Pray as an unbroken body

"I have, myself, full confidence in God that if we as an unbroken body stand united in prayer for this nation, for this people, for this world, that what shall follow will be a mighty work of God which will bring this nation, this people, this world to their knees to hallow the name of our God and His Son Jesus Christ. God has already promised that every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. It will be a reality in the 2nd coming of Christ; but, by then it will be too late for uncle John, too late for England, too late for the tribes and too late for the world. But if we, today, unite hands in the unity of the Spirit and dare to pray that prayer ‘Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’, with perseverance, then we shall see multitudes bow their knees with joy hallowing the name of our God and our Saviour His Son Jesus Christ".  


K.Oni
(Picture by Chris Yarzab)

Pray as an unbroken body

"I have, myself, full confidence in God that if we as an unbroken body stand united in prayer for this nation, for this people, for this world, that what shall follow will be a mighty work of God which will bring this nation, this people, this world to their knees to hallow the name of our God and His Son Jesus Christ. God has already promised that every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. It will be a reality in the 2nd coming of Christ; but, by then it will be too late for uncle John, too late for England, too late for the tribes and too late for the world. But if we, today, unite hands in the unity of the Spirit and dare to pray that prayer ‘Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’, with perseverance, then we shall see multitudes bow their knees with joy hallowing the name of our God and our Saviour His Son Jesus Christ".

Lord Is it true?

Oh Lord is it true that my name is graven on your hands
That before time began this mark you desired to have
Which made you rise to leave your Father’s perfect side
To be found a poor helpless human child.


Oh Lord is it true that my name is graven on your hands
That you lived a perfect unblemished life
Which made you the only choice of a seamless sacrifice
To be found crucified bearing your Father’s Holy wrath


Oh Lord is it true that my name is graven on your hands
That it was impossible for death to hold you down
Which made you rise to your people’s delight
To be found once again at your Father’s perfect side


K.Oni

Upward call to heaven 5

My sleep that night was restless as I fell far short of possessing the divine attributes of being a saint like my mother and Amelia. The morning came with a bright sunshine where I could hear the birds sing so merrily and I could wish I was as they in their jovial mood. 


I have been thinking through the night and made another resolution this morning to entertain two of the fruits of the Spirit which my mother is very adamant I display. The two fruits are goodness and faithfulness for Mother and Amelia are never far from telling me of my lack of them. Amelia is full of them and to a greater degree my Mother. Both are such friends of humanity that I in comparison am an enemy. Many youthful souls as I in the school are at times perplexed why Amelia should spend almost all of her time with me and why she did not so spend it with Barbara and Amy Thornton. Their Father is the owner of many properties and a great politician who’s philanthropy is known throughout the Atlantic. He has with great energy sent many orphan child to school and throughout this land he is known as the helper of the poor. But such divine traits are not passed on genetically for Mother often told me that they must be cultivated and given by divine grace. Barbara and Amy Thornton still have a great deal of land to walk if they should be like their hospitable Father for their manners are filled with exceeding pride. Barbara is better than Amy although both being twins at times exhibit a rare similarity. The teachers are also perplexed at Amelia’s strange fondness with me and many of them have came to the conclusion that it is another of Amelia’s excellent attributes of not judging another of her fellow creatures. 


As we walked to school, I and Amelia were joined by a strange boy who inquired whether we were walking to Grangehill school. The boy looked much like myself, brown eyes and black hair but two inch taller than I and had a clearer complexity. Amelia was immediately drawn to him and she displayed the kindness and openness which is natural to her.


“I’m Amelia and my friend’s name is Jeremiah which in the Hebrew means Yahweh as uplifted. He often uplifts my soul although he may not know it but he does and makes me glad. And what is yours”


Our new friend seemed very ambitious to declare his name and said “My name is Benjamin, Benjamin Sickell”. 


I remained quiet for a while until Amelia opened up the conversation to me to tell Benjamin of what our school is like for today is Benjamin’s first day. I scrambled in my mind to find something wise to say for both spoke with such eloquence and wisdom that my speech of mine would taint the beauty. Amelia encouraged me and I remembered my resolution this morning and determined thereof to display such goodness and faithfulness to our new friend that soon He will see my good nature and complement the assuredness of my character.  

K.Oni

Almost gone

Look up to the sky watch them birds fly 
Moving to the wind no one knows where it comes from
The day begins with the sunrise 
Let me summarise my existence in a few lines
Born in 89 scarcely made my exit from the womb
Should have gone to the tomb 
Escape my nightmares as a teen
But I made it through my youth pretty clean 
98 almost past through to paradise 
Paralyse by a sickness this weakness had me still
Loosing all my will to live 
My mama by my side telling me to breathe 
I could see the light fighting for my only chance
Life flashing before my eyes
Is this how we die 
Generations come and go 
More knowledge more sorrow 
My life is borrowed 
Cheer my body with wine 
Dine with the finest 
When its over 
Its gone 
What did I live for 
My dreams no more 
Fading out of reality
Heading to the silence 
I guess its all vanity
To the grave I come 
Whatever I wanted I got them all
Kept back from no pleasure
Riches were my treasures 
Till I saw a field buried with heaven’s treasure...


K.Oni

There was nothing

My friend could it be that once upon a time there was nothing?
And then suddenly bang bang bang - there was something!
It takes such a wild and exotic imagination 
A strange fixation eliminating the logic of causation. 
Could it be true my friend that no hands played a part
No mind designed this vast expanding fine tuned existence - 
I wish we could act it out and play contrary task.
Il be gravity you dark energy - but its after the bang bang bang 
How my dear friend can we enact nothing?

K.Oni

Restorative Justice

In a memorable scene in To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper, Lee four car-loads of white men come at night to lynch the black Tom Robinson, who’s been accused of raping one of their daughters - only to be confronted by Atticus Finch, sitting in front of the jailhouse door.  The lawyer, reading the newspaper beneath a dim light bulb, is the only thing that stands between Tom and the mob intent on its summary version, or rather, grisly perversion, of justice.  The irony is, of course, that in court, despite his clear innocence Tom is found guilty by the all-white jury and is shot attempting to escape when he loses hope.  For Atticus’ young children, it is inexplicable.  As Jem protests, ‘You can’t do that – you can’t.’

There’s been a lot of lynch-mob mentality spreading like wildfire after the week of riots in our cities.  Enough people to trigger a Commons debate signed an e-petition demanding the removal of benefits from anyone involved.  Government ministers leant their support to the eviction of families of those charged.  A broadsheet newspaper blazed the headline, ‘Ignore the rule book and lock up looters, JPs told’, above a story of a memo circulated to senior court clerks and the custody rate increasing from the usual 10% to 65%.  As a result, we’ve been hearing news of youngsters no older than 11 and 14 being branded with criminal records.  It’s not to excuse their behaviour.  It’s criminal and wrong – if one can use that word in a society which has abandoned an idea of a common morality.  (The ‘rioters’ aren’t blind. They can recognise relativism at all levels when they see it.)  That’s not to say they shouldn’t be punished.  However it is to admit that their behaviour is not so very different from the media and political reaction to it – a mob on the rampage.
The lynch-mob never gets it right – whether it’s at the guillotine, or stoning an adulteress, or baying for the crucifixion of the only completely innocent Man.  The mob’s one concern is for retribution.  It may add respectability in the clothes of deterrence, but what makes it tick is the thirst for vengeance.  ‘They must pay!’  And yet retribution and deterrence are not all there is to justice.  Other elements are reformation and restoration. Interestingly these latter two are more the Old Testament’s concern in cases of property crimes, where the punishment was restitution plus compensation to the injured party, but not degradation to the offender.  Imprisonment, ‘which is expensive to the community, generally corrupting to the prisoner and often bringing unmerited hardship to his dependants, is the invention of a later age’, as Diver and Miles assert inThe Babylonian Laws.
Vengeance is not ours (Romans 12:19).  Humanly administered, it threatens to bring disproportionate consequences, such as poverty, homelessness and a criminal record which blights someone’s employment prospects for life.  That is not Jesus’ way.  His way is to release us from the mob (Legion) in us all and to restore us to sit at his feet as disciples, clothed and in our right mind (Luke 8:35).  I asked a friend in Ealing what one sentence she’d say to the teenager accused of murdering Richard Bowes.  ‘I think I'd talk about hope - and resurrection, and one day when Jesus will put everything right, and that if we put our hand in his he promises to walk with us and guide us through life, because he still has a plan for your life... something like that’ – was her restorative answer.
Michael Wenham is author of My Donkeybody and I Choose Everything. He is a retired minister and teacher, and has MND.