Lyrical Riffs

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 …

What kind of man is this?That he should keep on coming to the doorOf my heart, mind, consciousness,Through the long nights and the jagged days.Me in my confirmed and set …

‘You can be honest with me, no need to pretend. I know you’re a bit of a fake. A bit of a fraud. Because I know human beings. I know …

Keep going with the strength you have. Not with the strength you see others have, Not with the strength you think you should have, But because I am with you. …

You know these dark days, Have been there, Not being one who has held back, Or kept your distance. The sad days, the empty days, The fearful nights, the lonely …

In a world of chase, fuss and bustle, Fret and debilitating worry, One man offers another way, Offers an alternative as he washes feet. In a world of go-getting and …

When others sap our energy, You are our refuge and our strength, When life seems nothing but closed doors, You are our refuge and our strength. When the world keeps …

Funny how often I talk about you in the third person, He. His. Him. When you’re always in the room. As if you were somehow somewhere else. Busy. Unable to …

I am on your side, And I call you my friend. I am with you, and for you, Not against you. Nothing can separate you from me. Whatever life may …

The Joy of the Lord is our strength. Passed on in a smile, a kind word, a text, a call. In the midst of our fears and fretting. Sometimes framed …

We walk these strange and familiar Streets of faith and hope, Roads strewn with the debris of The false hopes and discarded burdens Of those who have walked before us. …

Don’t give up! Be determined and confident, Throw yourselves into all you do for him, Confident that nothing you do for him Is a waste of time or effort. You …

He’s come to turn those tables,Swap old dead ways for fresh hope,To shake up the stale,Breathe life into what is fading away.To readjust our focus,Shine a light onto out misconceptions,To …

He knows it, Has walked those steps, The uncertainty, The questions, The wondering, The shadows and shades Of pain and unexpected Challenges. He knows these things. Has walked those steps …

The gift and the tyranny, At the self-same moment, It may be the one thing That restores order, Brings peace, Effects precious sanity, And yet, At the same time, It …

To be a part of Something Bigger: Something endless, Eternal, World-changing, Healing, Hopeful, Mighty, Awesome And incredible. To be a part of something bigger: Something beyond ourselves Something impossible, Miraculous, …

Wild animals were there, but angels came and helped him. Where are the wild animals? Where are the angels? In your today and your tomorrow. The fearful things and the …

It could be so much easier, Taking another way, Exerting power to sidestep the problems, Turning these stones into bread. Dodging life’s troubles and issues, Seeking satisfaction rather than kindness, …

Where will it take us today? This #lovejoypeacepatiencegoodnesskindnessfaithfulnessgentlenessself-control This fruit growing within, Alongside all the cantankerous selfish bits, Alongside the weariness and the grumpiness and the groaning what-ifs. What fruit …