Song for the innocents

A clear and innocent conscience fears nothing.
Elizabeth I

The Righteous person must suffer many things; but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
Psalm 34

(field sparrow / Julie Cook / 2015)

Broken hearted,
like a bird’s broken wing,
a soul far too weary, before its time,
longs to lift its voice. . .

Tears freely flow for the innocents,
those who are not so free,
savagely taken in a dark world
now grown callous and cold. . .

Who are these people who gleefully seek
the spilt blood of the Lamb?
Who relish in death and scorn life,
Who long to take rather than give. . .

What is the point in this latest battle?
Consuming each and every life until
there are no more lives to give?
This, as the parents weep
and the Nations grieve. . .

You and You alone hear our anguish,
and You see the captive’s pain.
You stand beside the brokenhearted mothers and fathers,
as the news is delivered. . .
Where does the savagery stop?

Our hope, Oh Lord, is in You and You alone,
as we dwell within a dark and fallen world. . .
Battered minds seek nothing more than to be numb,
burying themselves in things other than the actual,
Thinking that what is not seen or acknowledged,
will all simply disappear. . .

Those with purpose are quickly called. . .
The innocent and clear of conscious,
who ready themselves to do battle. . .
to offer compassion where there is none
To offer hope to the hopeless. . .

When will the just say no to injustice?
When will the children be saved?
When will the captives be set free?
When will the darkness scatter?
When will this madness end?

Our trust is found in Christ, Jesus
The One who overcame death.
The body may perish,
Yet the soul will not be silenced.
As the battles wage on
and evil rejoices,
while the faithful exclaim. . .
“O death where is thy sting”

Repay not evil with evil or railing with railing, but rather bless, and know that you are called to do this, so that you should inherit the blessing.
1 Peter 3:9

****Here is a link to the BBC story featuring the single letter Kayla Mueller, the young kidnapped American, wrote her parents regarding her time in captivity as a prisoner of IS (ISIS). She sent the letter out with fellow prisoners who were released as she was the lone female prisoner kept behind. Kayla turned 26 while in captivity. Kayla had gone to Syria, working with the humanitarian organization Hayata Destek, Support To Life, in order to help the refugee orphaned children in Syria whose lives had been displaced and shattered by the ongoing fighting. Kayla conducted art therapy projects with the kids, as children can often express themselves in drawings when words cannot be found. She noted that when the children asked her” where was her world” –then telling them, they asked why had her people not come to help them. . .her response was simply to cry along with and for the children. . .Prayers for the Mueller family and all the families globally who have been affected by IS —her family noted that Kayla “lived life with purpose”—may we all live with such purpose. . .
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-31376933

to appreciate “The Few”

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill
(Taken from his speech to The House of Commons, August 20, 1940)

For any who love listening to, what those with the magic ability can do, turning the English Language into a symphony of words and sounds, there are none quite like Sir Winston Churchill. His writings continue to capture and stir imagination as his speeches still invoke the deep primal instincts that rally the weary to rise up when all appears lost, when there is nothing left to offer—his speeches are akin to Henry V’s battle cry at Agincourt or Elizabeth I’s rallying of her troops as the Spanish Armada bore down on her Island Nation.

No less was this speech, now dubbed “The Few”, a rallying point for the British people as they, alone, had bore the brunt of Hitler’s Blitzkrieg. Years before the Allies joined arms, the British people suffered night after night, onslaught upon onslaught of their Island Nation. The British people knew that it was they who stood between democracy or tyranny for an entire world. A small Island in defense of a giant monster. But hold they did—and thank God they did, for all of us who today enjoy a democratic freedom.

I am reminded of such sacrifice and heroism on such occasions as this Memorial Day Weekend–as we prepare to use this time as the official “kick off” to summer, we must all take pause and remember that it is not for Summer that we called for a Memorial Day remembrance but rather a call to offer our prayers and appreciation to those who have gone before us, who continue to go, and defend our freedoms. The freedom to travel this weekend to lakes, woods and beaches. To bask in the joy of a “3 day” weekend–to gather with friends and family simply to venture outside and feel the freedom from work, worry, and grueling schedules.

This is not the time to protest war, of which none of us want. It is rather a time to offer our thanks to the countless men and woman who, down through time, have gone to serve and defend the rights of the whole–as they are the “few”. As we crank up the grill, take the boat to the lake, sleep late on Monday, may we remember that this is simply not some granted “free time” off but there is a deeper reason for this weekend. Our “few” still are out there serving our Nation–despite our political thoughts, this is a time of appreciation and recollection–and a time to offer our thanks for the very lives many have given so that you and I may be “free”………