1416

Where is the Way of Joy for human-kind,

The truth that goes beyond the damning law,

The No, the blank refusal where we find

Hope dashed and Faith reduced to little more

Than Rules which serve to batter down and bind

A love forever flowing for the poor?

Cut through the red tape, let the Torah go,

Seek the Law whose truth cannot be heard;

Throw off the shackles, let the ideas flow

Beyond the cage of language where the word

Seeks to stultify what Love would grow;

Then as Babel's  disparate voices fall

The Way of Joy may fill the hearts of all.

Brian Hick December 2014

©copyright Sally Hick 26.11.25

 1388

What does it really mean to be a Christian?

What do I have to do to follow Christ?

Do I need to be baptised or sign up

To one particular church or take advice

From those who claim to know the truth and follow

Every letter of their written laws

Handed down from time immemorial

Except for that obscure and tiny clause

Which was dropped somewhere along the way

Because it did not fit the current fashion

And, anyway, no one seemed to care

For those who did were all hot-heads whose passion

Harped on and on that we should simply be

Like Jesus, who alone could set us free.

Brian Hick August 2014

©copyright Sally Hick 27.9.25

 1278

Feed my sheep; so that's what Peter did.

No time to worry over heresy,

Nor set down creeds; just do as he was bid.

Feed my sheep.

But we live beside a different sea,

Muddied by long centuries of pain,

Stark disillusion, death and apathy,

Where faith becomes a weapon for the vain,

Crushing hope, disabling empathy,

Until Love is sewered with the rain,

Feed my sheep.

Brian Hick June 2013

©copyright Sally Hick 6.6.25

 1119

Notes from Norfolk

A night of milder air and all the snow is gone.

Sun oozes through the gently warming grey;

The fields return to green

Beneath the sway of stripped out branches;

Now we must believe that winter's done.

......

A blackbird calls above Our Lady's shrine

While workmen plant the beds anew

For the Lenten pilgrims who

Will seek for resurrection in spring time.

The rosary's intoned and prayers are said

Candles lit and offerings made

To Our Lady, who has paved

The path we follow, where her son has led.

Silent lanes wind across the fens

.....

Brian Hick February 2012

©copyright Sally Hick 15.2.24

 978

A confirmation at St Thomas' church

Enthusiasm rolls across the aisles.

The electronic organ can't subdue

The chatter and the warm exchange of smiles

As uncles meet their nieces on a day

Of special celebration, for a gift

Unseen, uncosted, yet quietly desired

In hope, rather than expectation's drive.

There is no sign of you, although your name

Is banded back and forth; so if a few

Seem happy that there is a chance of change,

If all the spoken promises are true,

Perhaps it is enough to count on that

And not expect the miracles to ensue.

Dr Brian Hick summer 2011

©copyright Sally Hick 25.8.23

 930

On reading 2 Kings

(a project to read the whole of the Bible out loud in St Clements church 2011.Sally)

The church grows colder and colder as I hack my way

Through chapter after chapter of the deeds

Of long dead kings who all the Lord obey

Although I read their action only leads

To yet more ruthless slaughter and the cull

Of innocent bystanders who cared little

For tribal mores or the endless dull

Incitement of the priests, whose law would whittle

Everything to their simple belief

Our god is right; he tells us what to think;

We alone can comprehend his brief;

So follow us and you'll be in the pink.

          How can intelligent people claim

          That this god and Jesus' Father are the same?

Brian Hick 2011

©copyright Sally Hick 1.5.23

880

The Light of Life has come into the world;

I feel it in the darkness of my heart

Battered by the stress which night has hurled.

The Light of Life

Has ever known that every frozen part

Of body, mind and soul will in time yield

Before the Love that's been there from the start

Acknowledging I have no strength to shield

My reason from depression's vicious dart

And will accept with joy so Love may wield

The Light of Life.

Brian Hick December 2010

©copyright Sally Hick 21.12.22

 876

What shall I write for Christmas Day.

          When all the world with festive cheer

         Has set aside the need to hear

A truth that might show us the way

To face the things that go awry

          Realising that this love

          Does not descend from heaven above

But radiates from those who try,

Against the vanity and greed

          Which fill our lives on working days

          To Love, even though these quieter ways

Seem impotent to the world's creed.

So I will write of love which greets,

          Unnoticed by the streaming crowds

          Whose stoic faces are too proud

To see the homeless in the street;

Of love which puts another first

          Regardless of the cost to them

          And will do the same again

For there's no end to Love's deep purse.

Of Love which does not plan ahead

          Or ask that favours be returned

          As if all gifts must be earned

Accounts rendered, contracts read

And sealed on pain of retribution

          Knowing that there is no reward

          For kindness or the loving word

Freely given in restitution.

Of Love which takes us as we are

          Unaware of faults or failure

          Unconcerned by past behaviour

Seeing nothing but the star

That shone upon us at our birth

          Bringing grace to every hour

          We breath and giving us the power

To celebrate what we are worth.

Brian Hick December 2010

©copyright Sally Hick 15.12.22

Orkney

I've always found the thought of the Trinity

Dubious if not difficult,

But on this isle the earth and sky and sea

Shimmer even as they melt

Into a singularity

Of gentleness,

Where jagged edges cease to be

And all excess

Dissolves into an ordered symmetry.

Brian Hick

©copyright Sally Hick 1.4.22

 I need to spend more time with you

To listen to your peace

To seek you in the emptiness

When roaring words have ceased.

I need to spend more time with you

To hear you on the wind

To grasp the brief epiphanies

Which flash across my mind.

I ned to spend more time with you

To sense you in the needs

Of people whom I meet each day

No matter where it leads.

I need to spend more time with you

To set myself aside

Let love take over as I see

Your arms held open wide.

And as I spend more time with you

This Time itself will cease

And all I know and all I have

Will be forever peace.

Brian Hick

©copyright Sally Hick 1.4.22

I spoke to Nanny Matkin

When  I was Oscar's age

Querying the Bible's facts

And though she didn't rage

She said you simply must believe -

But didn't tell me why -

The story written in The Book

That came out of the sky.

And sixty-five years later

Wandering from church to church

My mind is no clearer

I feel left in the lurch

By those demanding faithfulness

To what they cannot prove

Yet all the time ignoring

The transforming power of love.

If church is not the answer - 

For two thousand years it's failed -

Then why continue following

A Way which has entailed

So much contradiction

So many bloody ends

So many dead-end cul-de-sacs

So many dead friends?

If love is the answer

The question must be wrong

For although we go on singing

We're singing the wrong song.

Brian Hick 

©copyright Sally Hick 1.4.22

How to be a Christian

               when the  church gets in the way

And services and rituals

            demand that we obey

The rules and regulations

            of a patriarchal clique

Clinging to their power-base

            while we are left to seek

The life Jesus has taught us

            of giving and of love

Which is in the here and now

            not in the heavens above.

But we all sit meekly

            for hour after hour

Of superficial niceness

            not the galvanising power

He promised to his followers -

            a world turned upside down

Where love leads on to service

            and the poorest wear the crown.

If the church were Christian

            we wouldn't meet each week

To worship, we'd be out there,

            feeding sheep.

If the church were Christian

            there'd be no buildings left

They'd all be sold for housing

            for the poor and the bereft.

If the church were Christian

            it would hear the voice

Of prophets of this day and age

            and wouldn't have a choice

For driven by the Spirit

            it would upend the world

And the Banner of the Kingdom

            would this day be unfurled

Not in pomp and power

            or politicians guile,

The banner would be written

            in the welcome of a smile

The hand upon the shoulder,

            the sandwich for the man

Who shelters in the doorway

            with his dog and lager can,

I want to be a Christian

            for the way we live today

In the world and striving

            to change things as I pray

That more and more will realise

            the joy of serving you

Is not limited to Sundays

            and the folks who fill the pew.

It is filling every moment

            every hour and every day

With all the power you gave us

            to draw others to the Way;

And anyone who does so -

            who cares what they believe? -

Will be a follower of Jesus

            comforting the souls who grieve,

Feeding those in hunger,

            bringing healing to the lost

Visiting the prisons

            and never count the cost.

If the church were Christian

            I would not need to write

For we'd be out there doing

            Now the things we know are right.

Brian Hick 2020 (?)

©copyright Sally Hick March 2022