On the Eve of Power - a Saturday Prayer

Father, i’m supposed to preach tomorrow about

Your power, the power that comes when we tarry

seeking Your face, acknowledging our helplessness

sinfulness & utter inadequacy

Your work declares, even shouts

this power, this spirit indwells me

but there’s something more… “it shall come upon you”

something from without, invading within

changing forever the source & direction of what drives me

and tomorrow i stand before Your precious people

confidently confessing for all to see

the reality, immanence and relevance

of Your power…for us today – right now

come hell or high water, addiction, depression or personal failure

an overcoming power

when my loved ones get sick and even die

when my children stray and fall

when the chaos of the moment

drains out any vision for the future

when my own flesh leads an open rebellion

against the new creation I’ve become in Christ

when i’m misunderstood, misrepresented, even betrayed

that’s right Lord, i’m gonna stand up there

under the mantle of man’s ordination

vast years of my pastoral profession

and what sometimes seems like – very little overcoming faith

but a load of religious experience

and testify to the POWER

Your power, the power of God, Divine power, creative power

resurrecting power, healing power, saving power

delivering power, transforming power, overcomin’

devil-stompin, faith enhancin’ - limitless power

i’ll wave my hands expressively and shout

“It’s in me! It’s in you! It’s in this church!

It’s real and here right now, for any & every situation!”

just one hitch, Jesus – i don’t feel very powerful tonight

i have recollections of yesterdays and long ago

when Your power in me imparted transformation & faith

but somewhere in the journey…too often self-absorbed

i stretched out my hand, touching a glory meant only for You

careless, foolish, naïve, immature, undisciplined

all of the above

my ambition & need for validation exposed me

to the pressures & pulls of this world

and Delilah cut my hair & Philistines plucked my eyes

but when I cried, “Great is Thy Faithfulness”

healing grace & limitless mercy restored my sight

the joy of my salvation and with that my strength

so tomorrow I will without shame proclaim

“not by might, not by power but by my Spirit, says the Lord”

and if you don’t do something, Father

in my life, in our church, in our land

we don’t have the power…to get it done

Lord, light the fire again - start tonight, ignite in me afresh

then through Your presence & Your power

release in Your people the passion of Pentecost

make it so, dear God – for Jesus sake. amen!

02/14/98 mark d. cooke, edited, 11/26/11

The Disenfranchised

we finished all the required assignments (usually early)

then we got bore and painted outside the lines

when we saw a more efficient way

we would often tack on an alternate heading

this did not endear us to those who stayed on track

they had us read “The Road Less Traveled”

but when we took it

we wondered why others didn’t follow

we cheered as they unfurled their banners of grace & truth

only to find them cowering away

when transparency & honesty exposed our

universal brokenness & need for healing

we graduated from their schools, studied their programs

recited the party lines

simply to find ourselves bursting with discontent

we cut our teeth on their favorite tunes

sadly facing their scorn

when we danced to someone else’s song

they taught us a holy text, giving convincing evidence

that it was true (from genesis to maps)

we believed them, with them and like them

but when the Divine Life beyond the ink & paper

broke out in us and around us

they were no longer with us

“He’s not one of us anymore.” “She’s one of those…”

we had jumped through the hoops, apparently one too many

“What’s he doing over there?”

“What sort of experience has she had?”

“What caused him to go in that direction?”

“Have you heard who she’s spending time with?”

most of us are not exactly sure when it happened

though some might highlight a day or season

one morning we all woke up with the same revelation

the settlers had circled the wagons

the town folk had barricaded the gates

we were on the outside looking in,

the feared, invading barbarians

i think our catholic friends have got it partially right

there really is a purgatory, it just comes before you die

- somewhere in the middle of the story –

and, oh how we need motherly saints lighting candles

praying us through these darkest (if not oddest) of times

shrouded by the limbo of speaking their language

but knowing the cadence of others

loving their customs, honoring their festivals & rituals

while celebrating the tapestries woven by different tribes

and drafting fresh scores of our own design

we are the disenfranchised,

a remnant of ragamuffin pilgrims rising from

an “either or” world, we cannot (dare not) turn back

we have caught a glimpse of another realm

set our sights on a Kingdom not built by men

and we navigate a passage unmistakably guided

by the shadow of a cross

and the Glory of a King

“Everything that can be shaken will be shaken,

so that only what is unshakeable will remain.”

“Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!”

mark d. cooke, 3-21-02