Balancing Worship - revised - Poem by Raymond A. Foss

To love Jesus,
really love his ministry, his message
We need to see him, as he was,
as he was seen in the world
in his travels in the land
To see him as homeless,
wandering untethered,
outside the law,
claiming deity, fulfillment
Speaking in paradox, in parable
messianic and servant
pauper and king

To see him as holy, divine,
to see him as man, as carpenter,
as teacher, as prophet, as God
complicated beyond our comprehension,
human as the moment in Temple,
tipping the tables of the money-changers,
the moments, the many times,
reflection, centering, time away,
up on the mountain, by the sea,
communing with God

To worship our brother, our savior, our king
we must spent time with him, in his service
being his hands, his feet,
his pen, writing his words,
to be his voice, in the world,
in the marketplace of ideas
spreading justice, his message, his love
reaching out to our brothers, our sisters,
all around this earth,
all of us struggling, hoping
longing for the day, that glorious day
of his coming again

Revised October 23, 2008
February 17, 2008
Based on Colossians 1:11-20 and the sermon,
“Imaging Jesus”, by the Reverend Lori Eldredge,
Wesley United Methodist Church, Concord, NH
November 25, 2007