82. The Book of Common Courage

The Book of Common Courage. K.J. Ramsey. 2023. [January] 224 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Lord Jesus,

who stepped down

onto the muddy banks

of the Jordan where

your cousin John

pulled you under

to be drenched in the baptism

of a repentance God surely didn't need

so that every waterlogged ear

could be freed to rise to the sound

of the Voice of Love coming down:

we want to hear

what you heard

that strange day.

The Book of Common Courage is a devotional written in verse. Are these verses poems? Maybe. Maybe not. Probably. Think of the 'verse' in a verse novel, this is similar. There are verses and verses. (Pun intended. Each bit of poetry is introduced with Scripture verses.) Some seem to be intended to be prayers. Though not all of them have that prayer vibe going. (Though to be fair there's always more than one style of prayer.) What keeps some of them from being prayer--in my own subjective opinion--is that they have more of a vibe of being an uplifting message from Jesus to you. Christ does speak to us in his Word. I think Genesis to Revelation, you can certainly hear God speaking--plainly, clearly. With the indwelling Holy Spirit as both your guide and the author, without a doubt the Word of God is speaking. 

This is definitely a devotional more than a prayer book. Though devotional books can contain plenty of prayers. Is this one meaty enough? That's a subjective question. It isn't as meaty theologically as I personally want in a devotional book. However, I think the goal is emotional and spiritual health. 

Quotes:

I shall not want

except that I do.

I want a Shepherd

who comes through.

I want my stress

to be wrapped

in God's arms.

I want my life

to be healed

from all harm.

Perhaps it would

be better to say

I lack nothing

because Love

will stay.

Jesus,

You say the words

we hate hearing,

but you never

demanded anything

you were not willing

to live first.

Tune our ears

to recognize the syllables of love

thrumming through the sentences

that make us shudder

For your resurrection

reminds us

that suffering

can shift us

into a better story.

Amen.

Jesus, the Promised Shepherd,

you who are always making a way

for your people to rest

when other shepherds demand

performances and success:

reveal the green pastures

where we can heal

that we, the plundered,

may become those

who thunder

kindness as the sound

of a Shepherd's kingdom

where mercy 

abounds.

Amen.

Blessed are the broken,

those shattered in spirit by those

who should have made them strong.

Blessed are the grieved

in a world that pretends

positivity will take away pain.

For while the kingdoms 

of the able and affluent

corral and crush,

the kingdom of God

is a seed 

split open.

May you know 

your breaking

is a broadening.

May you trust

your ache

is an awakening>

The kingdom of God

is a seed split open

and the kingdom 

belongs to you.

If God keeps track of your tears

and holds them safe in a bottle,

then perhaps

your pain is precious.

Perhaps

your tears

tell truth.

Perhaps 

you don't have to stop

the flow of what God

wants to hold as a treasure.

---crying is holy. 

Prayer 

is not

constant 

positivity.

It is honesty

held in our hands

and hurled at the sky.

When David dared

to curse at the air

and Christ cried

from the cross

that the Father

was not there,

they both pierced a hole

in the 

universe's clouds,

and now Love's ears

are tuned to the sound

of candor and cries

as much as praise

rings out.

The world has forever

been widened

for worship.

Our worst words

of self-pity and 

loudest wails

now have become

welcomed prayers.

Christ's prayer

pierced

the veil. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible