Jeremiah 33: 14-16
Luke 21: 25-36

I was sitting with the lines from “After Annunciation” by Madeleine L’Engle,
“This is the irrational season when love blooms bright and wild. Had Mary been filled with reason there’d have been no room for the child.”
I reflected on signs we see and signs we choose to ignore. Daffodils welcome Spring around the world, but in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Kowhai is Spring’s first bloom and Pohutukawa is a native tree all recognise as a sign that Christmas - and Summer - is near.

—————

Signs

Kowhai welcomes the Spring
Pohutukawa blooms for Summer
Heralds of invitation
to step into a new season

Kairos invading chronos
Irrationally, God is at work
A righteous branch sprouts out of season
Signs of heaven and earth rejoined

Sea levels rise and forests shrink
Battles rage and lands ravaged
We see the signs
and dare to raise our heads.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 14 March 2024

Malachi 3: 1-4
Luke 1: 68-79
Luke 3: 1-6
Philippians 1:3-11

—————

Joining the Song

Move me from skepticism
to speechless wonder
from empty arms to full
from silence to Benedictus –
Blessed be the one I hold

When the life we hold
is beyond what we imagined
More than we dared hope
I join the song of God
Each harmony layering another
in the ultimate love song
Blessed be the one I hold

But dare I join this song of blessing
When all I hold feels broken?
Dare I sing love into hurt?
Sing blessing over pain and fear?
Still in tune with the Song of God
played through the universe.
A song written on our hearts
that love may abound.
Blessed be the one I hold

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 15 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

Zephaniah 3:14-20
Isaiah 12:2-6
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 3:7-18

—————

Building Joy

Building blocks of living joy
Simple kindnesses lead to gentleness
Don’t worry, God is close
Be thankful, there is good to find

Share what you have;
don’t cheat;
don’t bully.

Block after block after block.
Choose joy -again and again,
Attitude, Behaviour,
Attitude, Behaviour,
Over and over
Over and over

Not because all is well, but because it isn’t.
Building towers of transcending peace
God is close.
Walls of refreshment for thirst
Gratitude discovered.

Each block, a memory
of God’s delight in you
Each block, a choice
to join with the eternal Joy of God.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 15 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

Micah 5:2-5a
Psalm 80:1-7
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-45, (46-55)

—————

Small Things

God loves to use small numbers,
ordinary people,
little gifts
and minor moments.

In my smallness, may I too be used
and with haste, share within community:
holding hope together
listening to each other’s crazy stories
blessing one another.

In our connections, may we together
make sense of where God is at work.
Noticing the hand of God on another.
Making hope bigger -magnifying -

Magnificat.
Singing the power of God
in our very powerlessness
and in looking at life with eyes of faith
so discover a renewing world.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 15 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

Isaiah 9:2-7
Psalm 96
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

—————

The New Way

Ending our Advent journey
to step into this new pilgrimage
Before yields to After
Ordinary to extraordinary
All will change
as starlight does its work.
At the edge of this path
the land holds its breath
and angels stretch their wings
Our month meets Mary’s nine
of audacious expectation
God’s dream from long ago
born this night in flesh and blood
embracing human struggle
As Word is laid in feeding trough
and worshipped by calloused hands
Nothing is left ordinary.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 14 March 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

Isaiah 52: 7-10
Psalm 98
Hebrews 1:1-4 (5-12)
John 1: 1-4

Prayer of Martin Luther that says, God is now of our image.

—————

Our Image

Angels and singing
Gifts and feasting

To see again
and again

Irrepressible joy
Irrepressible joy

God now of our image
our flesh and blood

Stepping into our shoes
of frail insignificance
wrapped in our swaddling cloths
interrupting our tables
we who are made in your image

Unspeakable grace
given Word.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 18 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

1 Samuel 2: 18-20,26
Psalm 148
Colossians 3:12-17
Luke 2: 41-52

—————

Finding Jesus

We assume we know
where Jesus will be found
Yet lost in the temple
a missing piece
He speaks to my silent search
In forgiveness and gratitude
But mostly love-clothed
Linen ephod-gifted
Stitched with prayer on veil fabric
once used to separate
God from creation
Now this new priestly robe
that covers me
mediating lostness
A new veil; new ephod
A new garment yet to be torn
Found in the once empty
now-found place
I am found
and clothed.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 18 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin