sleep come tear away
the dreary grey of this dull day
pray linger long and drown me
strip the recesses of dark memory
to the cold hard white and brittle bone
comic costume of a crowded man – alone
 

busy, busy, busy
i am busy painting busy
on a bright blank canvas
with a do, do, do, do
with a pallet of people
to colour my world a work of art
but beneath bold brush strokes
there is the same faded fabric
stretched tight across the frame
a still life lost in the pale
empty for all the effort 

all it took was a little gas in the carb
blue and pale as wheat at harvest
the old black beast guttered to life
and has been struggling along ever since
polluting the world with poetic emissions
neither nocturnal nor diurnal
just high octane, unleaded life
burning for the sake of costly creation
fuel for freedom at the end of a keyboard 

i have seen pictures of Italian women
beauty veiled in black like art in mourning
languid loss writ bold in ink and dark lace
testimonies to the ones once there now gone
and as thoughts spin in quiet nocturn
the veil speaks another pressing prayer
of void and absence in the heart speaking
of a come and fill

there is an absolute edge
to everything
an absolute place
where there is nothing more
to everyone
at the start; at the end
place of vacuum
place of emptiness
place of promise
only in the void 

there is an absolute edge
to everything
an absolute place
where there is nothing more
to everyone
at the start; at the end
place of vacuum
place of emptiness
place of promise
only in the void 

At this year’s general assembly of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada a document prepared by the Board of Directors was released entitled: “Discussion of Ordination and Licensing as it pertains to the possibility of Ordination of Women in The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada” 

The role of women in ministry within the Alliance has been a bit of a thorny one over the past couple of decades as forces within and without the denomination seek change from the practice of limiting women to a non-ordained status and keeping them outside of the role of senior pastor.

In this document most significantly the Board of Directors state that there is nothing in Alliance policy that prevents a local church board from hiring a woman as a senior pastor for the policy does not require a senior pastor to be ordained. In essence they have communicated that churches, should they wish to, may hire women as senior pastors – a decision I applaud.

While the document stops short of stating that women should be ordained the Alliance did vote to allow ordination of women –  good decision.

I am guessing only Alliance nerds will read this but that is ok…it does have broader implications within the context of women in ministry within the broader church body however and bears looking at if this is an area of interest to you.

absence is a poor substitute
for the hollow void left by passing presence
like a well worn shoe without the foot
the space collapses in on itself
and feels soaked in winsome want
while the empty Cheshire air, where once was smile
is puzzled by the grief that greets it 
no simple methodical breathing speaks –

“iamhereiamhereiamhereiamhereiamhere” 

loss does not fill space of have
while had…had is all that’s left

life is a guttering flame
oily black flickering fire
struggling to stay lit
it spits and crawls
along a wicked wick
cut to random lengths
and then disappears

gone

till in the expectant dark
new light flashes born-bright
phosphorus lightning arcs
coursing into endless forever
as it was always meant to be