–Bishop L. Bevel Jones III, trustee emeritus, Emory University
The poems in this beautifully inspiring collection focus on the author’s spiritual life, from “Meditations” to her thoughts in “My Prayer of Thanks”.
Dear God, should any religion suggest your rejection
Of others outside its own connection?
We don’t have to accept everything we hear;
If we’ve strong faith, there’s nothing to fear.
When exposed to new ways through which some have grown,
Could it be your suggestion that we search our own?
We need not leave the religion we’re attending;
Just use what will help to make ours more depending.
So help us not look for the difference in our brother,
But look deep inside and your presence discover.
For we are all here, your family, to be
Not competing, but working together with thee,
Caring and sharing all that we can,
Building your kingdom to fulfill your plan.
–Bishop L. Bevel Jones III, trustee emeritus, Emory University
The poems in this beautifully inspiring collection focus on the author’s spiritual life, from “Meditations” to her thoughts in “My Prayer of Thanks”.
Dear God, should any religion suggest your rejection
Of others outside its own connection?
We don’t have to accept everything we hear;
If we’ve strong faith, there’s nothing to fear.
When exposed to new ways through which some have grown,
Could it be your suggestion that we search our own?
We need not leave the religion we’re attending;
Just use what will help to make ours more depending.
So help us not look for the difference in our brother,
But look deep inside and your presence discover.
For we are all here, your family, to be
Not competing, but working together with thee,
Caring and sharing all that we can,
Building your kingdom to fulfill your plan.
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–Bishop L. Bevel Jones III, trustee emeritus, Emory University
The poems in this beautifully inspiring collection focus on the author’s spiritual life, from “Meditations” to her thoughts in “My Prayer of Thanks”.
Dear God, should any religion suggest your rejection
Of others outside its own connection?
We don’t have to accept everything we hear;
If we’ve strong faith, there’s nothing to fear.
When exposed to new ways through which some have grown,
Could it be your suggestion that we search our own?
We need not leave the religion we’re attending;
Just use what will help to make ours more depending.
So help us not look for the difference in our brother,
But look deep inside and your presence discover.
For we are all here, your family, to be
Not competing, but working together with thee,
Caring and sharing all that we can,
Building your kingdom to fulfill your plan.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781462008520 |
---|---|
Publisher: | iUniverse, Incorporated |
Publication date: | 06/08/2011 |
Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
Format: | eBook |
Pages: | 80 |
File size: | 300 KB |
Read an Excerpt
For the Love of God, Think on These Things
By Frances S. Carson
iUniverse, Inc.
Copyright © 2011 Frances S. CarsonAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-0851-3
Chapter One
MeditationsTo those whose faith
Has suffered in stages
When exposed to beliefs
Discussed in these pages ...
I don't expect agreement
With all I here perceive.
I only hope you'll think
About what you believe.
Faith that doesn't know why
Is faith without reasoning.
Faith that doesn't know why
Is like food without seasoning.
So expose your faith to questions;
Use the doubts that might arise;
Ask and it shall be given;
Earnestly seek for sound advice.
When at last we discover
God as he is, we'll feel
Nothing ever again
Our faith and devotion can steal.
How can we honestly commit ourselves
To God in our endeavor
Until we understand him
As the one we can trust forever?
For new thoughts and experiences
Are hurled at us each day
And either draw us closer
Or thrust us blindly away.
And so I humbly offer,
For whatever it is worth,
Some beliefs I feel God has taught me
In my journey on this earth.
The Church
Dear God, It is sad to me how the church,
For some, has lost its respect.
They don't understand its importance,
And its survival they seem to neglect.
So I come to you asking
For guidance in its defense.
I want to know for certain:
Does loyalty to churches make sense?
I'm sure you're aware of excuses
From those who stay away.
Perhaps we should examine
Some of the things they say:
The hypocrite in church on Sunday,
Pious, righteous, and pure ...
Too difficult to live with on Mondays,
Is more than most folks can endure.
Sometimes outsiders, however,
From their own points of view
Assume that pious hypocrites
Sit in every pew.
Most of the people
Sitting there in the congregation
Come recognizing, humbly,
Their need for transformation.
If we limit association
Where hypocrites are not,
We'd better live in a zoo
Where they don't talk a lot.
Some find the church unfriendly
To strangers who need a warm touch;
They go away feeling so lonely
That the sermon can't help very much.
There are many other reasons
Why religion has lost its savor;
Some dogmas and beliefs
Spoil, for some, its favor.
When there is cause to reexamine,
Please guide us as we do ...
To change, if change be needed,
To make your message true.
Even though it is imperfect,
The church—not a building with a steeple—
Is a body divined by your spirit
To reach the needs of your people.
So, thank you, dear God, for this insight;
It's made my decision quite clear.
You can count on my efforts with others
To build your church better each year.
The Bible
Dear God, We thank you so much for the Bible,
For the inspiring truth it holds,
For the closeness and warm understanding
Of your love and your will it unfolds.
Most of what I believe
Is found somewhere in the Bible.
But all that is there, dear God, I don't dare
Believe is the truth undeniable.
As we earnestly read the scriptures
Of humans' progress toward you,
We see the probability
Of errors that come through ...
Old Aramaic scrolls
Could have been confusing
If a fly mark was included
In translating a word they were using.
A dot above a word
Or one placed below
Could indicate opposite meanings;
So, with flies, how can we know?
We also know the influence
Their culture had to play
When they wrote down the messages
You needed to convey.
So your message comes to us
Always clear and true,
But we sometimes add
Our own prejudices, too ...
We've read that women and slaves
Must bow down in submission
To men who knew it all, then,
In every condition.
These cultures transferred
To scriptures back then
Reserved opportunities
Of growth just for men.
And so, in ignorance,
The woman and slave
Exploited in the background
Lived subdued till the grave.
So many of the stories
In the Bible were told
Symbolically, not literally,
A lesson to hold.
The story of Jonah
Being swallowed by a whale
Reminds us of the misery
That devours us when we fail.
Today, we often say
We're simply in a jam,
But we don't mean that literally,
No more than he's a ham!
Although our blessed Holy Book
Is our greatest gift of directions,
I wonder if we'll ever consent
To make some needed corrections.
God's Will?
Dear God, Did Moses quote you right
In Numbers 15:36
That they stone a man to death
If on Sabbath he picked up sticks?
It seems so confusing
That this should be your will
After giving the sixth commandment
That we shall not kill.
To accept Jesus Christ
As my personal savior
Surely doesn't exempt me
From responsible behavior.
That God has chosen favorites,
As some proclaim,
Belittles your nature
And puts us to shame.
Perhaps you do choose leaders
With responsibilities to bear,
But never more for one
Over another would you care.
No wonder there are some
Who think God is dead
When Revelations closed the book
On what's believed you said.
Dear God, couldn't we add some more,
And please leave some of it out?
For when we know you as you are,
We'll believe—without a doubt!
I heard a preacher
Expressing his view
That reading the newspaper
Has become a sin, too.
He said, "Reading the Bible
Is all we folks need;
The news of our world
Is too worldly to read."
He was on television
Preaching this view.
I wonder, God:
Should I turn that off, too?
The Messiah
Dear God, Long ago, they looked
For a messiah to crown king,
The kingdom of David
Restored to bring.
Christ, God's spirit in action,
The promised Messiah, was sent ...
Born in the baby Jesus,
This world's greatest event.
Great multitudes followed
When they saw and felt his power.
The authorities tried to stop him
As they watched him every hour.
Fearing a revolution,
They soon devised a plan
To crucify the Messiah
They could not understand.
They crucified his body
Between thieves on a tree.
In three days, he came again,
Just as he said it would be.
In his new body,
At first, none could see
The spirit within
With no doubt was he.
He had to assure them
Their faith should not end.
He returned to show them
That life does transcend.
As God's spirit lived in Christ,
He gave us the plan
That, after he was crucified,
He'd return to live in man.
Yet some still look for
Christ's return with force:
A powerful ruler
Like David they'd endorse.
Just as they failed to know him
When they nailed him to a tree,
Many today don't see him
As he comes through you and me.
This is God's way of coming
Through all who let him be king,
Committing our lives to his presence,
His kingdom of love to bring.
Thy Kingdom on Earth
Dear God, A theme in some novels
And films portrays strife,
Impossible to conquer
To save human life.
If the prophesies portrayed
Are really true,
We might as well give up;
There's nothing we can do!
Why should we humans
Pray and work for right relations?
Why should a summit
Be called for heads of nations?
If it's a sure thing
That there's inevitable destruction,
Why even bother
For peaceful construction?
Man thinks, like himself,
You'll finally lose your patience
And give up the potential
Of human-divine relations.
I believe you'll never fail because
You planned to enjoy us,
And you'll never in wrath
And vengeance destroy us.
Dear God, in our blindness
We can't understand
Why things happen
As they do in this land.
We just can't conceive
The bigness of you,
And keep measuring you
By our own human view.
Dear God, I'm persuaded
This morbid prediction
Of the end of time
For this earth lacks conviction.
We must remember that
Christ taught us to pray
For your kingdom to come
On this earth someday.
We waste and pollute
This earth now, as then,
Causing nature's unbalance
Again and again.
Once, we were frightened
By lightning and thunder;
Now, we've learned to use them
In electrical wonder.
But the world can't stop
On its axis and wait.
Man must catch up
And learn to relate.
With the free choice
You've granted to man,
Will we actually learn
To live by your plan?
God's Family
Dear God,
Should any religion suggest your rejection
Of others outside its own connection?
We don't have to accept everything we hear;
If we've strong faith, there's nothing to fear.
When exposed to new ways through which some have grown,
Could it be your suggestion that we search our own?
We need not leave the religion we're attending;
Just use what will help to make ours more depending.
So help us not look for the difference in our brother,
But look deep inside and your presence discover.
For we are all here, your family, to be
Not competing, but working together with thee,
Caring and sharing all that we can,
Building your kingdom to fulfill your plan.
The Trinity
Dear God, Of all the confusing beliefs
Arising about divinity,
I'm thinking people differ most
On the matter concerning the Trinity.
God the Father, Christ the Son,
And the Holy Spirit ...
Still, our minds are puzzled
No matter how we hear it.
I believe God is like a father,
Sovereign source of all that's good.
And Christ, God's spirit in action,
Was in Jesus most understood.
Jesus, the Messiah, his all did give,
And left the spirit in Christ to live
In each of us. He lingers still—
To act for God, to do his will.
Do we become part of the Trinity,
God's spirit in action to bear,
When accepting his great commission
All over the world to share?
Communion
Dear God,
We come to Christ's table in remembrance,
Confessing our guilt and our lack of dependence,
Asking forgiveness and cleansing renewal,
Making us fit for your spiritual refuel.
When, symbolic of his body, we take the bread,
Help us dedicate our own in his stead,
Remembering he was loaned to us long ago,
The potential of thy kingdom within to show.
When, symbolic of his blood, we drink the wine,
Fill our beings with your presence divine,
And then help us go forth sharing your spirit,
Resurrected anew wherever you steer it.
Reawakening
Dear God, A prominent evangelist
On TV was preaching,
And I can't help questioning
Some of the things he was teaching.
He said, "We are all born
In the world as lost sinners."
... Beautiful babies, your creations?
For Adam's sin—lost beginners?
Aren't babies born innocent
With a purpose pure and good
Until some of life's encounters
Make your way misunderstood?
Though an infant arrives
For greatness in potential,
Environment and consequences
Determine character, so essential.
Perhaps the original sin
They preach about at a revival
Is simply the human instinct
For recognition and survival.
But sometimes in life, we discover
It's not enough just to survive,
And a spiritual experience
Turns on another drive.
It's a deep stirring longing
For a power beyond our own,
And it frees the inner being
More than anything it's known.
Then, like dormant lily bulbs
When planted in the ground,
We, too, can blossom
In a new life we've found.
Suffering
Dear God, A young man in an accident
Was left mangled and unaware,
"Like a vegetable," they said in the hospital;
He lingered in intensive care.
He lived a long while,
And then finally died,
No matter how hard
The specialists tried.
I heard someone
Say he was killed
In this manner
Because God so willed.
I asked how this
Could be blamed on you.
The answer: "To make us
More submissive and true."
When we suffer
And anguish in pain,
We often reach out
For answers in vain.
Some believe suffering
Is one of your ways
Of punishment when
We indifferently stray.
But when we outwardly submit
To a God we feel unjust,
We're kidding ourselves and others
With a faith no one can trust.
Whether we admit it
Or harbor it inside,
Resentment and separation
Develop feelings we cannot hide.
Dear God, it's a pity
Some "Christians" forget:
Christ created no problems
But healed each one he met.
You sent him to prove
You're a god who really cares,
Not one who manipulates tragedy
To remind us of our prayers.
Sometimes, we wonder
Why healing is not ours,
Why some completely recover
And others seem denied your powers.
Perhaps, when our physical bodies
Deteriorate with disease,
Death becomes your better blessing
To give merciful release.
We may never know for certain
Why things happen as they do.
God, help us learn to trust
The loving nature of you.
May we find faith to believe
There will come a brighter day.
Please help us pick up the pieces
As stepping stones along our way.
Temptation
Dear God, It seems that devils and demons
Have the limelight much too much
By some who preach scared devotion
To you, in fear of such.
There is indeed much evil,
And hate and vengeance to fear,
But not from our God of love
Nor red devils lurking near.
I will concede, however,
When temptation becomes too strong,
I'd rather blame it on a devil
Than myself when I've done wrong.
Is it lust for power in some people
Who forget or don't know who they are,
Who become selfish devils and demons
Allowing their freedom too far?
I believe there is but one god
Whose power is beyond mankind,
And lesser gods of evil
Must not possess my mind.
I choose to spend my efforts
Showing devil-believing souls
The loving, caring feeling
The presence of God enfolds.
Hell?
Dear God, Some believe in hell as
The literal fire and brimstone place
Where you send your bad creations
To burn eternally without grace.
I just can't believe this,
No matter how I try,
For you never conditioned your love
Just until we die.
If, as a human mother,
I could never give up on my child,
How could I ever imagine
My God needs to be reconciled?
I believe we make our hells
Of heartache, sorrow, and pain
When we live in disobedience
And hurt others again and again.
The longer it takes us
To come to our senses,
The sicker and more disastrous
The hell of consequences.
If we're bad until we die,
Sin sick, and don't repent,
I hope you have another place,
For healing, to be sent.
Struggling with Doubt
Dear God, There is so much
I've questioned in doubt
As I've read and listened
And traveled about.
When bad things happen
To good people each day,
I can't believe you've
Predestined that way.
Even the Bible,
I have to admit,
Has passages in it
Your nature won't fit.
I'm sure it's inspired
And your message comes through,
Although some lines seem
From man, not from you.
True Atonement
Dear God, A blood sacrifice
Was believed of old
The atonement required
To save a soul.
Once they used a beast,
And then your perfect son,
But it puzzles me, God:
Who was the appeased one?
Could a devil, if there is one,
Prove his power so strong
In demanding the ransom
Of one who did no wrong?
Or was it reconciliation
To you that must be won
By willing the murder
Of your pure and blameless son?
Could this plan be yours, God,
As I am told?
Oh, how I hope not;
It leaves me so cold.
This belief of substitution
By another for my sin
Never could relieve me
Of any guilt I feel within.
Dear God, please forgive us
For the nails we keep driving,
When this way of salvation
We keep preaching and reviving.
I love that old cross,
We sing in refrain,
Because by it I'm saved!
... No matter his pain?
No, the cross is a symbol
Of ignorance turned to hate,
The painful cost when closed minds
Learn the truth too late.
And I can only cry;
My heart won't let me sing.
I loathe that old cross
For the hurt it brought my king.
Dear God, I've done things
For which I am ashamed,
But nothing so bad
As for Christ's death to be blamed.
Heaven can wait
If he must bear
Such horrible torture
For me to get there.
Oh no, God, I believe
You sent him to live
In this world of turmoil—
Your love power to give!
He taught that our body temples,
Like his, are to hold
The power of God
Alive in each soul.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from For the Love of God, Think on These Things by Frances S. Carson Copyright © 2011 by Frances S. Carson. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Meditations....................5The Church....................7
The Bible....................9
God's Will?....................13
The Messiah....................15
Thy Kingdom on Earth....................17
God's Family....................21
The Trinity....................23
Communion....................25
Reawakening....................27
Suffering....................29
Temptation....................33
Hell?....................35
Struggling with Doubt....................39
True Atonement....................41
Plan of Salvation....................45
God's Plan....................47
Perseverance....................49
God Is Love....................53
Caring....................55
Leaving This Life....................57
Have I Done Enough?....................61
Traveling On....................65
Acknowledgment....................67
My Prayer of Thanks....................69
In Conclusion....................71