Sunday, March 30, 2014

Have You Ever Wondered About This?













WHAT WAS GOD DOING?

What was God doing?
What was He thinking
high up in His Heaven
when the Great Climax was unfolding
and His only begotten Son was sweating hemorrhages of blood
in fervent prayer before Him, that night in the garden?

What was God doing?
What was He thinking
high up in His Heaven
when His Son was pleading
for the removal of that great Grail of suffering,
yet in submission acquiesced to His Father’s higher will?

What was God doing?
What was He thinking
high up in His Heaven
during the sentencing and scourging, spitting and mocking,
as His Pascal Lamb carried the crude crossbeam to Calvary,
falling and falling and falling again?

What was God doing?
What was He thinking
high up in His Heaven
when they stripped His Beloved,
held His hand to the beam and lifted the hammer
and pounded the spike through sinless flesh?
Did He hold His ears?  Did He turn away?
Did His tears pour down as the blood ran down?
Did He pound His fist?  Scream?

What was God doing?
What was He thinking
high up in His Heaven
when His Son cried, “Why...hast Thou...forsaken Me?”
Victory was so close.  Did He almost change His mind?

What was God doing?
What was He thinking
high up in His Heaven
when it finally was finished?
Was His heavy heart throbbing
as He darkened the sky and quaked the dry earth,
opened old graves and breathed life into dead?
Was it with grief or great jubilation
that He tore asunder the curtain to the Holy of Holies?

What oh what was God thinking
at that Climax of climaxes
with Satan and sin squashed under His heel,
and after the Ascension,
at Their glorious reunion,
did Father and Son
dance the Hora in Highest Heaven?

Maude Carolan


Sunday, March 23, 2014

A New Poem for Lent










PILATE’S IRONY

During my first pilgrimage to Israel
archeologist and guide, Micha Ashkenazi
took us to Caesarea to view a replica
of a piece of limestone
partially inscribed with the name Pontius Pilatus

Micha had been a member of the team
that unearthed the stone there
during a dig in 1961

It is the only evidence
of the historical existence
of the Roman governor
outside the New Testament
and writings of Josephus Flavius

Interesting, Pilate, who may have given
a modicum of credence to his wife’s warning
to have nothing to do with Jesus
did make an abysmal effort
to prevent the crucifixion
by setting Barabbas
before the riled multitude

When the crowd shouted to free Barabbas
and called for death to Jesus
their chants of

Crucify Him! Crucify Him!

drummed in his ears

Pilate asked for a basin of water
He washed his hands in front of them—
as if water could possibly cleanse him
of responsibility for what would happen next

The irony is that even now
thousands of years hence
contempt for this man is as clear
as his name etched in stone—

for wherever believers gather
and proclaim their creed

Jesus…

suffered under Pontius Pilate
was crucified, dead and buried…

Pilate’s guilt is an indelible stain
that can never be
washed away


Maude Carolan Pych

Friday, March 14, 2014

It's all about...THE LAMB Vol. 17; Issue 1

March 14, 2014
Vol. 17, Issue 1



It’s all about…The Lamb




Maude Carolan Pych/Quarterly Poetry Letter


Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches
and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” Rev 5:12 NASB


It’s all about…The Lamb is a quarterly publication for lovers of the Holy Lamb of God, who also enjoy poetry. The purpose is to magnify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and inspire an ever-deepening relationship with Him, the lover of our souls…

I’m so glad it’s March…March carries the promise of spring and after this particularly harsh winter, spring is exactly what we need! I have my eyes primed to see the first robin red-breast and the first yellow forsythia buds and the first purple crocus popping through the snow.

Bob and I managed to escape the ice, snow and sub-freezing temperatures for ten balmy days in beautiful Aruba. What a treat that was! We lounged on the beach, walked along the water’s edge and swam in the sparkling turquoise sea every blessed day. Ahhhhh, paradise! Thank You, Jesus.

VERY SPECIAL EVENT…I’m sending this poetry letter out one day early for the benefit of people in New Jersey, especially Northern New Jersey, to encourage attendance at  a fabulous annual event for lovers of the arts:

St. Catherine of Bologna Patron of the Arts Association
15th Annual Photography, Art & Poetry
Exhibition & Sale
featuring Musical Performances

Grab your jacket! The event begins this evening, Friday, March 14 from 6 to 11 p.m. with the Photographers’ Reception. Then tomorrow, Saturday, the Artists & Poets’ Reception will take place from 3 to 11 p.m. with a Poetry Reading in the Poetry Gallery from 7:30 to 9 p.m. On Sunday the exhibition will be open from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. with a Student Recital from 12:30 to 2 p.m.

The show will be held at St. Catherine of Bologna Parish Center, 112 Erskine Road, Ringwood, NJ. Admission is free and refreshments will be served. This is truly my favorite event of the year. I will be exhibiting and participating in the poetry reading as will Elizabeth Marchitti and Barbara Williams-Hubbard, whose poems you have read in this publication over the years. My husband Bob will exhibit a photograph for the first time and my friend Patricia Ley’s paintings will be on display in the gallery. If you’re able to attend, please be sure to say hello.

FEATURED POET—
PASTOR TOM SMITH

I met Pastor Tom Smith at a writer’s conference in New Mexico, seven or eight years ago and have featured his poetry here on occasion. He publishes, Morning Manna, a daily devotional message for email subscribers and sometimes his message takes the form of a poem.

In November, he posted a poem titled, “My Beloved is Mine.” It caught my attention because my husband and I have gold wedding bands engraved with those words in Hebrew. When I asked what inspired it, he said, “I was simply reflecting on the intimate relationship we have with the Lord Jesus and how He loves us more than we can ever know. Too often we forget how much He loves us and, as someone said, referring to when Our Savior was on the Cross, Jesus basically told us, ‘I think you’re to die for.’ Glory!”
Pastor Tom is currently serving as the wing chaplain for the 188th Fighter Wing, Air National Guard, Fort Smith, Arkansas. He also serves as a bi-vocational pastor of Vine Prairie Baptist Church, just outside of Fort Smith.
Anyone who would like to receive his uplifting daily email message may contact Pastor Tom at: pressingon@hotmail.com to subscribe. Mention that you heard about him by way of this publication.

To stay with the theme, I will also include the poem I read to Bob on our wedding day, October 21, 2006. It is titled, “Dodi Li”.


+ + + THE POEMS FOLLOW + + +


MY BELOVED IS MINE
Song of Solomon 2:16a, 17a

He holds me close to His own Heart,
This Beloved of my soul;
His Love is new every morning
And never grows weak or old.

In sorrow, He’s my comfort;
In trials, my stay and strength.
He comes to me when I need Him,
For He is Heaven-sent.

Although there are times I fail Him
And try to do things my way,
He’s there to quietly correct me
And rescue me when I stray.

Yes, He, the Christ, is my Beloved
And I know that I belong to Him.
He loves me more than I can say
And never, ever condemns.

When I am weak and weary,
He renews my strength each day.
And when the darkness overwhelms me,
He comes and drives it all away.

In His arms I find such comfort
As I look upon His Face.
And, it’s as I stay close to Him
That I feel His strong, yet tender embrace.

Oh what a Friend is Jesus, my Lord;
How precious His Love so dear!
He always knows just what I need
As He catches all my tears.

How wonderful is Christ, my Beloved,
The Friend of sinners is He.
I pray I’ll always surrender to Him
As a captive who He has set free.

Tom Smith
© 2013


DODI LI
"I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine."
Song of Songs 6:3

Shirley says
my heart is a thimble
and God's love is the ocean
and He wants to pour all that love
into my little heart

I have learned that the Lord
has made my heart
a little like His own

that the heart is limitless
in its capacity to love

that it may seem
the heart's chambers
are about to burst
…yet there's still room

that bodies grow older
…but not our hearts

I have learned
that God
is the Restorer of Hearts
The Master of mending
broken ones

that although sorrow
may visit us
the heart keeps its rhythm
…hope is not shattered
utterly

I grew tired of the Titanic song
weary of Celine's heart going on
and on and on

but now I understand
the heart does go on

I've also discovered
my heart is undivided
when it professes
Ani le dodi ve dodi li
and speaks of
two bridegrooms
One of my soul…Jesus
and one of my heart…Robert

and I believe
one of the best things there is
about knowing God
is that He is Love

…that we love
because He first
loved us

He just keeps on
filling our thimbles
with inexhaustible oceans

so we'll always
always, always
have Love
to give

Maude Carolan
© 2006


Comments are always welcome and appreciated. Please post them directly to the website. Just click on "comments" at the end of this blog post.

Look for the next edition of It’s All About…The Lamb, June 15, 2014


A FEW CLOSING WORDS…

Dear Reader/Subscriber,
Since a theme of Love has been established in this edition and since this is the season of Lent, let us take time or make time to consider how much Love Our Savior has for us, that He would willingly die on the Cross to atone for the sin of the world.
Oh! How He loves you and me!

May God be with ewe,

Maude



After God’s Own Heart Publishing
P.O. Box 2211, Woodland Park, NJ 07424




Sunday, March 9, 2014

His Little Lamb



HIS LITTLE LAMB
Dedicated to my friend, Lynn Turner

The Shepherd loves you, little lamb
He holds you to His breast
He strokes His hand along your back
with utmost tenderness

The hand He runs along your back
is scarred from long ago—
A nail pierced it upon a Cross
because He loves you so

You are the lamb in Jesus’ arms
safe in His loving care
Because He gave His life for you
you may ever nestle there


Maude Carolan Pych

My former coworker and close friend, Lynn Turner, went to be with the Lord, Monday, February 17th. She was kind and loving and very brave and she had a great spirit of adventure. After Lynn learned that the cancer metastasized, she retired from her job at the North Jersey Developmental Center and traveled to Ireland one more time, then moved to Arizona, which she loved, to escape the harsh northeast winter. When she got to the point that she needed the care of family, she returned to New Jersey and did her utmost to live out her final days as best she could. She never complained and always preferred to talk about everything besides her illness. Shortly before she passed away she told me that she believed she would soon be in Heaven with Jesus.

I wrote the above poem before Lynn moved to Arizona and dedicated it to her at that time.

On Friday, my brother-in-law Rick's mother, Ursula Bubbenmoyer, went to be with Jesus, and my friend Lester Struble's father also passed away. I pray God's loving comfort upon all the family members and friends of these three dear ones. Peace...