Lyrical Riffs

Be still Not easy to stop, to slow down, To stay ourselves, To put aside the needs, Pressures and distractions, For a minute or two… And know Set deep down …

Dusty, cobwebbed, smeary, There are cracks and a few chips, Yet we’re still able to reflect His glory. His light bouncing off us to others, His image, His promise of …

Those actions we do that become Instinctive, responsive, behavioural. Now there’s a thought, a longing, a goal, a prayer… … to develop good habits, Good muscle memory, Especially when it …

Like the freshest coolest water on a dry day, And a place to shelter in the storm. Like a smile on a day of troubled frowns, A hand to lift …

Only you set our worlds in motion, And understand the way we tick, The rising and falling of our emotions, The mood swings and battles we fight. Only you know …

There is a name, An umbrella name, Unlike any other. A place of shelter from the storm, Portable and present In every place, every time, every age, Large enough for …

Has anyone seen a hero today? So many continue their missions quietly, Covert agents of compassion, Armed with a smile and a kind word, Putting themselves out for others. Not …

Our times are in your hands, Our days, our nights, The fleeting moments and long days, The times of waiting and the times we savour. Our times are in your …

As we make our bumbling pilgrimage through another day, Please help us to keep in mind that You are the way, the truth, and the life. As we make decisions …

Sometimes it feels like one step forward Two-three-four-five steps back. We cannot escape our clay feet, And calloused hearts. The headlines for a moment spread hope, Then in a breath …

My thoughts are not yours, My way of thinking is different. Change our minds please, When we get lost in the maze of our selfishness, When we want to assert …

The enigma of his going away, Melting from this dimension to another, Leaving so that he can be with us. No longer occupying a single space, But in departing is …

The call to waste time, to risk everything on doing nothing, To step out of life’s traffic even for a few seconds. For a breath here and there, a pause …

To you O Lord I lift my soul, Don’t let me be ashamed or disappointed. Awaken my hope, Stir that faith that comes easily on good days. Please take the …

Not easy to be vulnerable When the world might want a show of strength. When control is the order of the day, When success impresses. Not easy to be vulnerable …

We all have our worries, all carry our fears… Embarrassment, making mistakes, shedding tears, Mice, spiders, zombies, rats, Wasps, fleas, bugs, bats. Whatever’s lurking under the bed, Things that we …

We sing our songs, recite our lines, Like incense rising up, Read our papers, preach online, Wonder where we might end up. We pose our questions, make our claims, And …

The creator takes up his palette, Paints, sketches, draws and doodles. Colours, hues, shades burst from the page, And a universe exploding with possibility is born. Stick people become three-dimensional, …

We come before you again today, With all we are and all we have, So much said and so much unsaid, Our words and our silence, Children of Dust. Precious, …

Long obedience in the same direction. Keeping going, In it for the long haul, A marathon rather than a sprint. Though some days we may feel As if we’ve fallen …

In you we live and move and exist: Your breath in a blade of grass, In a twinkling smile, In a mathematical calculation, In energy expended, And peace embraced. In …

Some of us still have sand in our pockets, Will carry it for the rest of our lives. A piece of the desert forever shaping us, That speck of dust …

In our fear and our panic, You are with us, In our confusions and questions, You are with us, When the news bombards us, You are with us. When the …

I love life, but it scares me. I believe in hope, but sometimes despair. I believe in caring but sometimes folks bug me. Some days I like them, some days …

One who knows sweat-soaked, bruised reality, A saviour who understands the cost of rescue, Has seen what it is to be truly trapped, Like a fly in a rain puddle, …

Judas. Hannah. David. Abigail. Paul. Peter. Pilate. Naomi. Thomas. Sara. Jacob. They all faced failure And responded in different ways. Judas couldn’t go on. Hannah prayed. David said sorry. Abigail …

If God chose us from before the foundation of everything, Then he chooses us today. If you can only play one note, Then play it. If you can only sing …

Today, In the large moments And the small ones, In our strength and weakness, In our confidence and fear. Alone and with others, Motivated and struggling, Lost and found, We …

Though we may struggle To see it, to know it, to feel it,Today We are yourLiving letters,Breathing Emails,Misspelled Texts,Pulsing Sketches,Vibrant Doodles,Funny Etch-a-sketch Pictures, Nuanced Designs.Bumbling Messages of Love,Etched, Printed,Drawn, Scribbled,Stamped, Scrawled…On our Weary, …

In a field… In heaven… In the darkness… Safe from thieves… A solid foundation… Where your heart is… Carried in fractured, damaged pots. Not the kind of wealth won Or …

We all have our ruins. Those bits we look back on And wish they had played out differently. The embarrassments and errors, The arguments and friction, The missttakes andd misda… …

Two worlds colliding, Fire and Ice, No wonder there is often trouble, Misunderstanding and mayhem. Agendas battling for supremacy. We shamble into the arena, Punch drunk boxers blinking in the …

He looked all wrong To those who wanted a shepherd In nice white clothes, With pristine feet and spotless hands. Was a problem for them, A disturbing conundrum. Yet was …

As we find ourselves here,Perched on the doorstep of a new year,Some things we can say we know, Some things we clearly don’t.We know that some of us welcome changes,Some prefer …

And so he is born. Not on the top of a tree, Or in a jolly fur-lined suit, But beside his exhausted mother, In a not-so silent night of blood, …

These waiting days, In a time of speed, In a time of haste. Songs download in a single click, Parcels get delivered the same day, Our meals microwaved in seconds, …

It all started way back then, When the garden of glory fell into disrepair, When the gates clanged shut, And the fiery angel stood guard, When temptation had arrived laced …

You made rhythms and seasons, Light and dark, sunrise and set. Sowing and harvesting, Sleeping, rising, play and rest. You made life, we made a clock. Tick Tock. Our bones …

Jesus knew that he had been given Power over all things, Secure, no need to prove himself, And so he knelt down and washed their feet. Knew he had complete …

Save us from the stones of false guilt, From the rocks of harsh judgement, The fingers so quick to point and accuse, The flinty words of insult and criticism. Save …

On any given day you might see A couple walking side by side, One in flip flops one in boots, One overly warm, The other not so much, Different together, …

We carry them around with us, All those extra bits and pieces We don’t really need. Hurts and pains, Disappointments and embarrassments, Misunderstandings and falling outs. Need a baggage handler, …

In the beginning… The breath of God, The hand of God, The imagination of God. Dust, a word and a vision. A new world bursting from a vacuum, Matter crammed …

Life is full of bumps and scrapes. Our knees get scratched, Our hands get scraped, Our pride gets bruised, Our hope gets crushed, Our faith gets tarnished, Our innocence pinched, …

Our lives are striped with complexities, Leisure and labour, Laughter and frustration, Kindness and callousness. Our lives are striped with complexities, Light and darkness, Bright and shade, Hope and sadness. …

There are times when the sound of love Is drowned out by the noise of hatred. When the sound of hope is drowned By the noise of fear. When welcome …

That place inside, The inner depths, That gap, that vacant lot, We do our best to fill it, To satisfy those longings. Unfortunately, We often put in there Things which …

Life ambushes us, Treats us harshly, Disappoints and discourages. You understand that. You know how it works, What can happen, What can hurt us. You were ambushed too, Conflict, disaster, …

The word became flesh And keeps moving into the neighbourhood, Occasionally with a crack of thunder, Or a Damascus Road flash of light, But more often in a smile shared, …

You put salt on our lips, To make us thirsty for you. You did it, do it, again and again… Through the friendship of others, The unexpected reminders, The warmth …