FULL MOON…

Golden ball!

Seining you in full splendor

- Sign of His gentle grandeur -

I ponder, and pour

On Tuka and Soma, Kola and Aisha,

If they do not slumber,

But mingle and wander in bonding

Lost in the thick, shadowed places and playgrounds,

Lounging, high on heroic and bizarre tales

Told at the foot of our sage

On this night of thy bright and gentle gaze

Oh golden ball!

RELIGION - HOLY SPIRIT: CHRIST’S REPLACEMENT OR HIMSELF?

HOLY SPIRIT: CHRIST’S REPLACEMENT OR HIMSELF?

I have followed ‘the readings’ in this season closely and I found myself at a loss to fully accept that my ignorance is still plenty! He has enlightened minds in the past, and I’m sure He who has come to teach us all truth will start here with me and you as we reflect.

 I don’t intend to make this lengthy so I will dwell on only these three premises:

1)      “... I will send you another Comforter…”

2)      “If I do not go, the Promise of the Father will not come…”

3)      “… If any man is thirsty, let him come to me!... As scripture says: From his breast shall flow fountains of living water. He was speaking of the Spirit…. For there was no Spirit as yet because Jesus has not yet been glorified” - John 7: 37-39

The first tell us that there have been previous Comforter(s), of which we can say Christ was One. The second tells us that the Comforter is also the promise of the God the Father. The first and second tell us that the Father and the Son have authority over the Spirit… as to “send” Him.

Now the last from John 7: 37-39 is of particular interest. It is clear that He (Christ) was talking about the Holy Spirit Who the creed teaches Proceeds from the Father and the Son. Of major interest in the particular is this: ‘… For there was no Spirit yet.…’

I, in my mortal frailty will infer that there was nothing like the Holy Spirit “as yet”, on the apostles, or on others, while Christ was on earth. As yet, because He only came hitherto to reveal the Christ in particles, before He came, and during his lifetime. “… For flesh and blood did not reveal this to you…” - Matt. 16:13-

This perhaps was because the spirit was domicile in the Christ. He taught with power and authority. He revealed the dark sides of men… the Samaritan woman and the prostitute come to mind, together with the times He didn’t need to hear questions before answering. The story changes as the Christ goes to the Father. What was in Him became available to humanity. All things were, and is still been revealed to humanity! The timid spoke and now speak with authority. Those who could not cast out a demon raised the dead! All these and greater works were done because the latter Spirit was to confirm the Christ and His teachings. This raises a question, fundamental as it were.

Is the Holy Spirit, the other Comforter, the same as the First? He is the Spirit of the First… He groaned in the First to the Father. Is my spirit not me? No. Yes. I attempt, and not attempt to bring in the Holy Trinity. But then why do we attempt to separate Christ from His spirit in our Christian lives today? Christ is on the throne…. His Spirit is with us... Hmmm

I pray this Spirit of truth to enlighten our hearts the more, because I find, once again, difficulty in reconciling this paradox. but then I am a mere mortal, and my ignorance is still plenty! Come, fill the hearts of the faithful… and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love. Amen.

POETRY: VISIBLE HOPE

VISIBLE HOPE…

Open your eyes to this day of hope

Held up in strands only you can rope

Strong enough to hold up your hopes

Look at the spider; oh! She may give you some hope

See how she spins strands into a webbed home of ropes!

Look around and you’ll find your rope!

For scattered around are the many strands of your rope

Or could it be inside like that of the spider?

Patiently, web together your small, strong strands

And you’ll surely spin a fortress, like a spider’s home

The Lord is near, our hope of hopes

Our Fortress, He’ll call us to our eternal home

AKPE TOMBARI 25/11/2012

Poetry: I APOLOGIZE

I APOLOGIZE
I owe too many apologies but this one i can't delay… My Love I am sorry.
It was natural. We never said words. I knew we were made, one for another; is bread not for tea? Together, hand in hand, we strolled, to the envy of many. Forgotten so soon how the sun stood behind us, behind Ottamiri?
It was there I did it all; celebrated, an armature. There I charmed many; illuminating, it was De Lumen. Can't forget Ojukwu, yes, he was Ikemba. But I left, unrecognized: The Nation Campus Life joint best sports reporter. Then I felt I had arrived; why do I need you?
"You need to learn," was a brother's well done. It took me years to get there! It was painful, but I had to. I had to break free to get to thee my Love.
I apologize to thee Creativity. For the many years I poisoned many…  Scribbling things without form.  Do not hold it against this sinner. Bend me to your will and I'll learn.
From the river banks I sinned; on this hill I apologize.
Take me back, forgive what society made me. I still wish to stand behind you behind the sun behind still waters. This time I need you my Love to do it right. She is a berry… rare specie! Help me tell her friends, that Tom is sorry and needs her.
From the Tom that loves you

TWILIGHT - 1

They say we are beings without a choice because the Giant wheel of time keeps turning... That down the hallway of reality, everything is constantly moving - That’s the standing, or rather, moving rule of reality I guessed..! That we all keep moving no matter what we choose to do – standing, walking, running… All because that Giant wheel keeps moving..! Guess what? I have come to believe it too… I believe their sayings very strongly now that like water lettuce I drift, carried on the wave of time... now that like a wanderer I stand puzzled down the hallway of reality.

That truth comes out even harder in these shadowed days. Even when I know I’ve stopped moving, I see myself drifting with the current, watching others moving faster or passing those that drift leisurelier (they must be heavier than me for the current to move me faster – high school physics!) In this hallway of reality, during these slow, dark moments, a lot is happening. I seem to look back a lot these days so I know they are correct.

There were moments – mornings I call them – I’d wish should never come to an end. There were also times of total darkness, nights, when I wandered where the sun had gone to… if it would ever rise again. Sandwiched between the above moments is one I call the twilight. That time when in the horizon the sun peeps at me, at humanity, with a brilliance that does not burn… in rays that purge all the beauty of the universe to the outside, to reality in the full glare of all humanity.

I make claims too that we all are clogged to the Giant wheel of time… that we all experience a ‘drifting’ sometimes and very importantly, that we have all seen light and shadows down that hallway. After all, is shadow not the product of light? If you have not, you may choose to discontinue discomforting your eyes and brain cells. I also claim that we have all seen the twilight in our lives. Have your ever seen the sun set in Nigeria, in Africa? I have. I have stood with beauty behind a river, behind the sun as it gradually set before. I have been at the foot of the great hills in Enugu, in a moving vehicle, splashed with the setting sun’s golden rays. I have seen beautiful documentaries of the sun staging a beautiful performance for the lion king in the savanna. No beauty compares to the twilight.

Within the hallway, the twilight is experienced twice: at the beginning of our journey, leading us to our moments of blazing brilliance peaked at noon and burning hot by three; and towards the end of our star streak, when our sun gradually rests in death, birthing darkness untold, thick at midnight, blinding all hopes in the third hour. Look at the river, does it not ebb and flow twice every day? Does the shoreline not move father and draw nearer twice a day? Dawn the first, dusk, the second and real twilight.

The first twilight, which we call dawn, we may not notice, but the second definitely, the true twilight, we all see it approach… we are conscious of its coming. The second twilight is sometimes a game of chance - Divine providence, seemingly. We may be lucky to have a long and blissful twilight, like in the harmattans, or a sharp, painful one, like during the rains.

Knowing where we are clogged on this wheel of time is itself a Divine gift, and knowing how to restart the wheel for another cycle is Divine grace. What constitutes Divine treasure is the knowledge of how to make our twilight last forever, how to make our sun forever give forth its golden rays at twilight for all eternity. This first twilight is one we all want to blossom and attain full maturity. We never wish it to set at its peak. When it eventually does, we may plunge sharply into darkness untold or experience a blissful twilight, which we wish should never end because we are sure of the darkness that follows.

It is currently not clear from this hallway as we drift how to freeze twilight and prevent nightfall, but we trust that as we reflect on those moments in our lives when light overshadowed darkness, and on those other moments when darkness tried to regain control, we will one day become convinced. Convinced that we still drift even if we choose not to move, and so continue to move no matter the odds. Amen!