My Psaltery: miscellaneous

98.    “East of Eden”

 

East of Eden toiling long

In the earth from which we come

Hiding, seeking, wandering far

Sin-entangled, dark in heart

Morning Star of holy light

Cleaved into our darkest night

Swaddled and be-mangered there

Lowly birth, the clay-formed Heir

Father God’s begotten Son

With His blood redeems as one

All the humble, yielding hearts

Westward home to ne’er depart

 

22Dec2020 cja

 

103.    “Ode to God”

 

All to You

All to You

My dog, my self, my camp

The hours, the days, the years

Me in You, and You in me

I will not let You go

You hold me even surer

All to You

All to You

Your love will not let me go

Your gentleness makes me great

All glory and honor and power and praise

Belong to You

 

14Feb2021 cja

 

 

105.    “Tunstall Forest”

 

I come from love

I go to love

It’s the dash across that hurts

 

Ducking for cover

From tree to tree

Fleeing pursuit at my back

 

I mourn love passed

I hope love promised

The cavalry charges the highroad

Climbing through bracken

Bereft and stunned

Puzzling the motives of hearts

 

To Holywood I fly

With love at my side

Silent, but never forsaken

 

20Feb2021 cja

 

 

108.    “Ode to the Listening Ear”

 

It catches me, fully received

There’s room for both; a two way street

The speed at which the words do flow

Must needs abate for depth to grow

But when the pace is tampered down

New pleasant rooms can then be found

As with the table where we eat

One should not starve while others feast

More than a ravenous appetite

The listening ear serves with delight

In friendship we are satisfied

Each heart is heard and edified

 

21Feb2021 cja

 

 

116.    “This Do In Remembrance Of Me”

 

Do this in remembrance

Remember Me, fail not

So many things to look at here

Thus easily forgot

When I fail You bring me ‘round

When I “squirrel” You call

Clear my mind

Clean my heart

Turn my toes to Home

 

25Feb2021 cja

 

 

123.    “My Bell”

 

I love to hear the bell ring

The Chapel of Saint Louis

A call to prayer and worship

The sound of hope renewing

Unashamed it rings aloud

Midst flats and shops and streets

Ding-ga-ding it heralds

The Sabbath of the King

All who will may enter

Quite easy turns the latch

The lock that barred is broken

Our sin has been dispatched

So enter now His Rest

The bell, it rings for you

Midst shops and streets and hub-bub

The clapper hammers truth

 

7March 2021 cja

 

 

126.    “Boules Among the Roots”

 

Boules among the roots

Greatly complicated

Surely such pursuits

Are worthless of one’s time

But there betwixt the toes

Of some old, shady chestnut

They laugh and joust their foes

All challenges sublime

 

30March2021 cja

 

 

129.    “My Happies”

 

Yellow roses

Doggie noses

Pencil tip on paper clean

Thread and needle

Cook a little

Cup of coffee, toast and cheese

Hope renewing

Dreams abrewing

Jesus Christ alive in me

 

8April2021 cja

 

 

130.    “The Little Belfry”

 

I have a little belfry

It lives across the way

I see it through my window

As I sit and pray

When Sundays come, I hear it

Ring-ga-ding-ga-ding

My heart’s bells ring out wildly

In hope of Christ our King

 

10April2021 cja

 

  

My Psaltery: autumn collection

 

90.

 

Wellies on and dog on-leash

Striding down the mud-pocked path

River flowing, twilight chasing

Through the raining, treed arcade

Raspy golds and ardent plums

Salute and twirl with open hearts

Oranges an octave high

Hold their note beyond the tune

Husky browns with stoic grace

Let go, earthed and resolute

Fainting greens give up the ghost

Bid Adieu and wave goodbye

And then the ruddy ruby ones

Like Celtic mothers, unafraid

Sing out their wandering children’s names

Above the howling roaring winds

To come home

      Of which, I am one

 

1Nov2020

cja

 

 

 

 

91.

 

Leaves may drop

But they don’t drown

Over weirs and muck they ride

Floating free

Bob topside

Faces moist and fearless rise

Gregarious

They congregate

Touching tips they form their train

Prismatic

Irregular

Mille-de-fleur in dark’ning rain

River flows

Strong wind blows

Their numbers rise, so do I

No fear

No doubt

Just grace

 

 

7Nov2020

cja

My Psaltery: Christmas

 

Begotten

 

The days were dark

The times were grim

Did God still see

And think of them?

 

Israel held down

In Rome’s strong fist

A census tax

None could resist

 

A carpenter

And his betrothed

Long walked along

The southern road

 

It wasn’t how

They planned it’d be

A boy, a girl

A canopy

 

But Heaven tore

The earthly veil

And came with love

That would prevail

 

Prevail against

Their captor’s chains

Break off their fears

Remove death’s stains

 

He cared for her

Who bore the One

The LORD’s only

Begotten Son

 

 

 

13Nov2020

Crystal Alexander

See Matthew 1:20-21

 

 

 

 

“But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife:  for that which is conceived [“begotten”] in her is of the Holy Ghost.  And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS [“Savior”]:  for he shall save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 1:20-21

 

*The words in brackets are from the side-notes in my grandma’s KJV Bible.

My Psaltery: be brave, my heart

 89.

 It feels like a tick

Not a tock, just a tick

It sounds like a timer

Deep inside

 

But the fear is a trick

Not a truth, just a trick

It’s the fear that’s afraid

And is begging a ride

 

Cast away with a kick

Not a whine, just a kick

Perfect Love now fills

The house I abide

 

Faith leads the parade

Feelings learns to be staid

Fright, black-eyed and gob-smacked

Now ditched and defied

 

14 Oct 2020

cja

 

 

 

 

My Psaltery: spiritual struggle

 37.

 You who think you’re in control

Wag the dog and rule the world

All these closed-door schemings set

Off the radar, behind the web

God of Heaven laughs at you

Mocks your plans and scoffs your crew

Black masks will not hide black hearts

Clear as day He knows your arts

How you planned to seize the power

Set the clock and chose the hour

So you think you’ve struck a match

Gonna burn the world and watch

Holy Lord enthroned on high

Sees your folly, knows your lies

The match is struck, yes it is true

The ones who’ll blaze, though, will be you

Repent, oh sinners, turn and live

Kiss the Son and He’ll forgive

Therefore rulers and earth’s kings

Serve the Lord with trembling

Humbly heed the Lord’s decree

Or be dashed like pottery

All these nations that you claim

Raising them for selfish gain

            BELONG TO CHRIST

Lord we need a new beginning

Spirit breathe on fires waning

Lamps now filled are burning bright

Come Lord Jesus, set things right

 

2 June 2020

cja

 

 

40.

 It’s the thin end of the wedge

Again

It’s the crowbar at the boards

Trying to loosen me

 

It’s the entrance of a lie

Again

Give some ground, learn their song

Tring to put me to sleep

 

It’s a challenge to the truth

Again

“Sit down in our silver chair”

Trying to ensnare me

 

It’s devil’s shell-game heist

Again

Focus hard, but don’t see

Trying to kill me

 

            ENOUGH

 

I will not play your game

I will not take your hand

I will not let you in

You can’t camp on my land

 

I will not give an inch

You cannot write my story

God’s seated on my throne

To whom I’ll give all glory

 

God’s Holy Spirit comes

Baptizes us with pow’r

To witness to the world

In this their darkest hour

 

This Baptizing is real

And physically shown

By speech other tongued

That we’ve never known

 

The early church lived it

The Holy Spirit gave it

I have received it

And I won’t deny it

 

            PREACH THE WORD

7 June 2020

cja

 

41.

 Baptize with fire, God

Blaze like no other

Send Holy Cyclone

And rattle our shutters

 

Burn with your cleansing

Purifying Light

Baptize Your people

With Holy Ghost might

 

Take hold our tongues

Those wicked wee flames

We ask for forgiveness

And sanctified Spring

 

Rebellious and fractured

Thus scattered at Babel

Pentecost blazed

Redeemed the babble

 

Languages foreign

You put on our tongues

Holy Ghost unction

Pentecost sprung

 

No teacher taught us

These words of new praise

Proclaiming Your glory

Wind-swept and ablaze

 

Come Holy Spirit

Ignite us again

Gather the kindling

Breathe on the flame

 

Build up Your bonfire

Stack up the timber

Pour out Your Spirit

Revive the low embers

 

The hearth of our hearts

We’ve left unattended

Busy and bustling

The world we befriended

 

It’s time to return

To God’s fireplace

To tarry and pray

For the Pentecost grace

8 June 2020

cja

 

 

 

My Psaltery: improved sight

 #83.   "Crocodile"

 

Crocodile with jaws agape

Big enough to eat me whole

Stiff with fear I daren’t move

Crouched and shaking for my soul

 

Back behind me, from a distance

Comes a tiny, cold hard laugh

I would turn and see who’s leering

But for danger in my path

 

Minutes tick, and hours too

My heart is stiff and sore and numb

Merciless the laughter titters

My temper starts to come undone

 

Quick as a wink I tear my eyes

From Death’s dread teeth and throat

And glance behind to see the one

My end brings cause to gloat

 

That wee glance was all it took

I roared with primal wrath

My back full turned to toothy smiles

I hurled my shoe ka-thwack!

 

There by a candle sprawling

Lay senseless and unarmed

An imp of worthless stature

Whose fingers no more charmed

 

21 September 2020

cja

My Psaltery: Be of good cheer!

 

67.

Play your discard and be still

The Lord has a hand to play

If we dally with our turn

We keep His blessing at bay

 

11 Aug 2020

 

75.

Hair shorn

Heart sore

Not what I’d planned at all

Three-sided winds push me along

A path that I’ve not sought

 

Hair shorn

Heart sore

My heart and feet of lead

I bear a scroll and compass

I daren’t turn my tread

 

Hair shorn

Heart sore

With face of flint I stride

The promise I carry resolves me

And I will not be denied

 

26 Aug 2020

 

78.

Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer

Though th’watery world ‘neath us heaves

Fear not, buck up, and steady your hearts

Even so, as God said, it shall be

 

The ship will sink, ah yes, ‘tis true

But neary a soul shall be drowned

Stay where you are and wait for the LORD

In no other source is help found

 

Cast four anchors, wish for day

The lifeboats of self-help cut free

Fourteen days, driven and fasting

Tossed in a ravenous sea

 

Receive God’s bread of nourishment

Give thanks, break and eat

Lighten your vessel of all you’ve held dear

Good cheer comes from God’s Mercy Seat

 

Then take up the anchors, commit to the sea

And loose the rudder band

Hoist up the mainsail, aim for the shore

Collision is key to God’s plan

 

And in your submission, He’ll buoy you up

Redeeming your life from the grave

The vessel thus broken will give you the planking

On which to float and be saved

 

Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer

Though this you started in pride

The LORD of All commands the waves

And in His grace you will ride

 

31 Aug 2020

(Acts 27)

My Psaltery: wake-up & pray wisely

 

63.    “The Roundabout”

 

I’ve been riding

A merry-go-round

A scary-go-round

The devil’s carousel

I don’t even know how I got on

I thought I was

Praying

Grieving

Interceding

Thinking I alone stood in the gap

But instead I gave good coin of the realm

For a fretful ride going nowhere

I’m off

And away

 

By Crystal Alexander

31 July 2020

My Psaltery: in His hand

 61.          “The Needle”                                                                    by Crystal Alexander, 27 July 2020

 

Will it hold?

Will it really hold?

Needle in, needle out

Up one side, down another

Lock stitch, running stitch, whip stitch

Broke one needle

Found a stronger

In, out, over, under, through

Little knowing the strain to come

Little knowing the threat to be undone

Little knowing who would pull the seams the Lord set before me

It will hold, God chose the thread

It will hold, to these fabrics I was led

It will hold, I then discover

I’m not the seamstress

It’s Another

Threaded I go

In, out, over, under, through

Deftly plied by fingers wise

I journey through tissues

Cut, met and folded

Of natural fibers, hand-spun and made to be joined

The Tailor pulls the thread that trails behind me

The garment takes shape

I rest in His fingers panting

And open my eyes

He smiles

My Psaltery: ablaze & contemplative

 

41.

Baptize with fire, God

Blaze like no other

Send Holy Cyclone

And rattle our shutters

 

Burn with Your cleansing

Purifying Light

Baptize Your people

With Holy Ghost might

 

Take hold our tongues

Those wicked wee flames

We ask for forgiveness

And sanctified reign

 

Rebellious and fractured

We scattered at Babel

Pentecost’s blaze

Redeemed the rabble

 

Languages foreign

You put on our tongues

Holy Ghost unction

Pentecost sprung

 

No teacher has taught us

These words of new praise

Proclaiming Your glory

Wind-swept and ablaze

 

Come Holy Spirit

Ignite us again

Gather the kindling

Breathe on the flame

 

Build up Your bonfire

Stack up the timber

Pour out Your Spirit

Revive the low embers

 

The hearth of our hearts

We’ve left unattended

Busy and bustling

The world we befriended

 

It’s time to return

To God’s Fireplace

To terry and pray

For the Pentecost grace

 

8 June 2020 -- cja

___________________

 

44.

You’re nothing but a pack of cards

Just potsherds striving together

You raise your fists and stack your bricks

Revolting hell for leather

 

In your plans and calculations

Cir’cling like the bulls of Bashan

Where was God in your equations

Or was it just your passions

 

Nonplussed and unsurprised is God

Not stopped nor manipulated

Jesus is still LORD and King

Of all that He created

 

God’s Holy Spirit brooded o’er

Creation’s waters deep

He still can see where e’er men be

And knows the thoughts they keep

 

The author’s pen is in God’s hand

You cannot wrest it from Him

I will not fear curses of man

My hope does not come from them

 

15 July 2020 -- cja

___________________

 

48.

Leather shoes with tongues aflopping

Soles worn thin and feeble

The tips are torn, the heels all scuffed

Stitching is slack and yawning

 

It’s miles I’ve tread, and meters too

Dirt and boards and pavement

When not ascending then it’s stretching

The finish far from view

 

Oh cobbler come and ply your trade

New soles for old exchange

Retool, rethread, and reanoint

Relace with silken braid

 

‘Neath a tree I wait and rest me

Eyes half-closed, I watch him work

If perfection slows his labors

I could not more agree

 

29 June 2020 -- cja

___________________

 

54.

 When all is chaos

And unwinds

Stunned

Bring out your box

Of buttons

Mixte

Useful, useless

Grave or sprite

Shaped

Glad-eyed behold

One by one

Pray

God knows the details

All’s in hand

Kept

You’re not forgotten

 

12 July 2020 -- cja

My Psaltery: the sea of me

 Some poems from my own personal collection of writings, which I call My Psaltery. 

19. 

 Lord You are faithful

Your love is evergreen

Mightier than the mountains

Whose toes dip in the sea

The valleys of the Deep beneath

Hold volumes of Your glory

The ocean paths are blazed therein

By Your feet alone

You hover over all

The waters of my soul

You brood lovingly

O’er the deeps of me

No frightful creature there

In my seabed valleys

Is unknown or greater than Thee

My Hero

My Captain

The Sailor of my seas

 

 

 

16.

 A cup of tea, a tall ship

Propelled I wander o’er the sea

A dream far off, a bound’ry

Black is the night ‘twixt you and me

A song of hope, a candle

My dog and I alone we pray

A Savior strong, a Helper

Your course is true, dear heart, be brave

An unfelt hand, assurance

I find the strength to hoist my sail

A cup of tea, a tall ship

And I sail on with You

 

 

Crystal Jean Alexander

May 2020

 

For God & Glasgow

   We will never be the same again.  

With all my heart for God & Glasgow.  - Crystal & wee Cherie

 

“Are You Ready?”

How can this little, darling dog realize that she and her “Kansas prairie” mistress are FLYING TO SCOTLAND ON NOVEMBER 17TH?  Yup, that’s right folks!!  The visa came on Wednesday the 5th and then the next day wham!! through a series and emails, phone calls, and extra double-checkings on my part, the plane ticket to Scotland was booked and paid for.  I’m still a little dizzy, I must say.  Straight-up and right-away I must say THANK YOU JESUS, GOD ALMIGHTY!!!  He has done miracle after miracle to get me where I am and where I’m going.  I love my Lord and Savior with all my heart not only for what He’s done, but for who He is!  I agree with David in his 34th psalm, “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.”  Amen, I’m waving my little flowered hankie wildly in agreement!  (It’s a Southern thing…)  Also, thank you so much, my friends,

for being a part of this amazing journey that came from God’s heart.  Over and over God has been showing me that His love and mercy is to be experienced and sent around the world together.  Your prayers, thoughtfulness, monetary giving and plain ol’ encouraging words and hugs have made a HUGE difference for me.  I expect this togetherness in Christ to have eternal-hope impact far beyond Scotland.  May I say with every fiber of my being: JESUS CHRIST LOVES YOU!  You, as in you sitting right here reading this.  You are not part of a vague collective of human beings randomly birthed on a accidental, spinning planet.  You are the Lord Creator’s design.  Taste and see that the LORD is good!  It’s way different than being religious or a church-goer.  You are passionately loved and longed for by the Lord and Master of the Universe.  Open your mouth like a little birdie (Mom always said that) and taste.  Nuff said.  (I think I’m waiving the little flowered hankie again.)  

She's Home

Mom made it Home.  Our Heavenly Father who loves us all so much took Esther Belle Alexander home to be with Him on April 3, 2014 at 5:43 in the evening.  My dad (Jim Alexander) and brother (Frank Alexander) and I were with her when she left.  It was God’s mercy and grace.  I miss her.

When I see particular bunches of flowers growing in the yard, or when I cook up some new recipe I think she‘d like to taste, or when I just dial her phone number to hear her voicemail … it all twinges and pulls at my heart, but I’d never drag her back here.  She’s Home:  happy, young, strong, free and in the loving arms of Jesus.  Thank you everyone for praying for my family.  It has made a difference and continues to.  My mama was a nature girl and a creative dreamer, and she still is.  Death for a true believer in Jesus Christ is not an end.  It’s just a new beginning.  “Happily ever after” does not have to be a fairytale:  it’s simply when a child of God goes Home.

It’s His-Story

In the 5th century the Romans, who occupied most of Britannia, finally pulled up stakes and went home.  They had troubles enough of their own to worry about back in the Mediterranean.  Too many flies and not enough soup were on the Roman dinner table in those days, especially with that obnoxious Attila the Hun hovering around for a waiter! (1)  So, the native peoples left behind in Britannia were given a hearty “good luck”, and that was that.  The Britons and Angles in the south had done the most mixing with the Romans, but the Picts and Gaels in the north and west were mighty pleased to be rid of those Roman-pests.  There were no Scots or Scotland up there in the north country back then.  It was just an assorted motley crew that roamed and ruled the northern third of Britannia.  Red-headed, short-tempered Picts (so named by the Romans for apparent tattooing) were known for head hunting, but at the same time carved beautiful images on tall stones to communicate and commemorate their lives instead of having a written language.  Then there were  those feisty Gaels that had come over from the large, neighboring island to the west (now called Ireland) who had their own completely different culture and language, a written language.  But, their heads weren’t that much cooler than Picts, so many a war was fought amongst them.  Then, with the Britons and Angles raising Cain on their southern side, it was a rare thing indeed to just sit on your back stoop sipping tea and swatting flies on a quiet summer evening.  Nonetheless, God does the craziest, coolest things.  He began to bring His Message of His Son, Jesus Christ, through the Gaels.  Sure they didn’t communicate it perfectly all the time, but the message of Christianity started spreading.  Columba came from Ireland in the 6th century, among other missionaries, and helped to spread the Word of God.  Of course God’s Message met with great resistance.  In fact there was actually a face-to-face, spiritual show-down between the missionary Columba and the druid of a Pictish king!  The druid lost, but Christianity was still slow to spread into the lives of the Picts and their Pictland, or, as it was sometimes called, Caledonia.  Albeit loosely, there was some level of amalgamation between the Picts and Gaels during the next few centuries, especially with the Angles harassing them from the south.  The enemy of my enemy is my friend, don’t-ya-know!  Then the 9th century brought devastation to everyone: Vikings!  They came in their swift and silent Viking ships (knarrs) from the north (Scandinavia) and devoured lands and people not only in the British Isles, but also in what is now Europe, Russia, Turkey, Africa and Canada.  Isn’t it interesting that God’s message of love and hope was sent ahead of the storm to provide a source of strength and peace for what was to come?  At the end of this century (with many a twist and turn by birth, death, betrayal and the almighty hand of God) the Gaels and the Picts merge for real into one kingdom.  In 889 A.D. we have the first written notation of this united kingdom of Alba, which is Gaelic for Scotland.  Eventually the Pictish language disappears.  Gaelic becomes the language of power and then the language of the common people.  All this to say, God’s sovereignty amazes me.  We think we are the ones in control of our lives, that our free-will rules the day.  But, I’m reminded of a proverb in the Bible:  “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases.” (Proverbs 21:1)  Is your family a loose confederation of combatants?  Have “Vikings” raided your work-place and are terrorizing your future?  Is your old, familiar way of living life disappearing into the “Highland mists” never to come back?  Listen, the Lord God Creator loves you, and He is sending this message to you:   

Let Me heal your brokenness.  Come, follow Me.  I love you.

 

Fellow Psalmists

"Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation.  Let all things be done for edification."       1Corinthians 14:26

                                                                                                          .

Psalm D

I'll be Your tabernacle

Yeilded to Your hands

Make me Your sanctuary

I'll make no other plans

Come into this walled garden

Lord make me all Your own

By Your hands I'm tended

Until You bring me Home
                                                                                                          .

Psalm E

King of kings

Lord of lords

You are on Your white horse

And You come bringing victory
                                                                                                          .

Let Your bride

Rejoice

She will lift up her voice

For her Champion has set her free
                                                                                                          .

The enemy held her

In bondage he held her

Guilty and shackled and shamed
                                                                                                          .

Her True Love did break through

Valiant to rescue

Her who is called by His name
                                                                                                          .

Brought Home

In love

To the Father above

Washed clean by the Lamb's sacrifice
                                                                                                          .

With joy

She is clothed

In righteous white robes

She's the apple of His eye
                                                                                                          .

Psalm It

"My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the King; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer."  Psalm 45:1

I've been challenged recently (via a book from Chi Alpha / XA) to write my own personal psalms!  While  I may not be a "skillful writer" I know my Papa God is blessed by all our expressions of love and trust in Him.  So here are the two I've got so far. 

Psalm A

How great is God's love?

He wants to be with me.

O the yawnding difference between us!

That One so mighty,

The Mightiest of All,

Should intimately care about me.

God loves loving each of us down to the tiniest quiet details.

What lavish expense!

His love is not a blurred survey, or white-washing,

But an intricate weaving of the strongest finest stuff;

Pure and white.

He isn't required to.

He could have just tersely saved us poor wretches and been done with it.

But even that Salvation

In all its rich greatness wasn't the end of it.

He loves me day by day

In little and big ways;

None of which are little to me.

O the Greatness of God;

I am loved!

                                                                                                          .

Psalm B

Surer and swifter than Robin Hood's arrow

Is God's Word for me.

No matter the crosswind or devils' devising

On mark God's Word will be.

So when the Fear hisses, "The target's too far,

This time it can't help but miss."

You can be sure that this Champion is yours

And what He aims at He hits!

Have a blessed week, and here's the thought of the day:  Fear is faith in the Devil!

It's Bigger Than You Think

Details, Details, Details...

You know how in the art-world they take one of the masterpiece paintings and focus in on a portion of it, printing just that detailed portion for us to see and study. 

The whole picture is so much bigger.  That partially describes what I experienced this weekend. 

I saw God move and express Himself and His love for humanity through so many different personalities, art forms, cultures, age-ranges, music, and the list goes on and on.  The true power of God was there.  All kinds of people came with expectant hearts to seek God and His will for their lives.
 And He certainly reciprocated!

What are we missing out on when we settle for the little bowl of porridge that we have, and forget to that God has a bigger feast prepared for His Bride if she will but ask?!  Not that we aren't thankful, but how wonderful it is to enjoy the bigger feast.  

Press in, my friend, to any and all that God has for you.  Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you! ( Mt 6:33)  Don't settle for less.

"Further up and further in!" 

 (The Last Battle, by C.S. Lewis)

73 Miles

When A Wall Doesn't Bring Peace

For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in His flesh the law with its commands and regulations.  His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility.

Ephesians 2:14-16

Leaving my rented Vauxhall behind in the small carpark I passed through the gate onto the roling hills of truly springy turf (it felt like six inches of moss on either side of the dirt path), and went over and laid my hands on the wall.  Hadrian's Wall.  In 122 A.D. Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus began the building of a 73 mile wall (completed in about six years by Roman legions) to define the boundary of his empire in a place where his predecessors were unable to advance it:  northern Britain.  Oh those Picts were an uncatchable, unruly lot for those Romans.  What do you do when you can't control what bothers you?  You do what I did as a kid when my brother and I were sitting in the back of the family car. 
"Mom, he's on my side!"
"Dad, he's touching me!"
Smack, smack, smack ... I'd move my arm up and down in a chopping motion over the narrow patch of vinyl we'd call "no-man's-land" between the two sides of the back seat.  My brother, totally playing his part in the antagonism, would sneak a poke at me midst the chopping action of my arm.  If you can't control them at least try to contain them.  Build a wall.  I often would dream up the perfect plan of a plexiglass divider between the two sides of the back seat (which never got implemented) fully persuaded that it would give me peace. 
What can a body do to truly get the peace he or she needs?  You get to know someone, then you actually get to know them, and then you wonder why you got to know them.  We're all so different.  God doesn't say pretend that barrier of culture and personality isn't there.  Nor does He say for us to take a bulldozer to the wall of hostility ourselves with our ideas and plans of what should be.  Instead, He takes the full hostility of the two sides upon Himself in His flesh on the cross.  The destruction comes upon Him, and in Him the wall comes down.  Then the two become one ... in Him.  One new humanity made in peace.
From what I'm learning as I prepare to go to Glasgow, Scotland, like everywhere else on this planet, there is a hunger and a need for peace there.  Real peace.  Not just shutting people up or away.  Soul peace.  Satan has tricked us into putting up "us-and-them" walls of hostility between the churched (tongue-in-cheek) and the regular folk.  Which leaves a lot of people feeling like what's the use?!  Then, if the devil can't get us away from church completely, he'll at least get us fighting between churches.  What is the ultimate goal of all these walls?  To get us walled up in our own little lives away from God and everyone else that could possibly hurt us.  What a miserable ending!
I want to see God break down the walls of hostility in not only Glasgow, but in all our lives.  It's in what Christ did in His flesh on the cross, and He said "It is finished".  Will you pray for Glasgow, Scotland that the barriers to the beautiful news of Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross will be thrown down, and His love and grace will rush in bringing freedom and peace?