Sorry about the lateness. Last weekend I was at the 22nd Annual Celtic Prayer Retreat put on by Mustard Seed Associates. It was a truly life giving time of connection and reflection with a liturgy centered on the story of St. Brendan, an Irish monk who jumped into a small boat with a few brothers and let the wind take them where God willed. During the liturgy there was a time of Lectio Divina centered around two scriptures Isaiah 42:5-10 and Revelation 21:1-4 I was inspired to write a poem out of each lectio. To honor the lectio style of reflection I will share the scriptures immediately followed by my poems below.
Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols. See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth! Let the sea roar and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.
Where is freedom?
Where is freedom?
The captives are still bound
Addictions still rule us
Our gods are still not you
We stay lost rather than found
We choose the familiar cage
Over an unfamiliar world
Our captivity is maintained
By shining screens which change
To match a growing desire
Which can never be filled
With things that break and fail
We need freedom from our captivity
To every thing that is not you
We need a peace from incessant noise
Help us find silences filled with you
There is freedom
Where is freedom? by Gilbert George is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at https://extrovertedquaker.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/freedom-shout/.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://extrovertedquaker.wordpress.com.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
The Shout
Someday I will hear the shout
God is home
And home is here
The tears have come
And our Daddy has held
Us until the storm of
Mourning has passed
All that we knew has
Died and like the seed
Has sprouted to new life
Beyond pain, beyond death
Beyond tears, beyond agonies
Of loss, the emptiness has fled
And now we are filled, overflowing
With home, with you, with us
The Shout by Gilbert George is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at https://extrovertedquaker.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/freedom-shout/.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at https://extrovertedquaker.wordpress.com.
An Extroverted Quaker 
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Thanks for sharing this, Gil – it was great to have you and the family with us at the retreat, and to hear God’s revelation through your voice. Peace!
Thanks for the work you put in in! The retreat was a blessing.
Gil, Thank you again for making the trip up to the retreat. It was a blessing to spend time with you and your lovley family. Thank you also for the poems.
It was fun to see you again. The poems are what came to me in the silence of the lectio and speak mainly to where the scriptures and Spirit found my heart.