TASTERS…

Brief extracts from Called to praise by Donald Hilton

Published by Christian Education 298p. £18.95

Available from www.books.urc2.org.uk

Long-prepared

When Luke was opening the heavens to let the angels sing,

Matthew was planning a journey for eastern, travelling kings.

Isaiah had long since done his bit and preached of God’s world-wide reign,

so that visitors three from the far-flung east were simply joining the train.

And Simeon wasn’t a side line; he’d watched and lingered for years,

whilst Anna, long since widowed, had waited with fasting and tears.

So Advent is nothing unusual; its been in the air for ages,

so that we can now join in the shepherd’s song and the pilgrim search of the sages

in our own time and place.

Donald Hilton

from Called to praise

Priorities

It’s strange that Paul Had no story portrayed

did not recall, a virginal maid?

or failed to mention Was the Magnificat song

stable or stall; much later relayed?

ignored angels’ wings Or was it Paul’s choice

and journeying kings to focus his voice

yet wrote at such length not on parable tale

about many more things. but on argument’s force?

Surely, Remember,

if in only one letter, Paul’s letters were early dated;

he could have done better. when Gospels four were still awaited.

Donald Hilton

from Called to praise

Searching faith

The star did not continually shine.

We lost it

often

when mists put out the light,

obscuring the distant pass between the mountain peaks.

Fog we feared.

We walked like blind men,

or stood, indecisive in our waiting,

scanning the nearby ground

for the blurred footprints of previous travellers

in the search for truth.

Strangely, the daytime was the worst

when all seemed clearer to the casual eye,

and others,

cynical of our queries and consulting,

strode firmly by,

following some predetermined goal

along a well-worn path that asked no questions.

Undeterred by changing scenes,

new vista possibilities could be ignored

and obstacles soon brushed aside.

They reached some place of comfort ease,

without the pain of search.

Little consolation to know

that it was ever thus:

that faith is patient

waiting, godly

indecision, search

‘not knowing’, more honest than blind certainty,

and the true goal little known until it’s found.

But always, as we journeyed,

we heard and felt, as from a distant land,

the cry of glory

beneath a stable roof.

Donald Hilton

from Called to praise