Jeremiah 33: 14-16
Luke 21: 25-36

I was sitting with the lines from “After Annunciation” by Madeleine L’Engle,
“This is the irrational season when love blooms bright and wild. Had Mary been filled with reason there’d have been no room for the child.”
I reflected on signs we see and signs we choose to ignore. Daffodils welcome Spring around the world, but in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Kowhai is Spring’s first bloom and Pohutukawa is a native tree all recognise as a sign that Christmas - and Summer - is near.

—————

Signs

Kowhai welcomes the Spring
Pohutukawa blooms for Summer
Heralds of invitation
to step into a new season

Kairos invading chronos
Irrationally, God is at work
A righteous branch sprouts out of season
Signs of heaven and earth rejoined

Sea levels rise and forests shrink
Battles rage and lands ravaged
We see the signs
and dare to raise our heads.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 14 March 2024

Malachi 3: 1-4
Luke 1: 68-79
Luke 3: 1-6
Philippians 1:3-11

—————

Joining the Song

Move me from skepticism
to speechless wonder
from empty arms to full
from silence to Benedictus –
Blessed be the one I hold

When the life we hold
is beyond what we imagined
More than we dared hope
I join the song of God
Each harmony layering another
in the ultimate love song
Blessed be the one I hold

But dare I join this song of blessing
When all I hold feels broken?
Dare I sing love into hurt?
Sing blessing over pain and fear?
Still in tune with the Song of God
played through the universe.
A song written on our hearts
that love may abound.
Blessed be the one I hold

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 15 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

Zephaniah 3:14-20
Isaiah 12:2-6
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 3:7-18

—————

Building Joy

Building blocks of living joy
Simple kindnesses lead to gentleness
Don’t worry, God is close
Be thankful, there is good to find

Share what you have;
don’t cheat;
don’t bully.

Block after block after block.
Choose joy -again and again,
Attitude, Behaviour,
Attitude, Behaviour,
Over and over
Over and over

Not because all is well, but because it isn’t.
Building towers of transcending peace
God is close.
Walls of refreshment for thirst
Gratitude discovered.

Each block, a memory
of God’s delight in you
Each block, a choice
to join with the eternal Joy of God.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 15 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

Micah 5:2-5a
Psalm 80:1-7
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-45, (46-55)

—————

Small Things

God loves to use small numbers,
ordinary people,
little gifts
and minor moments.

In my smallness, may I too be used
and with haste, share within community:
holding hope together
listening to each other’s crazy stories
blessing one another.

In our connections, may we together
make sense of where God is at work.
Noticing the hand of God on another.
Making hope bigger -magnifying -

Magnificat.
Singing the power of God
in our very powerlessness
and in looking at life with eyes of faith
so discover a renewing world.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 15 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

Isaiah 9:2-7
Psalm 96
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-14 (15-20)

—————

The New Way

Ending our Advent journey
to step into this new pilgrimage
Before yields to After
Ordinary to extraordinary
All will change
as starlight does its work.
At the edge of this path
the land holds its breath
and angels stretch their wings
Our month meets Mary’s nine
of audacious expectation
God’s dream from long ago
born this night in flesh and blood
embracing human struggle
As Word is laid in feeding trough
and worshipped by calloused hands
Nothing is left ordinary.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 14 March 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

Isaiah 52: 7-10
Psalm 98
Hebrews 1:1-4 (5-12)
John 1: 1-4

Prayer of Martin Luther that says, God is now of our image.

—————

Our Image

Angels and singing
Gifts and feasting

To see again
and again

Irrepressible joy
Irrepressible joy

God now of our image
our flesh and blood

Stepping into our shoes
of frail insignificance
wrapped in our swaddling cloths
interrupting our tables
we who are made in your image

Unspeakable grace
given Word.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 18 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

1 Samuel 2: 18-20,26
Psalm 148
Colossians 3:12-17
Luke 2: 41-52

—————

Finding Jesus

We assume we know
where Jesus will be found
Yet lost in the temple
a missing piece
He speaks to my silent search
In forgiveness and gratitude
But mostly
love-clothed
Linen ephod-gifted
Robe stitched with prayer
on veil fabric
once used to separate
God from creation
Now this new priestly robe
that covers me
mediating lostness
A new veil; new ephod
A new garment yet to be torn
Found in the once empty
now-found place
I am found
and clothed.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 18 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

Isaiah 60: 1-6
Psalm 72: 1-7, 10-14
Ephesians 3: 1-12
Matthew 2: 1-12

—————

Epiphany Gifts

Entering Epiphany
from far places
Star beckoned
kneeling in darkness
Waiting
Bags laid down
in the not yet
Gifts hidden in the shadows
knowing dawn will come
Gold will be unwrapped
Frankincense opened
Myrrh undone
For king and priest
Newborn, yet tomb-bound
In our giving
We are unwrapped,
opened,
undone
by royal robe, rent in two.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 20 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

Isaiah 43: 1-7
Psalm 29
Acts 8: 14-17
Luke 3: 15-17, 21-22

—————

Baptism

Descending dove
with water- wet and cold
yet more than bird and stream
This splash of life
On Your beloved
whom we the world
had waited for.
Preparing him - or us
His going and his sending
Affirmed and shaped
Claimed and called
To be re-membered
Re-embodied
His baptism mine
Incomprehensibly simple
My claim and call:
I re-member.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 20 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

Isaiah 62: 1-5
Psalm 36: 5-10
1 Corinthians 12: 1-11
John 2: 1-11

—————

Renamed

Here the gift
named just or only
ordinary and lesser,
is renamed for delight
as abundant wine.
A community
forsaken - deserted - desolate
renamed to delight-full
Self-naming and labels
In need of reinvention
Word grounded in our ordinary
Of weddings and wine
Overflowing abundance on the third day
Replacing emptiness when all has run dry
The wine has run out
and we thought the laughter must end.
Overflowing abundance on the third day
When all we had was Saturdays
And watery labels.
Emptiness is not the end
Frivolous perhaps
Yet joy filled in humanity
Renamed
Delight-full
Like you.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 19 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

Nehemiah 8: 1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Psalm 19
1 Corinthians 12: 2-31a
Luke 4: 14-21

—————

Rebuilt 

In this crumbling world
where ruins rule
Broken hearts and homes
where hidden faults
lie undiscerned in rubble
Needing re-build
Brick by brick
Word by word
By a people
For a people
From lost identity
Re-found
by re-membered stories
Mason God
at work with beloved stones
To proclaim again
release, sight and freedom.
Rebuilt proclamation
for the broken.
Re-formed together.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 19 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

Jeremiah 1: 4-10
Psalm 71: 1-6
1 Corinthians 13: 1-13
Luke 4: 21-30

As Shakespeare said, “Pretend a virtue if you have it not”.

—————

Cliff Top

To not join with the local tales
Of how things ought to be
But speak of grace
In other’s stories
Crossing sand drawn lines
Shifts from popular
overnight, to not
and leads to clifftop danger
A more excellent way.
(although excuses tempt us down).
Too young, too old, too anything.
Dare we stay abiding?
Not uninformed, for clifftop love
It matters most
All else will fall away.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 19 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

Isaiah 6: 1-8 (9-13)
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15: 1-11
Luke 5: 1-11

—————

Belonging

Made and called
To a place and a people
A land and a hand
At home with ourselves through others
With and to God; Reconciled.
Called and sent: to be and do
Amidst community trauma,
Seen and sent by the bigness of God
Called and sent: to be and do.
Angels and coals; messengers and painful reminders
So we discover our failures
On the way to grace renewed
Belonging matters -to us and them
Amidst failures of the day, all but given up
Seen and sent by the bigness of God
Called and sent: to be and do.
Go back to the deep with tired hands
Reset the nets to be overwhelmed
So discover your failures
On the way to grace renewed
Belonging matters -to us and them
Join the adventure; become the nets
Belonging to God, claimed by grace
Belonging to community; living by grace
Belonging to the land; planted in grace.
May my yes lead me home.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 16 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

Jeremiah 17: 5-10
Psalm 1
1 Corinthians 15: 12-20
Luke 6: 17-26

—————

Believing

Whether we find God on a mountain top or a level place 
Spectacular or ordinary
I believe
As a tree planted by the river
Ordinary yet spectacular.
Amidst raw life -poverty and thirst
Drought and flood
I believe
Blessing amidst pain
Grace amidst awful
For the nobodies
the kingdom way already begun
The Word understood in healing and hope
Visible and audible
This I believe.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 16 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

Genesis 45: 3-11, 15
Psalm 37: 1-11, 39-40
1 Cor 15: 35-38, 42-50
Luke 6: 27-38

—————

Becoming

Just a seedling glimpse
Of what we might yet become
Little steps for now
Away from judgement
Toward our enemies
From arrogance of expectation
To humility and grace.
From parading talents
To using gifts given
Attentive to the other
Even the enemy other
Little steps for now
Away from anxiety and fear
Those paths to anger are well trodden
From certain surety
To vulnerable transparency
From familiar brokenness
To strange dark places
The harder path Is more becoming
A lifetime of little steps
Little steps with fragile patience
Newfound wings we little understand
Yet still they make us fly.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 16 June 2024, written at Ffald y Brenin

Exodus 34: 29-35
Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3: 12 – 4:2
Luke 9: 8-36 (37-43a)

—————

Blessing

From prayer
grounded in upcoming suffering
to mountain paths
that make their way
above worry and toil
Hard the climb
Complex and dangerous the art*
To be covered by glory;
wrapped in epiphany
Touched and seen
yet so difficult to understand
No encampment allowed
for we don’t know what we say
Affirmation and glory
found in the thin places
is to be held on to;
tucked in the pocket of our soul for by and by
when life hurts and hope fades.
When you dig deep
into pocket depths
and remember glory unveiled.

*as Professor McGonagall says

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 23 June 2024, written at Chester

Deuteronomy 26: 1-11
Psalm 91: 1-2, 9-16
Romans 10: 8b-13
Luke 4: 1-13

—————

The Lenten Road

Temptation is a given
on this shadowy way
we choose to walk
Heart and mouth join feet
on this way we wander
that demands our best
as we remember, God is good
Even when, in hunger
we wish stones were bread
and seek a better view than where we walk.
O Spirit of wild-erness:
Lead us to this other path
Led to bypass glory
(what a golden road it seems)
and choose not power
(another gem laid way)
nor gratification
(such a pleasurable path).
If only
the beckoning gold and gem
were holy paths
yet not,
and so we take
this other way
to true identity: o child of God.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 2 July 2024, written at Taizé

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Psalm 27
Philippians 3:17 – 4:1
Luke 13: 31-35 or Luke 9:28-36

—————

Night Sky

Let your stars shine
in their words of unfulfilled promise
as specks of distant hope
in the terrifying darkness
that threatens to encompass.
As I wait for the dawn
may I dare to look up
and glimpse the hope
I cannot yet claim
amidst those vast skies
of desolation and platter-ed heads.
Reframing my sight
And re-posturing my body
So I find my haven
beneath divine wings
of maternal protection
Where I weep my lament
And stitch hope back into my being
Until at last I might praise
even with a single string
believing the sun will rise.

Note: in the beautiful painting by the English Victorian painter George Frederick Watts, called Hope, a lone blindfolded female figure sitting on a globe, plays a lyre that has only one single string remaining. The background is almost blank, its only visible feature a single star.

© Rev Nikki Watkin

Isaiah 55: 1-9
Psalm 63: 1-8
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13: 1-9

—————

Punctuation

In dry places I thirst
I yearn to see you
and know again your touch.
Too long the exile,
I long for return
to table and to garden.
To smell and touch and taste
that joy which now has gone.
A full stop looms large.
As pain and blame
threaten to end my story.
Dare I grasp instead, the comma?
Be undefined by that black dot.
Choose instead to take a breath
and not give up.
Pay for time and space with empty purse
Seek yet again the Seeker
Who makes the Word be full again.
Comma Christ: Breath of life
You waste not nor give up
for tainted pasts
But seeking change and new directions
offer yet another season
for nurture to reap its reward.
My story incomplete; the comma remains
Inviting me to make the next line count.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 3 July 2024, written at Taizé

Joshua 5:9-12
Psalm 32
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32

—————

Prodigal

Farmer of prodigal generosity
who makes things new
in wasteful extravagance.
Before my words are voiced:
before I come to my senses
welcomes me home
where I may eat again from the land.
From my far country
-brothel or bedroom
Younger or older
muttering my discontent
That I might climb back into the story
And wearing your ring
move from perplexity to humility
and become the welcome.
Overcoming judgement’s folly
To offer a place to belong
Where pain and hope is embraced
enough to endure our brother
And we return to our best selves
to catch a glimpse of glory.
Prodigal God.

Note 1: The image of climbing back into the story resonates for me with Nouwen’s climbing into Rembrandt’s painting of The Prodigal.

Note 2: Brian McLaren offers four stages of faith - from simplicity, to complexity, to perplexity, to harmony/humility.

© Rev Nikki Watkin

Isaiah 43: 16-21
Psalm 126
Philippians 3: 4b-14
John 12:1-8

—————

Costly Choices

Where we once worried
about death’s smell
Might my most costly gift
change the atmosphere
for love’s fragrance
to evoke a new memory
of dreams and laughter
of rivers in desert lands
The smell of one that lingers
beyond odours of cynicism and despair
Offering outrageous, intimate devotion
that will not stay contained.
A gift we might have held
as grain to be eaten, not sown
Yet in hungry tears, choose to plant,
so we might yet eat again.
The goal once unwanted, yet now I yearn.
Let down my hair,
in awkward vulnerability
and extravagant hospitality.
Feast givers and fragrance pourers
Homes of welcome and empathy
invading, pervading self-giving
Unrecognised by some who sneer
yet as it was intended.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 6 July 2024, written at Taizé

Isaiah 50:4-8
Psalm 118: 1-2. 19-29 or Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2: 5-11
Luke 18: 28-40

—————

A Way

Joining Jesus
on the road
Laying down our branch.
Tourist or pilgrim?
Highest place to lowly
Praise to accusation.
Might Jesus need more
than a colt
to carry him
Held too by praise
upon the way.
Others alongside
sharing a coat
Slowing our pace
to walk the journey
or racing past
when stones themselves
will ground him in praise
God will find a way.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 6 July 2024, written at Taizé

Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10) 11-14
Psalm 116: 1-2,12-19
1 Corinthians 11: 23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35

—————

Pass Over

In the midst of many shadows
darkness grows and light flickers.
The table is set
for ordinary sacred
Passover remembrance
of another deliverance.
The hour had come:
the devil is at work.
Was the bread -ripped apart –
hard to swallow?
To re-member who we are.
Remove the layers; pour the water
Wash the dirt away, more or less.
For tonight a single light still flickers.
The journey’s end is near.
A road we would not choose
yet God-led to suffering.
Tread softly for much is bruised
and needs that bowl of water.
Pass over us again this night
on the edge of darkness,
with love until the end.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 6 July 2024, written at Taizé

Isaiah 52: 13- 53:12
Psalm 22
Hebrews 10:16 -25 or Hebrews 4: 14-16, 5:7-9
John 18:1 - 19:42

This poem on the last words of Jesus is the first of two poems for Good Friday.

—————

Last Words

Famous last words stick
How could we forget?
Frustration wonders, when?
Despair groans, why?
Abandonment asks, where?
Accusation wonders, who?
Pain seeks company
yet friends fall asleep
Awareness asks remembrance
yet promised undeserved paradise
Grief stands broken, alone
yet bonds are tied: this is your son.
Deep thirst cries out
as darkness looms.
When all is said and done
We are in the hands of God
As it was in the beginning.
It is finished.
Final words are not final.
They speak contradiction
to all that was
And we still ask, what is truth?
And shake dice over the leftovers.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 2 July 2024, written at Taizé

Isaiah 52: 13- 53:12
Psalm 22
Hebrews 10:16 -25 or Hebrews 4: 14-16, 5:7-9
John 18:1 - 19:42

This poem on the response of the disciples and us is the second of two poems for Good Friday.

—————

Grief

It’s hard to swallow
as waves crash around us
Shame and regret
Screaming and silence
Sleeplessness now
Why not then?
Shoulds and if onlys
are heavy burdens
darkness adds to confusion
light is hard to bear
Nothing will ever
be normal again
Can’t we just go back
to what we once knew
and thought we understood?
Today’s raw loss
when resurrection is unimaginable
must be lived
before tomorrow’s tomorrow comes.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 2 July 2024, written at Taizé

Job 14:1-14
Lamentations 3:1-9. 19-24
Psalm 31: 1-4, 15-16
1 Peter 4: 1-8
John 19: 38-42

—————

Waiting

Two by night
Gift tomb and spice
Hidden love
-yet deep -
to blanket over sin
No life held here:
this stump won’t sprout.
Sealed in stone
with scent of death.
We walk in darkness,
walled in, weighed low.
Yet not consumed
for hope is in the waiting.
While yet we ring our hands.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 6 July 2024, written at Taizé

Isaiah 65: 17-25
Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24
1 Cor 15: 19-26 or Acts 10: 34-43
John 20: 1-18

—————

From Darkness

Still the dark of death
Still the blurred eyes
from exhausting tears
A woman searching
in open tomb of confusion
finds yet more trauma.
Men hear without understanding
“Female hysteria.”
The jigsaw of a new story
Piece by piece.
Folded cloths, unbound.
Seen from a doorway distance
or immediate and direct.
Angels intrude such vacancy
Asking the obvious
Why does pain hurt?
Gardener guise
Name spoken clarifies
Red eyes less blurred
Shuffling from trauma to hope
In stages of understanding
To cling or not to cling
Alleluias re-found
Be the blessing declared
Unexpected endings now beginning
A new heaven and new earth.
Christ is risen in deed.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 10 July 2024, written at Aix en Provence

Acts 5: 27-32
Psalm 118: 14-29 or Psalm 150
Revelation 1: 4-8
John 20: 19-31

—————

Unlocked

With doors locked
and minds closed
still hiding, for risk is real
Keep out the world
(didn’t we once trust
with unlocked doors?)
Places we choose in the dark:
where we replay events
of failure and betrayal.
Of silence and sleeping.
Disappointment and anger.
The sideways glance
and cautious whisper.
Locks within locks.
Pain within pain.
Confronting Christ
Turns us toward the future
Away from fear:
raw and challenging
Through peace
Into defiant joy-filled boldness
-no flippant joviality
Unbinding guilt
Unlocking forgiveness
Breath-soaked sending.
From lament to celebration
From darkness to light.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 12 July 2024, written at Aix en Provence

Acts 9: 1-6 (7-20)
Psalm 30
Revelation 5: 11-14
John 21: 1-19

—————

Fishing

I am going fishing
Back to what I know
Safety in familiar
Boards well worn; ropes well tied.
But even in that known space
no longer do I know
For failure runs deep
and my boat is empty on return.
Told to try again
Yet surely futile
Told a different way
Swallow my pride
And return to the depths
of my emptiness
Now full to overflowing
I recognise him on the shore
Who beckons me and shares my catch
We eat and laugh, but not enough
He questions me
I know he knows
My guilt and shame
O friend re-called
On this new day, to fish again
with fragile nets
and ragged sail
Yet I am known this moment
Joy returns with sunrise
And grace for a lifetime.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 15 July 2024, written on Canal du Midi

—————

Ananias

Yes God but
I know better
Walk reluctantly into danger
To face that nemesis
And all that makes
The heckles rise
Offer guidance to one of them
Criminal, offender
Senseless history of injustice
Offer hospitality to one of them
With healing hands
For blinded sight
second chance for arrogance
both yours and mine.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 15 July 2024, written on Canal du Midi

Acts 9: 36-43
Psalm 23
Revelation 7: 9-17
John 10: 22-30

—————

Good Shepherd

Keep me from danger
Give food for the day
Rest when I’m weary
Rescue for danger
Of steep sides and sheer walls
Find me when I am lost
And I will learn your voice.
Words for the living
Even in the dying
Lead me to new pastures
to slow down and rest
meander through gratefulness
Refreshing waters feed my soul
Shadowlands shared
Table extended to the uninvited
Overflowing love forever.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 17 July 2024, written at Carcassonne, Canal du Midi

—————

Yes, but

I lack nothing
Except I don’t
The list is long
Green pastures for all
Except in refugee camps
Where all seems brown
Life giving water
But not for the poor
Without tap or well
A table set
But not for some
Who sleep with hungry bellies
Surely this promise
Is for more than eternity
Tend my sheep
Shepherd my flock
Find those green pastures
Seek that fresh water
Journey with, in the shadows
Set the table amidst the torment
Lion and lamb together
Feed just one more
Until eternity’s banquet
feeds all.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 17 July 2024, written at Carcassonne, Canal du Midi

—————

The Revelation of Dorcas

Dorcas -pin label
Beloved craftswoman
Love stitched garments of blessing
for vulnerable poor
Ordinary beauty
All sewn up
Surely too late
and only reminiscing left
Yet still you bring life
for each count matters
and tears are wiped away.
Heavy the temptation of disbelief
when persecution threatens
and yet,
the wonder of and yet
makes nonsense of the best
metaphor
amidst thrones and white robes
Nothing is lost in the cracks
All seen and gathered together
by such a vast host
who no longer hunger or thirst
whose tears are wiped away.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 17 July 2024, written at Carcassonne,
Canal du Midi

Acts 11: 1-18
Psalm 148
Revelation 21: 1-6
John 13: 31-35

—————

I Spy

Christian spotters
binoculars in hand
Do not seek warm fuzzies
of likeminded care
Smiles that behind shutters turn
and at tables seek own image
Our noble, sinful no
to sheets of inclusion:
religiously conditioned
yet hindering Divine invitation
Nay, they are seeking new old love
Could it yet be true?
Surely impossible.
Might we yet cross that risky bridge
to reach our own Cornelius?
Despite the rocks below
where we once gathering, frowned.
Invisible fences, divine un-necessity
Shown in dreams we don’t understand
For all have dirty hands and feet
Might binoculars yet espy
That scandalous way
In my step closer to paradise.
Tell me again
and yet again
In both sheet and person
That I might yet be seen.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 17 July 2024, written at Carcassonne,
Canal du Midi

Acts 11: 1-18
Psalm 148
Revelation 21: 1-6
John 13: 31-35

—————

In-between

Oh the garden city
Where one day we walk
Temple-less and bare the sky
with light so full and clear.
Divine and human prints are made
Upon these city paths
Walking together in worship
With open gates of welcome
So many points of entry.

Yet in this in-between city
where gates may close-
and sun beats down
Where visions beckon
across murky waters
to strong vibrant Lydias
developing ministry in listening prayer
Resourcing community with courageous hospitality
New lands are reached at riverbeds:
breaking old assumptions
of Macedonian men.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 17 July 2024, written at Carcassonne,
Canal du Midi

Acts 16: 16-34
Psalm 97
Rev 22: 12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John 17: 20-26

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and Asia Sunday

—————

Unity

Jesus’ prayer at the heart of God.
Thet they may be one.
No shady exploitation by decree or fist
No fragments by label or scandalous division
Elastic church with wider hem
in unison with Trinity’s dance.
While Jesus prays…
for we who are not yet one,
remaining in our upper rooms:
A prayerful invitation to abide
within the bigger story.
Whilst sin assumes discord
where diversity delights.
So Jesus prays…
The story cannot end ‘til we agree
for Revelation ends with her Amen.
Each one woven in this big tale,
this whole story, A to Z.
Re-covers us in blessing
through love in suffering, death is razed.
While Jesus prays…
All our stories in one great Reconciliation
Our once dis-membered tables
Dragged together, so we re-member.
Not for self’s own chains removed
but those who placed those iron weights
Oh the sight of those who choose to stay.
So Jesus prays…

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 22 July 2024, written at Malseröd, Vittsjö, Sweden

Genesis 11: 1-9
Psalm 104: 24, 34-35b
Acts 2: 1-21
John 14: 8-17 (25-27)

—————

Antithesis

With wheat from spring’s new harvest
or whatever we might reap:
We count the days to pilgrimage
in hope of what might be.
Yet from our room above the stairs
We, timid, linger still.
Spirit-work, antithesis
Invade the shadows there.
Dare us, move us, shift our step
From bondage now to free
As once enslaved, adoption bound.
From babbling to speech.
From spectator, participant.
From barrier to bridge.
Confining to defining.
Irreconciled, complete.
Might we be heard from streets below
New language on our tongues
And so, with others’ words unfold
Let understanding come.
To own the limits of our speech
and boundaries of our sight
Let inescapable fire burn
both fear and things that bind.
Leaving us new crops to reap
New pilgrim paths to seek.
Unhurried Spirit, Breath of life
Again, make your heart speak.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 23 July 2024, written at Malseröd, Vittsjö, Sweden

1 Kings 19: 1-4 (5-7), 8-15a
Psalm 42
Galatians 3: 23-29
Luke 8: 26-39

—————

Who are you?

David, Elijah or cemetery man
In waterfall, desert or tomb.
Where coping ends and water pounds,
Parched ground or lifeless room.
I’ve had enough God, let me die
No one listens anyway.
Mob of doubts that rise within
for those bad days, where chained to tombs,
I dwell in lifeless dreams a waste
In hope that in those voices there
that shout and judge and preen and scream
Might be a voice of one who asks
And wants to know my name.
When all ground shakes and winds blow strong
And still we choose to climb
Deep calls to deep, those waters bless
On arid rock a cake is placed.
Does whisper disappoint my hope
With all the wow that wasn’t
When labels torn, no law required
All clothed in Christ are welcomed round
new exodus is now complete
we must not back to slavery turn
in search of laws renewed
Instead return with voice to bless
And ask them, who are you?

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 23 July 2024, written at Malseröd, Vittsjö, Sweden

2 Kings 2: 1-2, 6-14
Psalm 77: 1-2, 11-20
Galatians 5: 1, 13-25
Luke 9: 51-62

—————

The New Mantle

A new mantle is offered here
I wonder will it fit
Do I even want its weight
honour or burden, I decide.
To call down fire on those I hate
and busy myself in important tasks:
Or dare I leave the truant guide
in freedom walk that kingdom path.
Not back to Egypt, Torah bound
But Exodus retold.
Where mantle worn is free indeed
New covenant of gold.
Even amidst these earthen rules
of water, earth and fire;
of seasons, tides and stars that guide,
be Matariki bound.
Sarah’s stars for Hagar’s chains
Time to plant, hand to plough
choose the fruit with seeds to share.
Walking lightly on the earth.
Redeemed, remembering with thanks
Heaven no longer sky-high dream
This world will be made new again.
my kingdom garment, mantle to wear.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 24 July 2024, written at Rydebäck, Sweden

2 Kings 5: 1-14
Psalm 30
Galatians 6: (1-6) 7-16
Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20

—————

Muddy

Wanting a better river
No muddy Jordan creek
Wanting a bigger story
Important, glamorous, sleek
Not mere slave girl’s word of advice
No healing by distance here.
Seven unwanted dirty dips
Unlikely compassion for untouchable power
that prefers to stand on scorpions strong
earning our own reward
Tramping our own way to the kingdom
to make Satan fall.
But what if instead
We, sent as guests with kingdom near
rejoice in our belonging
name writ large in book of life
destroying evil in each step
and grief becomes the dance.
To cleansing muddy waters defer
Nought that I desire
Where smallest unseen people count
And seventh time matters much
It’s written in big letters
In humble soil on which we stand.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 28 July 2024, written at Pentrego Farm, Meifod, Wales

Amos 7: 7-17
Psalm 82
Colossians 1: 1-14
Luke 10: 25-37

—————

The Parable House

If you want that life eternal
take up residence in this house
and walking then from room to room
do not expect to understand.
Robbers’ rooms with stolen lives
Priestly rooms of self-protection.
Levitical rooms respectably furnished
note these walls and where you stand.
Then enters one from risky roads
An anyone, it matters not.
And powerless, is now abused,
naked, unnamed, left to die.
From Aaron’s room with oil in hand
Walk on by, as comfort calls.
Levite-worker, sing your song,
Clean hands hold wine as you head home.
Unexpected third arrival:
Heretic healer, rejected, despised,
with oil and wine, anoint this one
who needs your salve of kindness now.
While others hide where plumb lines fall:
Crooked walls for crooked lives.
No choices here of who might care
Avoid the walls that hide our fear, for we must do the same.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 28 July 2024, written at Pentrego Farm, Meifod, Wales

Amos 8: 1-12
Psalm 52
Colossians 1: 15-28
Luke 10: 38-42

—————

Sides

Now’s the time to pick a team
Winner here and loser there
Dragon-slayer or kitchen maid
Service over prayer.
Listen or preach, faith or works
This world or world to come
Nun or housewife, choose your side
2-dimensional femininely boxed
We thank Origen for that.
These many portals offer ways
Didactic choice to make
But maybe that’s not what is said
this cultural view of how to read.
For both these voices live within
And each will have their say
So much to do to welcome in
Jobs to do and tables set
Work weighed oft with anxious thought
Costly serving, life of bread.
But justice here must intervene
to pioneer new humanity.
For systems work for those who have
While poor are used and little fed.
So still the noise to listen well
to whispers gently spoken
And O the bliss of stillness found
At Jesus’ feet is holy ground.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, July 2024, written on the M1 en route from Wales to London

Hosea 1: 2-10
Psalm 85
Colossians 2: 6-15, (16-19)
Luke 11: 1-13

Abraham Lincoln said about his prayer life, “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.”

—————

Covenant

Holy man and harlot
The odds are stacked against you
Gossip and judgement target
no dinner invites now.
And sure enough its proven true
back to the street, familiar sin
old ways chosen over you.
We said it wouldn’t work…
But still he loves and still he seeks
A blessed covenant to keep.
Until he finds her, buys her free
15 shekels and barley sheaves
Whatever it takes, the price is paid.
To set her on her feet again
Sets us on our feet again
Takes us from our sin returned
And on our knees on holy ground
We learn of how to pray
Because we’re sought, forgiven, fed
There’s nowhere else to turn.
And God’s strange love continues on
Through trial and error found
Shekels, barley, cross of wood
To redemption we are bound.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 31 July 2024, written at Pax Lodge, London

Hosea 11: 1-11
Psalm 107: 1-9, 43
Colossians 3: 1-11
Luke 12: 13-21

—————

Barns

Illusions loom of bigger barns
Offering self-sufficient glee.
Reality, alone in echoed space
own voice on repeat
Well done self! over and over
In ultimate isolation
Rainy days may never come
and money rewires values
as need keeps knocking on barn door
Life slips through grasping fingers.
Independence ne’er complete
Workers or weather change the scene
You did not learn to walk alone
A bigger scene extends to eternity.
So myth busting community
with taste of bread and sip from cup
minimal yet infinite in the nourishing
must warn that greed will claim its rights
Death is not the tragedy here
But the foolish choices made
Life not meant to be lived as one
People and things to use and love
Fight the barns by blessings named
hard to find yet there each day.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 31 July 2024, written at Pax Lodge, London

—————

A painting by James Janknegt, preeminent painter of parables from Austin, Texas. The rich man in the house on the left, eating alone, having his life being demanded from him. At the door is a figure of a child with a hole where its heart should be - need knocking at the door. In contrast is a simple home alongside his in which life and food is being shared.

God gave us people to love and things to use, and sin, in short, is the confusion of these two things.
- St. Augustine

Isaiah 1: 1, 10-20
Psalm 33: 12-22
Hebrews 11: 1-3, 8-16
Luke 12: 32-40

—————

Acts of Faith

Into anxiety is God’s good pleasure
Stars scream in darkness
Sand whispers under crashing waves
Living the promise in unfulfillment.
Giving from empty hands.
Speaking without knowing the words.
Celebrating before fulfilment.
Struggling to see the unseen.
Welcoming promise from a distance.
Treasure leaves comfort
in an ongoing kingdom building yes
remove superficial garments hiding hard hearts
Prepared pockets and purses
for the master’s untimely arrival
servant-master upside down
Holy tension, at odds with the world,
sojourner refugee pilgrim
our final home is never here.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 3 August 2024, written at Pax Lodge, London

Isaiah 5: 1-11
Psalm 82
Hebrews 11: 29-12: 2
Luke 12: 49-56

—————

Faith Full

We celebrate past goodness
St Francis or Humanity Dick,
With fire of conviction
across time joining the dance.
Yet no simple equations here
of faith and good
No monopoly jail exemption
Their story woven into ours
Their faith incomplete
apart from ours
We all must run the race
staggered through time
Stumbling or soaring
Through thin places and thick
Open road or twisting path
Seas divided and falling walls
or torment and destitution
Good stories and bad stories
Divided and whole
A fertile vineyard cleared of stones
Effort made but fruit not seen
Aching for what did not grow.
Choice plants growing wild and bitter
Injustice weeds, they suffocate
Needing division and fire
in kingdom replanting.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 4 August 2024, written at Nightless Copse, Surrey

—————

The Trial of a man called Bill Burns in 1882, a costermonger –seller of fruit and vegetables from a handcart in the street. Burns had been found beating his donkey. The prosecution was brought by a Christian man named Richard Martin, an Irish politician, also named Humanity Dick, by King George IV. Everyone remembered this case because Richard Martin didn’t just talk about the case –he brought the actual donkey into the very formal English courtroom! This trial was the first time in recorded history that someone was legally punished for cruelty to animals. It then led to the Reverend Arthur Broome arranging a meeting on the 18th of June in 1824, in a London coffee house, of people who believed serving God included looking after his creatures. They formed the SPCA and one of those founding members was William Wilberforce (image).

Jeremiah 1: 4-10
Psalm 103: 1-8
Hebrews 12: 18-29
Luke 13: 10-17

—————

Seen

She stooped in pain
Unseen
Untouched
Attending worship
Yet not included
Able only to look down
No stars for her
Only dust in sight
Unseeing and unseen

Yet seen by him
Who sees us too
Who breaks the walls
And pays the cost of blame
Invisibility diminished

She is touched -and we-
And in that touch made whole
Whole enough to look up
Whole enough to be seen
Recognised
Belonging
Freed for gratitude
Called to look up
To see the stars
And give thanks.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, written for KPC service 25 August 2019

—————

Make rough places smooth
Level our path
Privilege of heavy call
No excuses
Let fear fall from our pockets
So we don’t sell our birthright
For present comforts
we see and smell and taste
In fire of fear and trembling ground
Mountain high, where rules rule
And golden calves are made below
Or heavenly city, where fear is quelled
Known before being
Healed before seeking
Jesus over Abel shed
Justice and love
In Haggai’s minor dwelling be
Simple worship, breaking bread
Unshakable grace
Not based on sight

Doctor stories of healing
Woman stooped to standing tall
New perspective given
Praise the Lord my soul!
From double victim sick and judged
To doubly free, well and whole
Compassion over stooping rules
Struggles seen

© Rev Nikki Watkin, written July 2024

Jeremiah 2: 4-13
Psalm 112
Hebrews 13: 1-8, 15-16
Luke 14: 1, 7-14

—————

Forgotten Tables

As our communities
forget the table
with fast foods and fast lives
screen focused
cloud based
losing the art of passing a dish
of offering more
noticing an empty plate
or an empty heart
losing the very table
to which we can
pull up another chair
we have lost so much more
than a simple table
a piece of wood
on four supports
hospitality
generosity
thankfulness
celebration
we have lost the gift received
and the gift given
Christ’s table
Draws us back
Gift given
Gift received
banquet in bread
covenant in wine
Conversation in company
Invited
not to assume
an earned favoured seat
but humbly
to take and eat
to offer and share
to pull up a chair
and then pull up another

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 31 August 2019, written in Auckland

Jeremiah 18: 1-11
Psalm 139: 1-6, 13-18
Philemon 1: 1 - 2: 1
Luke 14: 25-33

—————

ReForm

Artisan Potter
Remolding the spoilt and useless
Strangers in exile
reshaped by divine hands
a vision of what will be
Not of our own work
we who are formed from dust
yet now re-forming
in uncomfortable pounding
and patient pushing.
Our role, obedience
willing pliancy.
Offering wallet, time and soul
Do the math
-folly or tower?
Your life being built.
Mortal hands emptied,
lift that untouchable wood:
where distortion and failure,
through obscurity,
in seventh chances
become beautiful reformation.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 6 August 2024, written in Whitstable, UK

Jeremiah 4: 11-12, 22-28
Psalm 14
1 Timothy 1: 12-17
Luke 15: 1-10

—————

Lost

Foolish lostness
declares wellness
“I know the way to go”
Yet shepherd-like Watcher
notices inattentive wandering
Sought and found -oh the delight
Sound the bugle!
Innocent lostness
left behind, forgotten
“Where am I?”
Yet home-making Seeker
Sees your hidden value
Sought and found -oh the delight
Sound the bugle!
We all lose, rich or poor.
We all get lost, young or old,
Nibbling our way into trouble
Slipping through fingers, into dust
Losing matters, as does finding
The endless search parties
for founding reassurance.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 7 August 2024, written in Whitstable, Canterbury, UK

Jeremiah 8: 18 - 9: 1
Psalm 79: 1-9
1 Timothy 2: 1-7
Luke 16: 1-13

—————

Master’s Wealth

Shrewdly leave behind
this parable of confusion
Everyone is wicked there
the writing’s on the wall
Time to skip to the next page
Or face your actions
Steward of unrighteousness
Live for self in lucrative move
Adept at manipulation
-aren’t we all?
Heart sick at the thought.
Who is weeping now?
Shrewd with worldly workings:
with unrighteous wealth
that underlies relationship
Struggles to kingdom build
If children of light, be generous
with our master’s goods
Dare to lavish undeserving grace
that wasn’t ever ours?
Other masters denying
use all we have and are
Switching sides from rich to poor
Astute in shrewd generosity.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 7 August 2024, written in Whitstable, Canterbury, UK

Brian McLaren connects this parable with the previous three in Luke – told in response to the Pharisees’ muttering about Jesus’ dining with sinners. The lost sheep, the lost coin, the prodigal son and the shrewd manager... Jesus is pointing to the Pharisees’ issue with money as an underlying factor in the way they treat sinners. The context is Roman occupation of Israel Palestine – Roman exploiting of the natural resources and the peoples’ labour through taxation. The wealthy lived in the south in Judea, where Jerusalem was, and the poor – generally poor farmers, lived in the north where Galilee was. The rich needed wine, olive oil and wheat from the farmlands of Galilee – so to stop the south gaining from their land, Rome taxed the farmers so heavily, when they couldn’t pay, they took their land – leaving them to farm, but taking the produce. So the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. When the rich of the south came to get their portion – it wasn’t safe for them so they sent mid-level managers to collect their dues.

Jeremiah 32: 1-3a, 6-15
Psalm 91: 1-6, 14-16
1 Timothy 6: 6-19
Luke 16: 19-31

—————

Real Estate

Prisoner prophet
with weeping words
While real estate at lowest ebb
and gold or jewels preferred.
Buys the land and claims the hope
of remnant return, before they’re sent.
Investing in future, no gain for now.
Yet claiming what cannot be seen.
And we in purpled entitlement
choosing investment now
Immediate gratification gain
building a gulf to hell.
A gap too large between us: from apathy to just
Yet still might we be ones who weep
And see the man lying at the gate
and purchase him land of hope.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 7 August 2024, written in Whitstable, Canterbury, UK

Lamentations 1: 1-6
Psalm 37: 1-9 or Psalm 137
2 Timothy 1: 1-14
Luke 17: 5-10

—————

Faith

I took a seed of mulberry
And held it in my hand
I waded deep: the waters lapped
As I went from the sand
Too ludicrous, I know you think
When waters dare to crash
No seed will ever grow in this
It seems a little rash.
Yet in those places danger lurks
And empty cities watch and weep
A mulberry of faith might grow
And blossom in the deep.
No thanks to gain, no merit earned
We plant improbably
But faithfully we lift our spade
And plant trees in the sea.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 8 August 2024, written in Hounslow, London

Jeremiah 29: 1, 4-7
Psalm 66: 1-12
2 Timothy 2: 8-15
Luke 27: 11-19

—————

Gratitude

If we but choose
the discipline of gratitude
Finding something
however small
to give thanks for
Each new sunrise
every darkening night
Then might we remember
When wonder comes in all its glory
Leading us to selfward delight
Not forgetting those who gifted us
May we turn
Lest we forget
to utter thanks

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 12 October 2019, written in Auckland, NZ

—————

Far Country Living

When I find myself to be
across the border, where opposed
A place that does not feel like home
Vulnerable and so exposed.
My expectations lie unmet
in this far country exile land.
Yet stranger offers healing there
I once dis-eased bent over, stand
Invites from pitied grumbles mine
with thankful seeds to plant
flowers where I did not choose
and still don’t want a part.
Bouquets that can warm the heart
of strangers there beside me.
Re-ground me in the borderlands
with their well-fare within me.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 8 August 2024, written in Hounslow, London

Jeremiah 31: 27-34
Psalm 119: 97-104
2 Timothy 3: 14 - 4: 5
Luke 18: 1-8

—————

Justice

Unjust judge
Afraid of none
Lives for self
Ignoring some
Widow unrelenting, brave
Won’t let go ‘til justice done
Despite failed care, day after day
Requests her favour won
How much more will God provide
while poor still cry and pained still weep
Keep beating on injustice’ door
change within must go so deep
Not bound to wrists but bound by heart
and so to open our front door
and not let go till hope is found
and justice rules forevermore.

© Rev Nikki Watkin, 8 August 2024, written in Hounslow, London

“Persistence is a key, not because you have to beat a path to God’s door before God will open it, but because until you beat the path, maybe there’s no way of getting to your door.” – Frederick Buechner

Coming soon…

Coming soon…

Coming soon…

Coming soon…