many people had other commitments, families to care for, or work that prevented them from coming. But we knew it was important, and so planned to spend most of the night in the sanctuary, or walking from room to room praying over the ministry that happened there and the lives/homes of those involved as they came to mind.

Confession: I’m a morning person. When I stay up late, I drift off easily unless I’m doing something active or with a lot of people. Suffice to say, I was challenged by my abilities to stay awake around 11:30pm as we slowly walked through the church, saying and whispering prayers that came to mind. Yet in the midst of these things, I was challenged all night long by the presence of this older woman, Velva, who was almost 100 years old and seemed like she’d just drank 2 Red Bulls of prayer. She had obviously drank deeply from the wells of God’s Love, and was living from a continued gratitude for all He had done in her life – and an urgent heart that wanted her family and friends to know this same hope and love she’d discovered.

As the years went forward, her heart and prayers never abated. Even when she stopped leaving her home as much, she would text me her prayers once in a while. She prayed for our family as we fought to bring our daughter home from the DRC. She prayed for our family as we decided to become missionaries. I remember visiting her not long after we made that decision, with our daughters at her home. She prayed with us, told us how much she loved Jesus, and showed us some of her paintings. She was not only an artist, she was worshiping actively by connecting to the creative heart of her creator. It was obvious that she had tapped into deep wells of His Love and life, and it just oozed out of her whenever you were able to connect.

At one point, she asked if she could paint a specific scene for us – and what we might want. Sarah and I thought for a while, and then described the kind of scene we’d love to have her put onto canvas for us. It wasn’t long before she messaged that her artwork was ready, and we should come pick it up. Of course it’s beautiful, inspiring, and very much as we’d described to her. On the back, she’d even written for us to remember “From Velva….Age 103”. What a beautiful gift, and it hangs in my office today.

Velva’s painting, along with the final text message she’d sent me.

As we went to Hungary, I made sure she understood we could still keep in touch. She would text me (thanks iMessage, for helping people stay connected on the other side of the world easily!) and ask how the ministry was going, how the family was doing, or just to tell me she was praying for my “sweet family”. I would try to send her pictures of natural beauty that reminded me of the nature scenes she painted. We both agreed – His creation was beautiful, and deserved to be paid attention to.

I never knew when her text messages might arrive, especially when we lived in Hungary. Because of the time difference, sometimes they’d arrive in the middle of the night for me. But I always smiled when I’d check my phone, and see all the heart emojis, praying hand emojis, and a few words to remind me our family was in her prayers, and asking me to affirm, “Isn’t the Lord good??” Yes, He is good, and His Love endures forever. Our frail human bodies, however, do not. It didn’t seem like it could ever happen, but on February 25th, 2023, Velva finally went home to be with Jesus fully. Now she is with the Father, waiting for the completion of all He has in store at New Creation.

I am so thankful for Velva. For her prayers, and for the ways she encouraged and loved our family – even from a distance. I want to encourage you – reach out to your missionaries, your overseas friends, and the people who come to your mind and heart. It doesn’t take much – just a few emoji’s and a reminder “You’re in my prayers today. Remember you are loved.” Know that you are loved yourself as well, and take a moment to notice the beauty of God’s creation – even if it takes a while to find it. It’s worth noticing.

I smile, imagining that perhaps God would hand Velva the paintbrush for some grand sunset, and whisper “Here…you do this one…”

Posted in Spoken Word, Uncategorized

Hope-Filled

Posted on by Wick

A few words from the economy of Hope
A soap box not often stood on, but as we put on this New self
We find a wealth of words worth reminding, binding us to our Father
In ways we’ve needed for longer than we’ve confessed.
Because even though we’re blessed, it seems we’ve so long stressed the destination
While leaving behind the relation. The Love that has pursued,
We’ve misconstrued as judgment waiting, anticipating that moment sometime far off
When we’re invited into Heaven’s gates, or worse,
Meanwhile the curse of sin seems something we’re left to bear
And His Love finds us there, people trying so hard not to despair, but to declare, Hope.
And at the end of rope, we’re found, as children now being unbound as His Spirit arrives
We find our lives are not just a passing whim, because we’re actually known by Him


The Fathers eye hold us in His steady gaze, as Jesus prays on our behalf, we hear the heart
Of Love that will never depart. And as we start to believe, we receive a New Name
Only scratching the surface of why He came
But as we struggle to remain we hear already the whispers of doubt
Accusations of the rubble strewn about like so many collapsed walls
These halls that are no longer, we wish we’d been stronger, as we examine the pieces
Each stone a word of what we thought would be, we see with our own eyes
The debris of a temple demolished before it could be filled
And it has instilled in us a sense of foreboding, as if floating just over a sea of chaos
Threatening to swallow, and in these hollow ruins we receive the hallowing grace
As the Spirit lifts our face to meet His own, the Father on the throne
Yet also with us, here. Drying every tear, and releasing us from the fear
That these pieces of what could have been can be, should be, will be renamed
Reclaimed as foundation for tomorrow, borrowing Hope where there’s plenty to be found
A solid ground, soil rich for planting, His Kingdom granting our roots
Access to Life of the age to come
Love revealed in the Son, shining with such Love and glory, that we find our story
Has become a reflection of His own, that we are not alone, as the Narrator places one more
Stone upon another, we discover redemption so full that there is no exemption
No place where shadows may remain, no corner that we can’t explain,
for the Light of Love has flooded the whole, and our Soul, Body and Spirit
Are transformed, re-formed by the pulse of resurrections heart
We start to believe in what our Father speaks
That He is not waiting, but seeks our embrace
Time spent face to face, attuning to His ways, that here is Love that stays in the room
Here is grace we can always presume will be, whether on bended knee
Or meeting us on the run, inviting us to come ever nearer, making clearer
The Newness of the Kingdom that is coming, in which all running can cease
For peace can now abound. We who have found ourselves re-storied with a purpose
Making the darkness nervous, as Light gains new ground, all ground,
With rebuilt walls that surround and loudly resound with His praise
Spending our days now, together, united as we read,

Words rebuilt as walls of how we’ve been freed, and how the seeds of His Love
Bear fruit for the healing of the nations, those whose relationships have shattered,
Those scattered into exilic wandering, still pondering whether their story has been written
Those snake-bitten, invited now to see, Love revealed in His suffering on a tree
And You and me? Transformed together to be, outposts of His reign
Unable to contain what has occurred, but by His Living Word
These healed wounds from which blood once spilled
Now proclamations of a world becoming Hope-filled.