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- Get in the Ark!
- A Way will Open
- Crazy like Noah?
- Lip Service
- Sweep the Leaven
- Rise Up and Come Away
- Bread with Stones
- Set a Place for Elijah
- What of the Night?
- If This Hope, Whose Image?
- The Milkshake Diet, Follow the Leader
- What She's Really Like
- They See the Blue, Find the Flaw
- Choosing their Delusions
- Half-hot
- A Breath and a Shadow
- In Glass Houses
- Thief or Bridegroom?
- Sing a New Song
The storm is coming; the ark is Jesus.
Get in the Ark!
(Gen. 7:1; Heb.11:7; II Peter 3:3-6)
I've been preaching for so many years,
The sermon's growing stale.
I warned and pleaded patiently
Yet all my efforts failed.
I'm taunted, mocked and greeted by:
"It's Mr. Gloom and Doom!"
I answer with, "Get in the ark;
We still have lots of room."
"No, thanks. We'll party here outside;
And watch for that stuff that you call rain."
(imagine: water from the sky;
This Noah guy's deranged!)
Why do I bother warning them?
Why do I even try?
I hammer, preach, and build and call;
I work and watch and cry.
They know my sermon now by heart:
"It's going to rain; Get in the ark."
I warn: "This is no joke, no lark;
It soon will flood; Get in the ark.
I hear them laughing as they walk away,
"well, it ain't gonna rain today"
lori fiechter, 4-29-99
A Way will Open
(Isaiah 30:21; Joshua 3:8,15)
I've had so many doors shut in my face
but I'm still trusting You;
still trusting You.
I'm holding on, but only by Your grace
working while I wait,
While I wait
For a Way to open;
A door that You have chosen
Lord, even a window would do.
With Your help I know that I could squeeze through.
But I need to know for certain
that I am in Your will;
Lord, I'm standing still,
I know a way will open.
I want to hear that word behind me, Lord
saying, "this is the way,
walk in it today"
Even if the path is not what I'd planned
Give me grace to take that step,
to step by faith
Into the Way you've chosen;
The door that You have opened.
Down to Jordan's banks, if that's what I must do.
I'll step in and get my feet wet for You
You have brought me to this place,
Now I will watch You work.
It's still hard to think
that You could work through me;
Maybe what I really need to pray is:
Make me open to Your way.
Lori Fiechter, 4-21-99
(song)
Business as usual amid
War clouds and turmoil;
Weddings and babies and
Stock market gains;
buying and selling,
planning summer vacations;
baseball and gardening and
gentle spring rains.
Am I the only one who sees
a thunderhead in the distance?
No one else seems to notice it;
No one else seems to care.
I yell, "Climb the watchtower
and you'll see it too!"
Most ignore me; a few point their fingers
and stare. They mutter:
"another crazy, apocalyptic fanatic"
I watch them shake their heads,
I see their eyes roll.
And I wonder, are they right?
Perhaps I am seeing things;
Or maybe, I'm crazy like Noah.
Lori Fiechter
4-1-99
I was reading in Isaiah 29 when verse 13 pulled me up short:
| "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people
draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their
heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:" |
Your name is on my lips,
my bumper sticker, and my T-shirt;
I follow all the rules;
I glibly quote Your word by heart.
But that heart is far removed
and I keep You at a distance:
I don't really want to know You,
But I want to look the part.
lori fiechter
4-5-99
Observant Jewish housewives are spending this week
thoroughly cleaning their houses. But this is no secular spring-cleaning; this cleaning is
to rid the house of every trace of leaven for Passover.
(Leaven in the Scripture is consistently presented as a type of sin--
because leaven corrupts by puffing up. See I Corinthians 5)
Oh, that we would be as determined to rid our spiritual house--His temple--of leaven this
week.
Sweep
the Leaven
Sweep the leaven, Lord;
I tried to sweep it up myself
but there are corners I can't reach.
Sweep the leaven, Lord;
Cleanse thou me from secret faults
and hidden sins I cannot see.
(There is evil I don't recognize
Because it seems so sweet.)
Sweep the leaven, Lord;
Shine Your light into every darkened nook;
Let no evil reign in me.
I want a clean heart where You can live;
Where truth and wisdom dwell;
I give up all I have to give;
I want to know You well;
Sweep the leaven, Lord.
*Psalms 19:12,13 *Psalms 51: 6,10 *I Corinthians 4:5
lori fiechter
3-29-99
Rise Up and Come Away
( Song of Solomon 2:8-13 and 5:2-7)
A voice at the window, a face through the lattice:
"Rise up, and come away."
The air smells of springtime;
of flowers and grapevines;
"Rise up, and come away."
The turtledoves coo and the birds join in singing;
The winter is past and the rains are all gone.
But I'm not quite ready;
I don't look presentable;
I need just a minute--hold on.
My face splashed with water,
my teeth brushed and hair combed;
Now, I am ready to go.
I open the door and--
There's no one outside.
I call, but hear only an echo.
I run into the darkness to find my Beloved;
I wander and lose my way.
Bruised and mistreated, I bitterly ponder:
Why wasn't I ready?
Why wasn't I ready?
Why wasn't I ready
When I first heard Him calling me:
"Rise up and come away."
Lori fiechter
3-29-99
I read that stones were once commonly found
in bread, before the modern advances in cleaning and sifting grain. Hard on the teeth, no
doubt. It made me think of this:
Bread with Stones
Bread with stones:
Hard bits of rock
that have not yielded to His love.
Looking like lovely loaves
But beneath the crust,
A bite of gravel:
Flinty pebbles that are still
Disobedient, prideful,
prejudiced,
stubborn, or bitter.
We could ask God to
pluck them out
But the stones are
now a part of us
And we fear the pain of being torn.
So we keep them safely hidden inside.
(Be careful where you slice)
Lori fiechter
3-25-99
"Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn,
and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up."
--Hosea 6:1
Set
a Place for Elijah
(Malachi 4)
Set a place for Elijah
at the seder tonight;
This Passover could mark the year
When he will return, preparing the way
And Messiah at last will appear.
Elijah will come,
restoring all things,
Turning the hearts
of the children and fathers
Elijah, we're waiting;
We'll leave the door open for you;
Hoping that this year,
you will walk through.
Elijah, we've saved you a chair:
The empty one, right over there.
Lori fiechter, 3-21-99
What of
the Night?
Watchman, what of the night?
How long till morning comes?
(Is it not midnight yet?)
Watchman, what do you see?
Visions multiply,
but the night is still here.
How long?
We know another darker night
creeps up behind the morning
but we await deliverance at midnight:
final salvation and freedom.
We are ready:
belted, shod, with staves in hand.
But the night is still so long.
Watchman, look again
and tell us what you see.
Warn us, warm us, exhort--
do you see the day approaching?
The night has had its songs,
but also its sorrows;
We await the joy that morning brings.
(surely, the night is far spent?)
Watchman, what of the night?
How long till morning comes?
(Isaiah 21:11,12; Exodus 12:11; Psalms 130:6, Hebrews
10:25)
Lori fiechter,
3-26-99
If This
Hope
(I John 2:28-3:3; Ezekiel 33:31,32)
If this hope won't make us holy,
separated, as His bride;
If this hope can't seem
to stir us to obey;
Then this hope is just emotion,
just an ear-tickling sensation;
Not an anchor,
But a lovely song with words
that quickly fade.
Lori fiechter, 3-21-99
Molded in His image,
Or trying to mold Him into mine?
Accepting all His attributes
Or just picking out my favorite kind?
(as if the Bible were a word buffet;
I leave the tougher meat behind)
"This is my God" I boldly say;
But am I His and His alone?
Or are there idols in my heart
and places I refuse to go?
I pledge great love
but won't obey;
And yes, of course I'll walk with Him--
If He is heading my way.
Lori Fiechter
3-22-99
The Milkshake Diet
(I Corinthians 3:1-2; Hebrews 5:12)
Filling up on fluff and froth;
lite fare.
Wondering why I never grow,
Filling up on foam.
I have forgotten how to chew
So only milk and froth will do.
I would try meat--
If only I could find my teeth.
lori fiechter
3-15-99
(Isaiah 40:11, Psalms 121, John 10)
Follow the Leader--
No, not me!
I'm just another sheep.
(sometimes silly, often foolish)
Follow the One I follow;
Follow the Shepherd.
He'll never fail,
He will not slumber or sleep,
He'll keep His sheep.
lori fiechter, 3-15-99
What She's
Really Like
You've met her now, so tell me--
What is she really like?
Ah , what is anyone "really like"?
What am I "really like"?
I imagine that I am "really like"
the way I am on my best days
but fear the real me reveals itself
on my worst days.
What is anyone "really like"?
Only God knows.
Only God cuts his laser
straight through to our heart,
piercing all those heavy,
brocaded layers of facade.
He alone sees our motives and intents;
our soul lies bare and vulnerable before Him.
That thought is terrifying and yet comforting--
For Him to know us so well
and love us, anyway.
Lori fiechter, 2-12-99
(I was thinking how the Bible is full of both encouragement and warnings and how we need them both--to stave off complacency as well as despair)
I know of some who see the blue
When all the sky is gray:
They do not use their natural eyes,
But see through eyes of faith.
And there are those who smell the storm
When all is fair and bright.
We need them both to see the truth
For each of them is right.
Lori fiechter, 2-8-99
Find the Flaw
I glance around and see flawed
human beings--
obviously and patently flawed humanity.
(Especially that one!)
But then, I look in the mirror and...
Wait--I WAS looking in the mirror!
Now that I think about it,
perhaps they don't look so flawed
after all; they look...normal:
a better-than-average
kind of normal.
I guess I never learn.
lori fiechter, 2-8-99
(Isaiah 66)
Because they have chosen their own way,
He will choose their delusions;
Because they have trusted in
deception and lies
And believed the magician's illusions.
When He called, they were busy
And stopped up their ears;
Now He'll bring upon them their fears.
In illusions they trusted,
With their consciences seared;
Listening only to teachers
Who would tickle their ears.
But when they say,
"Peace and Safety"
Then--destruction and trouble:
Just how thin is that skin
on prosperity's bubble?
When He called, they were busy
And stopped up their ears;
He will soon bring upon them their fears.
lori fiechter, 2-3-99
We are full; we are rich;
There is nothing that we need.
And thus, we mock your sober words;
Your warnings, we won't heed.
Profit is our real god
So although we claim to hear,
We are sons who won't obey;
And servants who don't fear.
Of course, we trust in lying words--
They're the only ones we hear!
Rev. 3:17, II Peter 3:3
Malachi 1:6, Jeremiah 7:4
lori fiechter, 2-8-99
A Breath and a
Shadow
Life is a journey,
A struggle, a race;
A gift from the Father's hand.
A sweet-sour sauce of
Successes and failures;
A puzzle with pieces
We don't understand.
A small sliver of time
on this side of eternity;
A thread and a shadow,
A heartbeat; a breath.
All preparation
for what will come after
that dreaded, inevitable
appointment with Death.
Lori fiechter, 1-27-99
In Glass Houses
Christians in glass houses
Shouldn't throw stones
(at each other)
Those outside shake their heads
in disgust.
For they are watching,
Always watching.
What is it that they see?
--fodder for excuses or
reasons to believe?
Lori fiechter, 1-27-99
Are you impatient as you wait for the Lord to
return? That may be a good sign (yes, I know--patience is a virtue--but hear me out.) I
was just thinking, it is easy to be patient about an upcoming event that we don't care
about (or even dread) I mean, do you impatiently wait for the opportunity to pay your
taxes? Do you eagerly anticipate your next dental check-up?
A little bit of impatience on the part of the Bride shows eagerness; I would think that
would be pleasing to the Bridegroom! This is a poem to check my own attitude. (See Matthew
25; I Thessalonians 5)
Are you waiting for a thief
or for a bridegroom?
Are you watching with alarm
or eager hope?
It is easy to be patient
if you don't care either way;
Do you really want the Lord
to come today?
Chorus:
Do you really want the Lord to come today?
Or is this world the place you'd rather stay?
When He comes, will He take you by surprise?
Will you be clinging to this earth
while He is calling from the skies?
lori fiechter, 1-21-99
(Psalms 96, Isaiah 49:13 & 55:12)
We've flown off the final page.
Just a few more details
that His word may be fulfilled.
At the very final hour,
See our King return in power:
He has come this time to reign;
The earth will never be the same.
*Listen to the field rejoice;
Listen to the trees clap their hands;
Listen to the mountains sing--
Let the whole earth be glad!
See our holy, righteous King,
Ruler over everything;
Let the earth and heavens ring;
Let the whole earth be glad!
...It's the end of the age;
We've flown off the final page.
Just a few more details
that His word may be fulfilled.
At the very final hour,
See our King return in power:
He has come this time to reign;
The earth will never be the same.
lori fiechter,
1-7-99