Ken Cooper’s “POETIC POSTLUDE” shares Bible EXAMPLES of how perfect Love enables all to fearlessly rise above storms and find perfect peace.
Monday, February 28th, 2022
By Ken Cooper, poet from Great Britain
Ken Cooper’s “POETIC POSTLUDE” shares Bible EXAMPLES of how perfect Love enables all to fearlessly rise above storms and find perfect peace.
from the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on “Man” for March 6, 2022
- Check out Ken’s YouTube poem, “Perfect Peace” that starts with the requirement to “Be still”.
- In Ken’s YouTube poem “Elisha and the still small voice” Elisha saw God was not in wind, earthquake and fire.
- In poem “With Loving Kindness” is this theme: whatever an artist paints has to be in the mind of that artist.
[Ken writes:] “At a time of international crisis we have the words of our Golden Text giving the word of God to each one of us: “O man greatly beloved, fear not:” (Daniel 10:19 O man (to :)). Man is greatly beloved because God is unconditional Love. Love is what God does, and where there is Love, in the omnipresence and omnipotence of Love, there can be no fear because there is nothing to fear. Love is in control. Where there is nothing to fear, there is peace. Love loves the man of Love’s creation, and man is responsive to that Love.
What we experience is what we believe. In the midst of a crisis, has God stopped being what (S)He is, – omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent? In my shared Sentinel poem “No Problem” , we see set before us a range of problems that seemed insurmountable, and these included
“Moses led his people through the Red Sea. Obedience.
The poor wise man saved his city. Understanding.
David smote Goliath. Dominion.”
At the time these seemed impossible to overcome, but they were, for there was a single phrase, a statement of fact shared by God with Moses to answer the question of what God is, that covered and still covers, every eventuality, “I AM THAT I AM”. With obedience, we gain understanding, and this gives dominion over evil.
I AM THAT I AM is saying to each one of us: “O man greatly beloved, fear not”. God is Infinite Life, Truth, Love, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Principle. There is nothing else, and this is what we witness as man. (see RR, v10). When we bear witness to the four cornerstones of the gospel of Mark (see the CedarS Camps Cobbey Crisler article Sunday 27 @10.07), this is all we can witness. It is where we take our stand. We prove the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
In last week’s lesson we saw the importance of following Jesus, – our work was defined as casting our net on the right side, overflowing with love. This is our work of righteousness, and we have in the Responsive Reading (RR) the further stirring statement “..the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever” (RR v17) Our work is to love, to be love, for that is what our Father / Mother is. What we must express. When we do what is right, however difficult this may seem, we find peace, because we align ourselves with Principle and we find Truth, both for ourselves and others. Freedom from fear. Believe the gospel!
My poem, “Perfect Peace” starts with the requirement to “Be still”. This is so important because it is only in stillness that we evade the tempest of matter. One can say that being still is what we are required to do when we repent, – forsaking the material storms for the spiritual tranquillity, putting God first. When we are still we are standing on the rock (Truth) and no tempest can shake us. As with the accompanying picture for this poem, the morning sunrise removes the darkness of the night. God’s light is never put out. Nothing exists that can turn it off. The poem concludes:
“Love’s light and peace are forever ours: Shining face to face.
Perfect Love is man’s perfect peace.
Right now.”
There are so many examples in the Bible of the all-power of God, and those that witnessed this power were able to rise above the storms and find perfect peace. Although not directly in this week’s lesson, the need for stillness is. Think of Jesus stilling the storm, walking safely through the mob wanting to kill him, Elisha surrounded in his city Dothan by the enemy. He prayed, thinking of his doubting servant: “LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” (II Kings 6:17). Not only our eyes but our ears need to be open.
In my poem “Elisha and the still small voice” Elisha saw the wind, earthquake and fire in their most destructive forms, but God was not in them. He was in the “Still small voice”. This is what we need to see and witness,
“A strange calm replaces the forces that raged:
An infinite stillness that time never aged.
My fears fall away, for a voice sure yet small
Says clearly within me. “Fear not. God is All”.”
The poem goes on to recognize that only in the quiet of listening can we hear God’s voice, and again the message in the Responsive Reading is the quietness and peacefulness that come from acknowledging God.
And man is God’s own child. He fully reflects all that God is.
“Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” (B citation 19, Yea). This presents two equally beautiful images. The first is the idea of being drawn as oxen under the firm control of Love holding and guiding the reins in the fulfilment of God’s plan, ensuring the destination is reached with no hinderance or distraction. The second is being drawn as by an artist. My poem “With Loving Kindness” takes this theme: whatever an artist paints has to be in the mind of that artist. When God painted man, he saw what he had painted and it was exactly as was in His thought, and “behold it was very good”! (see Genesis 1:31). Once again we have the light shining out the darkness, revealing what God is:
“The Christ sheds infinite light on the masterpiece of perfect thought that is me,
Takes my right hand as gently as the kiss of dawn and whispers across eternity;
“Know and feel this lovingkindness of the Father,
For God is Love and Love has drawn thee, Love leads thee.
You are borne of My Light, you shine as My Day.”
We are all part of this Light of understanding, and we cannot be hidden in darkness. As it says in the last Bible verse (Citation22) “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day”. Nothing can ever change this fact.
I shine with the lovingkindness drawn of the Father.
Always beautiful:
God and man = 1.
FOREVER.
May the still small voice, the Word of God, be heard across our world, and bring peace.
Listen to Mark Swinney “No Darkness in God’s Garden” Daily Lift Monday 28 Feb 2022
Copies of the poems are available in pdf format in color and B&W as DOWNLOADS on the online version of this Poetic Postlude for this week’s Bible Lesson. The full range of Ken’s videos on YouTube can be found on KenGCooperPoetry. All Ken’s poetry and other writings can be found on Ken Cooper Poetry. Write to Ken on kengcooper@btinternet.com.
