Dismantling Me

Dismantle me Lord.
Make me new-
take the scales out of my eyes, make me see a new again
Let me have fresh eyes, for all your creative beauty

Let me not view the world through my eyes -
damaged through years of cynicism.
my eyes which have become too sensitive to your light and beauty.
replace them, be the optometrist.
give me new eyes,

Let me see the beauty in those who mourn, let me see beauty in the poor. Let me see beauty in those who long for justice, let me not see the beauty in those who long for you.
Let me not focus on the temporary, but focus on that which is last, faith love and hope

Performance - Les Murray

I starred that night, I shone:
I was footwork and firework in one,

a rocket that wriggled up and shot
darkness with a parasol of brilliants
and a peewee descant on a flung bit;
I was busters of glitter-bombs expanding
to mantle and aurora from a crown,
I was fouéttes, falls of blazing paint,
para-flares spot-welding cloudy heaven,
loose gold off fierce toeholds of white,
a finale red-tongued as a haka leap:
that too was a butt of all right!

As usual after any triumph, I was
of course, inconsolable.

from
Subhuman Redneck Poems, 1996

Reflections on a banquet meal

..."A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.' But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.' And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.' And another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, 'Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.' And the servant said, 'Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.'   And the master said to the servant, 'Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.'" (Luke 16-12)

Jesus once described the kingdom of God as a feast that we are invited to. At Mosaic last night we were asked to reflect on this, and write dear God responses to God on the feast. Here are my responses:

• Dear God, I find it hard to give up my own agenda, I mean, isn't this party all about me. But it isn't its about celebrating you.
• Dear God, you put so much effort into this moment, and I take it all for granted. I should be grateful that I was even invited. 
• Dear God, the food is so good, I have never had food so tasty, the ambiance is amazing. I should have invited my friends.
• Dear God, why are there so many hookers and junkies at this party, I can deal with there being respectable people. But the person over there, he was throwing up on the street last night. You deserve more than these folk. It would be easier if the person sitting next to me didn't should out obscene words every couple of minutes. I then look at myself, I am just the same, maybe I don't want to look at my own reflection. That I don't deserve this as much as everyone else in this room.

Dim Post on Daylight Saving

Danyl from Dim Post Blogs

Setting my clocks back this morning had me thinking about what a great little trick daylight savings is for maximizing use of sunlight hours, but also how impossible it would be to bring in such a scheme today: Labour would launch a protest bus tour (‘Stop the Clock!’), the Business Round Table and CIS would insist that we had to set our clocks forward a thousand hours to catch up with Australia, Herald columnists would thunder about Wellington bureaucrats kidnapping the sun for an extra hour every night, the unions would strike for the right to set their clocks back two hours. The government would compromise and set clocks back five minutes for a week in mid-June.