ACTS OF THE APOSTLES CHAPTER 13 - 18

ACTS 13

1 Now in the group of called out ones
That was at Antioch by tons
There were certain prophets and teachers:
Barnabas, Simeon for preachers
Who was called Niger, Lucius
Of Cyrene, Manaen studious
With Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
2 As they served YHWH and fasted all,
The holy Spirit gave the call,
“Separate to me Barnabas
And Saul for the work come to pass
To which I’ve called them in their class.”
3 Then, having fasted and prayed well,
And laid hands on them in farewell,
They sent them away for a spell.

Among the college of the prophets and
The teachers, two were called by You to stand.
A prophet here is one who cantillates
The Scriptures of Your name and celebrates
Your praises in the melodies long past
That faithful Moses and that David cast.
A teacher here is one come to explain
How word and law apply in present reign,
And what Your will today is and its true
Root in the Book and Tablet giving clue.
Beloved, though not called out perhaps to be
The visible in teaching’s prophecy,
Let my life cantillate Your name today
And teach in silent doing the right way.

4 Sent by the holy Spirit they
Went down to Seleucia to stay,
And then from there they sailed away
To Cyprus. 5 And when they arrived
In Salamis, they preached and strived
For the word of God in the place
Of synagogues of Jewish race.
They also had John to help them.
6 When they’d gone through the island gem
To Paphos, they found there a man
A certain sorcerer by plan,
A false prophet, a Jew whose name
Was Bar-Jesus, a man of fame,
7 Who was with the proconsul there,
Sergius Paulus, man smart and fair.
This man called for Barnabas and
Saul and sought to hear the command
Of God’s word. 8 But Elymas as
His name means, interfered with jazz,
Trying to turn the consul back
Away from faith and into lack.
9 Then Saul, who also is called Paul,
Filled with the holy Spirit’s gall,
Looked straight at him 10 and said, “O man
Full of all deceit and all fan
Of fraud, you son of devil’s dam,
You enemy of righteousness,
Will you not stop the vain address
Against the ways of YHWH for mess?
11 “And now, indeed, the hand of YHWH
Is upon you, and you’ll have due
In blindness, not to see the sun
For some time.” And right then a run
Of dark mist fell on him, and he
Went around seeking someone free
To lead him by the hand and see.
12 Then the proconsul when he saw
What happened believed in his awe
At the doctrine of the Lord done.
13 When Paul and his mates set sail from
The port of Paphos, they had come
To Perga in Pamphylia,
When John left them in lurch and law,
Back to Jerusalem like straw.

They went to Cyprus first because that’s where
The home of Barnabas was. Have no care,
He is a man to answer every question
That trick or demon can bring as suggestion.
It matters not that his clear word and thinking
And generosity caught ruler winking.
So Paul steps in to make the seeing blind,
The opposite of miracle and kind
That Jesus always did, but never mind,
The governor believed and Paul came out
Triumphant over Barnabas, no doubt.
Search, my Beloved, for me but never find
That I work miracle or sleight of hand.
I have no faith because I see Your land.

14 When they departed from Perga,
For Antioch in Pisidia,
They went into the synagogue
On Sabbath day and sat agog.
15 After Torah and Haftara
The chiefs of the synagogue saw
To them and said “O Men and brothers,
If you have a message for others
Speak on.” 16 Then Paul stood up, and signed
With his hand saying in this kind,
“Men of Israel, you who fear God,
Listen: 17 “The God of this folk’s prod
Of Israel chose our ancestors,
And raised the folk above sequesters
When they lived as sojourners in
The land of Egypt, land of sin,
And with an upraised arm He brought
Them out of it as they has sought.

What hand signals does Paul show to the blind?
Don't tell me the sign of the cross designed.
I know the phallic symbol knows few bounds,
And even Jews in ancient times and grounds
Remembered to make crosses on their rounds,
But it is not attested for the Christian
Till centuries later, unless I have missed one.
I reckon that the story can be told
Of how You entered Egypt and were bold
To bring the people out of slavery then,
Without a hand raised in a cross and wen.
Beloved, I stand and speak, and leave my hands
Down at my sides. I do not need the stands
Of gestures to relate to heavenly lands.

18 “Now for the space of forty years
He put up with their ways and tears
In the desert. 19 “When he had done
To destruction seven nations won
In Canaan’s land, He gave them land
By lots. 20 “After that by command
He gave them judges for about
Four hundred and fifty years’ route,
Until Samuel the prophet came.
21 “But after that they asked for fame
In a king, so God gave them Saul
The son of Kish, a man and tall
Of the tribe of Benjamin small,
To rule them forty years in all.

Samaritans look back with longing eyes
To the reign of Saul and without disguise
Shed tears that he and his were shunted out
Of capital and throne with fervid shout.
The quarrel with the Jews is very like
That between Shi'a and the good Sunnite:
They both would disagree on Ali's right
To harvest of the people without spite.
Beloved, when Samuel came anointing kings,
There was the need to champion wars and things,
But forty years of reign gave grace enough
For some to mind that Saul was gracious stuff.
His fault was in the saving of some lives
Instead of killing everything that thrives.

22 “And when He had removed him, He
Raised up for them David’s decree,
To whom also He gave witness,
‘I've found David the son of Jess,
A man after My own heart, who
Will do all My will and be true.’
23 “From this man’s seed, according to
The promise, God raised for Israel
A Saviour, Jesus, 24 “after spell
Of John’s preaching, before he came
Baptism of repentance’ fame
To all the folk of Israel.

Though Saul was not the killer in the land
That David was, I still come take my stand
For blessing David and his progeny,
The promise of salvation from the spree.
Though Saul was not obedient in all things,
David was not much better among kings:
He too found room to disobey Your will,
And yet You set him high on Zion's hill.
Beloved, the prophecies are dark with doubt,
The centuries have dimmed, I hear no shout
Before the donkey in Jerusalem,
I see no palms and scattered flaxen hem.
And yet I find the hope of what is past
Is still a gleam in heart for things that last.

25 “As John was finishing his course,
He said, ‘Who do you think I am?
I am not he, I'm not his horse.
But indeed, there comes One like ram
After me, whose shoes I am not
Worthy to tie or untie knot.'
26 “Men and brothers, sons of the clan
Of Abraham, and those in span
Among you who fear God, to you
The word of this salvation due
Has been sent. 27 “For those who live in
Jerusalem, and their chiefs' kin,
Because they did not know him, nor
Even the voice of prophets more
Which are read every Sabbath day,
Fulfilled them in condemning way.

Fact is the prophecies most earnestly
Brought forward in their evidence to see
That Jesus was Messiah for the free
Are found in haftarah that in that time
Was read along with Torah for its rhyme.
The seed of this hope anti-Roman in
The face of the establishment and din
Is found declared upon the Sabbath day
In every sort of synagogue in sway.
Beloved, today the readings still run wide
Upon the air of the church and inside
Their halls, but ears are just as dim to hear
The matchless hopes that fail not to appear
In passages prophetic to the ear.

28 “And though they found no cause for death
In him, they asked Pilate for death.
29 “Now when they had fulfilled all that
Was written about him out flat,
They took him down from the tree and
Laid him in a tomb. 30 “But God's hand
Raised him from the dead and to stand.
31 “He was seen for many days by
Those who came up with him to spy
From Galilee and back again
Into Jerusalem, of men
Who are his witnesses to folk.
32 “And we declare to you glad tidings,
That promise, our fathers' confidings.
33 “God has fulfilled this for us their
Children, in raising Jesus fair.
As it's written in Psalm two too,
‘You are my son, today I do
Come having generated you.'
34 “And that he raised him from the dead,
No more to return to the spread
Of such corruption, so he spoke,
‘I'll give you David's mercies' stroke.'
35 “That's why he also says again
In quite another Psalm to men,
‘You'll not allow Your Holy One
To see corruption under sun.’
36 “For David, after he had served
His own generation preferred
By God's will, fell asleep, and then
Was buried with his fathers' men,
And saw corruption, 37 “but he whom
God raised up saw no failing doom.

The arguments are full and faithfully
Presented by the tongue of David wee,
And all is the fulfilled and of the word
That You addressed to David when You spurred
Him to the right with promises conferred.
If David sleeps still in the heavy dust
And drowses with the saints beneath the rust,
The message is that Jesus rose into
The sky to meet the angels in their crew
And fellowship in love with blessèd You.
Beloved, no arguments suffice to make
Me know fulfilments appear at the stake.
But I still trust in Your reality:
The sun by day, the moonlit symmetry.

38 “Therefore let it be known to you,
Brothers, that through this man in view
Is preached to you forgiveness of
Sins, 39 “and by him each one above
Who has faith is justified from
All thing from which you could in sum
Not be justified by the law
That came through Moses and his claw.
40 “Beware therefore, lest what has been
Spoken in the prophets for sin
Come upon you: 41 “Indeed, you ones
Who despise, marvel, perish guns!
For I work a work in your days,
A work which you will by no ways
Believe, though one gave you its praise.’”
42 So when the Jews from synagogue
Went out, the Gentiles begged incog
That these words might be preached to them
The next Sabbath. 43 Now when the hem
Of congregation had dispersed,
Many Jews and devout and versed
Proselytes followed Paul as well
As Barnabas, who spoke to tell
Them with persuasion to keep on
In the grace of God till the dawn.
44 On the next Sabbath almost all
The city gather at the call
To hear the word of God in stall.

The gospel written in the famous name
Of Barnabas may well have valid claim
To truth, but surely there are marks within
The book itself to bring to light the sin
Of tampering and changing divine word.
At least two things in it have both concurred
To show a false thing and abuse the writer.
The first is wooden barrel, an indicter
That something medieval is interposed.
The second is the eighth day is disclosed,
The pagan sun-god’s stamp of Christian loss.
But Barnabas still takes You as his boss.
He keeps the Sabbath holy by commandment
And in Your grace continues, no remandment.

45 But when the Jews saw all the crowds,
They were filled up with envy's shrouds,
And contradicting and blaspheming,
They opposed the things Paul was scheming.
46 Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold
And said, “It was needful and told
The word of God should be first spoken
To you, but you reject the token,
And judge yourselves unworthy of
Its life eternal wrought in love,
So we turn to the Gentiles' shove.
47 “For so the Lord's commanded us:
‘I have set you a luminous
Light to the Gentiles, so you should
Be for salvation to the good
Ends of the earth and without fuss.’”
48 Now when the Gentiles heard this word,
They were glad glorifying, stirred
By the word of YHWH. And as many
As had been appointed to life
Eternal believed at the fife.
49 And the word of YHWH was with any
Spread all through the land for a penny.
50 But the Jews stirred up the devout
And prominent women and stout
Men of the city, and raised up
Persecution against the cup
Of Paul and Barnabas, expelled
Them from their region that excelled.
51 They shook off the dust from their feet
Against them, and came to retreat
At Iconium. 52 There were filled
The disciples with joy instilled
And with the Holy Spirit billed.

Filled with the holy spirit and with joy,
I hear of Barnabas and his employ
To glorify Your word in cantillation
As witness to the crowds in their elation
That You accept both Gentile and the Jew.
Indeed on earth today there are but few
Who do not love the one and hate the other,
And kill if possible another’s brother.
Sectarian religious jealousy
Is root of casting out the true and free
Who cantillate Your word. I too shake off
The dust upon my feet until I cough,
And exit mosque and synagogue and church.
Beloved, You will not leave me in the lurch.

ACTS 14

1 It happened in Iconium
That they went together to come
In the synagogue of the Jews,
And spoke so a great crowd would choose
To believe of both Jews and Greeks.
2 But unbelieving Jews and geeks
Stirred up the Gentiles turning minds
Against the brothers in their kinds.
3 That is they stayed there a long time,
Speaking boldly in the lord's clime,
Who bore witness to his word's grace,
Granting signs and wonders to trace
By their hands. 4 But the multitude
Of the city was so construed
That some supported Jews and some
Supported the apostles come.
5 And when a violent attempt
Was made by both Gentiles' contempt
And Jews, with their rulers, to cause
Abuse of them and stone their paws,
6 They heard about it and they fled
To Lystra and Derbe, the spread
Cities of Lycaonia,
And the surrounding area.
7 And so they preached the Gospel too
In that country and in that view.

The Gospel is supposed to be good news,
But from the start it startles heathen views,
And the result is stoning men to death,
Before they get their final gospel breath.
The violent attempt to do away
With Paul and Barnabas is just a ray
Of what men face who once proclaim You way.
No wonder every church in sight reveals
Another gospel from the one Paul feels.
The good news that the death of Your dear Son
Relieves from consequences of what's done
Is always welcome. But the writing on
The heart of the same old law once withdrawn
Is met with smacks upon the pate and bun.

8 And in Lystra a certain man
Without strength in his feet to span
Was sitting, a cripple from birth,
Who'd never walked for all his worth.
9 This man heard Paul speak. And Paul too
Watched him intently and the view
Showed he had faith there to be healed,
10 And so said with loud voice to yield,
“Stand right up on your feet!” And he
Jumped up and walked around the tee.
11 And when the people saw what Paul
Had done, they raised their voice to call,
Saying in the Lycaonian,
“The gods have come down to our span
In likeness and in form of man!”
12 And Barnabas they called Zeus then,
And Paul was Hermes in their den,
Because he talked more in the glen.
13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple sat
Before their city on the flat,
Brought oxen and strings of flowers round
To the gates, for offerings on ground
With the crowds. 14 But it came back to
Ears of Barnabas and Paul too
Who were apostles on their cue,
They tore their clothes and ran among
The multitude, shouting 15 as sung,
“Men, why are you doing these things?
We also are men with same springs
Of nature as you, and preach to
You to turn from these useless things
To the God living, who made sky
The earth, the sea, and all things dry,
16 “Who in the generations past
Allowed all nations to walk last
In their own ways. 17 “But He did not
Leave Himself without witness taught,
But He did well to give us rain
From the sky and the fruitful plain
To fill our hearts with food and gain.”
18 And with these words they hardly could
Keep the crowd from offerings they would.

They took poor Barnabas for Zeus and brought
A sacrifice to honour what they thought
Was God above all gods, while Paul stood by
A lesser god. One wonders if that’s why
In time Paul found his mate too much too take.
He was so like You that good men mistake
Him for the true, while none took Paul to be
More than a flowery speaker and lackey.
So two who give a witness to Your oneness
In jealousy may wreck upon undoneness.
Make me like Barnabas in doing well,
And keep me quietly from evil spell
Of leaders of religion who come by
And are not humble, generous or shy.

19 The Jews from Antioch came there
And from Iconium to share,
And they also persuaded all
The folk to come and to stone Paul
And drag him out the city wall,
Thinking that he was dead to fall.
20 But when the followers came round,
He got up and went safe and sound
Into the city. The next day
He left with Barnabas to stay
In Derbe in another way.

The fickle crowds that shout in grand acclaim
The next day will forget the idol’s name.
So those who one day did Paul all the honours
The next forgot they all had been Paul’s fawners.
Who claim great faith are first to cast a stone,
And first to break a righteous man’s leg bone,
And drag him out and falsely smear his fame.
For such faith is a profit and a game.
Beloved, let me take both the laud and cross
For what they are, ill profit and a loss.
I flee to You from glory and from pain
Of accusation and of the inane
Abuse of evil men decked out in power.
I’ll meet You in Derbe within the hour.

21 And when they'd preached the gospel there
To that city and made a share
Of many followers, they went
Back to Lystra from which they lent
Steps to Iconium and to
Antioch, 22 strengthening the crew
Of the disciples, telling them
To continue in the faith's gem,
“We must through tribulations' score
Come in the kingdom of God's store.”
23 When they'd appointed elders in
Every group of called out ones' din,
And prayed with fasting, they'd commend
Them to the Lord whose faith they'd tend.
24 And after they had once passed through
Pisidia, they came unto
Pamphylia. 25 Now when they'd preached
The word in Perga, they had reached
Down to Attalia. 26 From there they
Sailed to Antioch, where they'd stayed
Commended to the grace of God
For the work in which they had trod.
27 Now when they'd come and gathered in
The group of called out ones in bin,
They reported all God had done
With them, and that He'd opened won
The door of faith to the Gentile.
28 So they stayed there for a long while
With the disciples without guile.

The elders were appointed by the hand
Of Paul and Barnabas in every land,
Instead of by election of the crowd
Upon the pews of churches singing loud.
It is unbaptist and undemocratic,
And so deserves my critic's higher static.
Appoint me, my Beloved, what elders You
Release upon my painted door and pew,
And I shall welcome them or not in view.
But with appointment or with empty air,
Let me rest in the presence of Your fair
Resounding word still trembling on Your breath:
Perhaps I shall not falter even at death,
But joy the rather to find You still there.

ACTS 15

1 And there were certain men came down
From old Judaea and the town
To teach the brothers, “Unless you
Are circumcised according to
The custom of Moses, you'll not
Be saved, instead you will be caught.”
2 Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas
Had no small argument and gas
With them, they determined that Paul
And Barnabas and others fall
Up to Jerusalem, and to
The apostles and elders' crew,
About this question come in view.

Now even Paul and Barnabas could not
Suffice to counteract what teachers taught,
That grown men, when they turn to You to claim
The glories and the powers within Your name,
Must have their adult members drawn and cut
And circumcised like Abraham in glut.
The custom of Moses they gave and no
Clear word of Scripture as the sayings go.
Too bad it is that old dissension now
Gives those who would leave child uncut somehow
The argument that Barnabas approves.
The matter of the children it behoves
Us to remember was not brought to mind.
I flee to You, Beloved, let men be blind.

3 And they were sent on their way by
The group of called out ones to spy
Through Phoenicia, Samaria,
Describing the conversion's paw
Of the Gentiles, and they caused great
Joy to all the brothers of late.
4 And so when they had come up to
Jerusalem, they got their due
By the group of called out ones and
The apostles and elders' band,
And they reported all that God
Had done with them upon the sod.
5 But some of Pharisean sect
Who believed rose up as select,
Saying “It's necessary they
Be circumcised, and in their way
To keep the law of Moses' stay.”
6 So apostles and elders came
Together to consider same.

Beloved, if I understand this aright,
The question posed that has come into sight
Is whether salvation depends upon
A thing that human hands can do at dawn,
Or whether it depends solely on how
You the divine and sovereign act and bow.
Some Pharisees believing came to say
That circumcision had a part to play
In the salvation that is spread abroad
By Your divine decree as sovereign God.
Paul and Barnabas took the other view,
And said salvation's just the act of You.
Let's see how the church at Jerusalem
Comes to crack this nut and polish this gem.

7 And when there had been much dispute,
Peter rose up and took the boot
And said to them “Men, brothers mine,
You know that a good while ago
God chose among us on the vine,
That by my mouth the Gentiles know
To hear the Gospel word and show.
8 “So God, who knows the heart, was quick
To give them Holy Spirit's kick
Just as He did to us, as slick
9 “And made no difference between
Us and them, purifying keen
Their hearts by faith. 10 “Now therefore, why
Do you test God by putting by
A yoke on the neck of the crew
Of the disciples which as due
Neither our fathers nor we were
Able to bear? 11 “But we concur
That through Lord Jesus Christ in grace
We shall be saved just like their face.”

Let's get the matter straight, Beloved, and see
How Paul supports the five-point doctrine wee
By saying that both Jew and Gentile free,
Without a difference between or degree,
All are saved by the act of grace alone
Through Jesus Christ, so nothing can atone
Which is the work of man, not even faith
Preached as the duty to both jinn and wraith.
Beloved, I praise You for this knowledge set,
That all men are in need and some men get
Grace without merit by Your own decree,
Redeemed by Christ by grace that won't let go,
So that the saints are kept till heaven's show.
Beloved, I praise You that You are not slow.

12 Then all the crowd was quiet and
Listened to Barnabas in band
And Paul declaring how such signs
And wonders God had worked in lines
Through them among the Gentiles' mines.

When Barnabas and Paul declared what You
Could do in way of miracles on cue
Among such Gentile men as had not been
Cut in the vital member when still green,
It was a work of praise. I stop to ask
A question not raised here, but is a task
That must be duly faced. I doubt not that
In Your divine grace and power where You’re at
You can work miracles on uncut men.
I only wonder if such men again
Who have enjoyed Your grace will not be first
To follow Abraham, not of the worst,
Who cut himself in dottering old age
To obey You, Beloved. I’m not a sage.

13 When they had settled down, then James
Replied and said, “Men without blames,
And brothers, hear my words and claims.
14 “Simon has declared how God first
Came to the Gentiles as uncursed
To take from them a folk for fames.
15 “And with this prophets' inspired words,
Just as it is written to be:
16 ‘After this I'll return and will
Rebuild David's tent on the hill,
Which fell down, I'll set up again,
And I'll establish it 17 for men
To seek the Lord, all Gentiles who
Are called by my name, so says YHWH
Who does all these things in their due.’
18 “Known to God from eternity
Are all his works. 19 “Therefore I see
That we should not trouble those from
Among the Gentiles those who come
Repenting to God, 20 “but that we
Write to them to abstain and be
From things polluted by the way
Of idols, and from the foul sway
Of fornication, from things strangled,
And from blood. 21 “For Moses has dangled
Throughout the ages those who preach
Him in every city to reach,
Being read in the synagogues
Every Sabbath by demagogues.”

It is strange to my mind, yet par for course,
That the church of the Acts recited hoarse
The Torah every Sabbath day, and yet
Required no action on the words they met.
By the same token Revelation's church
Met to read Revelation's words on perch,
And yet required all to keep to the law,
And act according to it hand and claw.
Beloved, let me take both good counsels shared
And read each Sabbath from the Torah bared,
And keep the words in act and word and deed,
Always remembering to hear and heed.
Inspire me with that law writ on the heart,
And I shall stay to do my humble part.

Let's be clear on this issue and state fair
That Your salvation's a thing that You bare,
And nothing men can do comes in to share,
Not even the four points here write with care.
The church is defined by the gathering
Upon the Sabbath day to hear the ring
Of Moses read. The act of worship bides
Where the four-pointed law among them hides:
No idols, fornication and no blood
In diet of the strangled in the mud.
But point of worship is a different thing
Than the salvation of Your divine wing.
That is Your act alone, Beloved, for those
Not in conformity, but those You chose.

22 Then it was pleasing to those men,
Apostles and elders again,
With the whole group of called out ones,
To send chosen men from their guns
To Antioch along with Paul
And Barnabas: Judas by call
Also named Barsabas by all,
And Silas, leading men among
The brothers, the both old and young.
23 They wrote this by them: The apostles,
The elders, and the brothers' jostles,
To the brothers who are around
The Syrian and Cilician ground,
Our greetings. 24 Since we have heard some
Who went out from us like a bum
Have troubled you with words and left
Your souls unsettled by the theft,
Saying “Be circumcised and keep
The law” to whom we gave no steep
Command to do so, 25 it seemed good
To us assembled in one wood,
To send selected men to you
With our beloved Barnabas true
And Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives
For the name of our Lord who thrives
Called Jesus Christ. 27 We have therefore
Sent Judas and Silas in score,
Who will also report the same
Things by word of mouth in their claims.
28 For it seemed good to us and to
The Holy Spirit, to lay you
No greater burden than these things
Most necessary in your wings:
29 That you abstain from offerings made
To idols, from blood, on parade
Things strangled and from fornication.
If you keep yourselves from this ration,
You will do well. Farewell's elation.

Who keep themselves from temple prostitute,
Idolatry, and idols’ meat, and fruit
Not slaughtered in the proper, halal way,
Will not in other matters go astray.
Such was the word that Barnabas with care
Took to the converts who were waiting there.
No doubt to concentrate on foreskin does
Distract from weighty matters on the fuzz.
I hold with Barnabas idolatry
And what concerns it is more like to be
A matter of importance to avoid.
I sit alone upon this asteroid
Neglecting worship and its fornication,
And giving Your name only acclamation.

30 So when they were sent off, they came
To Antioch, and when they came
Together in a crowd they read
The letter to hear what they said.
31 When they'd read it, they rejoiced at
Its encouraging words where they sat.

There is a reason for rejoicing here
Among the crowd of those joined in Your fear,
Those who are defined by their coming to
Read Torah on the Sabbath in Your view,
And that is that though they have things to do,
Those things do not contribute to salvation,
But are only response in heart's elation.
Not even faith is mentioned in this writ
As something necessary for the fit.
But duty faith's become in Christian nation
The circumcision revised in it's station.
I am cut and I have faith, at least grain
Of custard seed, but I consider vain
The both as avenues I might attain.

32 Now Judas and Silas, themselves
Being prophets also, not elves,
Exhorted and strengthened the brothers
With many words as though in smothers.
33 And after they had stayed some time,
There were sent back with greetings prime
From the brother to the apostles.
34 But Silas in midst of the jostles
Decided to stay in that clime.
35 Paul and Barnabas also stayed
In Antioch, teaching the grade
And preaching the word of YHWH too,
With many others in their pew.

I hear the breath of Barnabas call Huu
With many others also. Let me do,
Beloved, this same remembrance where I wait.
I care not for reward nor fiery fate
Since I have seen the empty world go by,
While I disdain both hell and pie in sky.
I enter both as I repeat Your name
In melodies of passion and of flame.
Let Paul and Barnabas remain for me
The teachers of my own eternity,
Who greet the brothers, forty and the seven,
And ride on lions and on stones to heaven,
And bring to earth the messages of peace
That nowhere shall heart circumcision cease.

36 Then after some days Paul said to
Barnabas, “Let us go back too
And visit our brothers in each
City where we have come to preach
The word of YHWH, and see how they
Are doing.” 37 Now Barnabas would
Not budge without John Mark for good.
38 But Paul insisted they should not
Take with them the one who in lot
Departed from them in Pamphylia,
And had not gone with them the hillier.
39 Then the quarrel became so sharp
That they parted from each one's harp.
So Barnabas took Mark and sailed
To Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose unveiled
Silas and went his way in love
Of the brothers by God's grace shove.

Contention is the best way to increase
The number of tents where there does not cease
To be proclaimed Your name in cantillation.
Contention spreads the word to every nation.
So Barnabas took Mark and Paul took one
Who might not even ever have begun
To propagate to bird and beast and all
The glories of Your whirling and its call.
Let every loving pair of friends depart
From comfort in old friendships of the heart
And take in hand the newer generation
To share in sorrows and in loud elation.
Though You, Beloved, are one eternally,
The human walk is done in two or three.

41 And he went through Syria and
Cilicia, strengthening the hand
Of the groups of called out ones planned.

ACTS 16

1 Then he came to Derbe and Lystra.
And indeed, there a certain mister a
Man named Timothy, the son
Of a certain Jewish woman
Who had believed, but his dad done
Was Greek, 2 He was well spoken of
By the brothers from push to shove
Who were at Lystra and the town
Iconium without a frown.
3 Paul wanted to have him go on
With him. And he took him withdrawn
And circumcised him, for the Jews
Who were in that region to choose,
For they all knew his dad was Greek.
4 And as they went through towns to seek,
They gave them the decrees to keep,
Which were determined by the folk,
Apostles and elders in stroke
There in Jerusalem for broke.
5 So the groups of called out ones were
Strengthened in the faith for a spur
Increasing daily under yoke.

I have some trouble to conceive that Paul
Would circumcise fair Timothy and all
With what he wrote to the Galatians' stall.
It may have been another at the brawl.
I have some trouble with the centralized
Ecclesiastic order that they prized
Enough for Paul to bring the word around
To everyone upon the Asian ground.
They go about to tell the men that they
Need not be circumcised in Jewish way,
And at the same time Timothy is clipped.
It's hypocritical if not tight-lipped.
Beloved, I take no knife, I take no shipped,
And yet I find a place with You to stay.

6 Now when they had gone through Phrygia
And the region of Galatia,
They were forbidden by the Holy
Spirit to preach the word by trolley
In Asia. 7 After they had come
To Mysia, they tried to play dumb
In Bithynia, but the Spirit
Did not permit them or make fit.
8 So passing by Mysia, they
Came down to Troas, where to stay.
9 A vision came to Paul at night.
A man of Macedonian sight
Stood and pleaded with him, saying,
“Come to Macedonia ring
And help us.” 10 Now after he'd seen
The vision, straight away in bean
We tried to go to Macedonia,
Since we thought the Lord to condone you
Had called us to preach Gospel there.
11 That's why we sailed from Troas bare
And ran a straight course to the share
Of Samothrace, and the next day
Came to Neapolis in sway.
12 From there we went to Philippi,
Which is the main city and sty
Of that part of Macedonia,
A colony. And we in craw
Stayed in that city for some days.
13 And on the Sabbath day of praise
We went out of the town to find
The riverside, where they had mind
To gather for prayer, and we sat
Down and spoke to the women flat
Who met there. 14 Now a certain one,
A woman named Lydia for fun
Heard us. She was a seller there
Of purple from the city lair
Of Thyatira, who was fair
To worship God. The Lord opened
Her heart to heed the things to send
Spoken by Paul. 15 When she and her
Household were baptized, she begged stir
Saying, “If you consider me
To be faithful to YHWH, come be
At my house.” She convinced us, see.
16 It happened, as we went to prayer,
A certain slave girl possessed there
With a spirit of divination
Met us, who brought her masters ration
Of much profit by fortune-telling.
17 This girl followed Paul and us swelling
The cry to say, “These men are slaves
Of Most High God, whose message saves.”

The whole of Europe in the butt-shell here
Reveals its tawdry grace without a fear.
Astrology is wedded with the game
Of economics without fan or shame.
The church is just a place where women meet
Outside the course of marketry and treat,
And cities by the rivers Seine and Thames
And Danube fight for Tiber in the hems.
Beloved, give me the grace to love as well
As criticize the neighbours in their spell:
And so I shall be European too,
Contrasting with the Asian sort of crew.
Beloved, give me the Macedonian wit
To sail a boat in straight without a fit.

18 And she did this for many days.
But Paul was aggravated then,
Turned telling the spirit again,
And said “I command you in name
Of Jesus Christ to leave her claim.”
And he came out that very hour.
19 But when her masters saw the power
Of profit was gone, they seized Paul
And Silas and dragged in the hall
Of marketplace to magistrates.
20 And they brought them to rulers rates,
And said “These men, who are Jews, came
To cause our town trouble and blame,
21 “And they teach customs which are not
Lawful for us in Roman slot
To have or keep within our plot,”

If anyone, even a queen, should rise
Condemning prostitution or the prize
Of profit taken by the men who own
The female body groomed and up to tone,
Then magistrates in any land I know
Would come against such persons in a show.
The market-place is full, the internet
Contains the advertizing of each pet.
Beloved, as I return to whirl again
About the dwelling places of mere men,
I flee the cries of pimps and whores and turn
And cast my spells on all the ones I spurn.
If they are freed by curse or blessing taught,
It is more than I hoped for or than sought.

22 The crowd rose up then against them,
The rulers tore off their clothes' hem
And ordered them beaten with rods.
23 And when they had made stripes with prods,
They threw them in gaol in their pods,
And ordered the keeper to keep
Them in security and deep.
24 Having received such a charge, he
Put them in the inner degree
Of prison and fastened their feet
In the stocks to stay without treat.

Today perhaps before removing clothes
And torturing the bodies hung in rows,
No doubt they take a look at passport first,
And then proceed to perpetrate the worst.
It's just extension of the Roman crime
Known from the days of Caesar's in their prime
And kept in fine traditions all the time
Until the Inquisition turned back stale
And Vatican make USA prevail
In torture schemes in every sort of gaol.
The fastening of feet in stocks is still
The way they lead the prisoners to fill
The gates from good Guantanamo until
The western desert's hidden rank and pill.

25 But at midnight Paul and Silas
Were praying and singing to pass
The time hymns to God, and the men
Incarcerated heard again.

The hymns that Paul and Silas stopped to sing
Where not the one that Fanny Crosby's ring
Poured out in innocence or not to sting.
The hymns they sang were not the Latin rage
Of Capuchin or other sort of page
Where Ambrose or good Gregory in stage
Set up the choirs cathedrals came to flaunt.
The hymns were nothing in such kinds of want.
The hymns that Paul and Silas sang were those
That David with his harp once came and chose,
The hymn gathered at last in first siddur,
The Psalms of David set in Hebrew pure.
Paul may have sung in Greek, but in that case,
It was translated from Davidic face.

26 Right off there was a great earthquake,
So that the foundations in stake
Of the prison were shaken, and
Immediately all the doors stand
Open and broke off every band.
27 The keeper of the prison, who
Woke up from sleep then had a view
Of prison doors wide open too,
And thought the prisoners all fled,
Drew his sword to kill himself bled.

I reckon the guards military who
Retain the radical Islamic crew
Would also draw a gun and shoot their head
If they found out their prisoners had fled.
There's nothing changes here beneath the sun:
The man of earth must always flee or run
After his prey, there is no sitting still
Beneath the vesper hymns heard on the hill.
Beloved, if ever I hear keeper's voice
Lifted to give himself the fatal choice,
I hope that I shall be like Paul and stay
The hand that's lifted up about to slay.
But if not, let the traitor to Your staff
Live to repent and make the angels laugh.

28 But Paul called with loud voice to say
“Do yourself no harm, we all stay.”
29 Then he called for a light, ran in,
And fell down trembling rank and thin
Before Paul and Silas to win.
30 And he brought them out and he said,
“Sirs, how must I be saved instead?”
31 So they said “Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you will be stored,
You and your household, saved, implored.”
32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord
To him and to all in his house.
33 He took them the same hour in blouse
In the night and washed their wounds, and
Straight off he and his family band
Were all baptized, all who could stand.

Debate about baptism takes this verse
And tries to show that infants under curse
Must feel the cool of holy water's purse.
But those who were baptized where those who heard
The preaching of the Gospel's glowing word.
The infants slept in mother's arms and did
Not make the choice until their faith that hid
Became apparent in the voice and bid.
Though I reject the grasping at the straw,
I still think that the question in the craw
Is just distraction from the true that men
And women have in duty here again.
Let me and everyone who hears the call
Obey the Decalogue upon the wall.

34 Now when he had brought them into
His house, he set food in their view,
And he rejoiced, as he believed
In God, all his household reprieved.

The preacher must preach long and then baptize
Before he's made a guest, before his eyes
The table set, and bread and meat brought out.
The preacher must first raise a holy shout.
Though ox is never muzzled in the tune
Of the prophetic Gospel taught at noon,
Still everyone who works must wait the time
When provender appears and juice of lime.
Beloved, I preach to none, I've learned long since
That all hearts beckon to their one hope's wince,
And nothing I can say will change the mood
And heart of modern, heathen multitude.
The only preaching that avails or not
Is what I say to my own heart in plot.

35 When it was day, the magistrates
Sent officers, saying in rates,
“Let those men go to their estates.”
36 The prison keeper told this thing
To Paul at last in his saying
“The rulers have sent word to let
You go. So leave in peace well set.”
37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten
Us openly, uncondemned meeting
Of Romans, and thrown us in gaol.
And now they'd put us out to hale
In secret? Not by a long sight.
Let them come themselves in our right
And take us out.” 38 The officers
Told these words to the ruling fers,
And they feared when they heard that they
Were Romans and Romans to stay.
39 Then they came and pleaded with them
And brought them out, by stratagem
Asked them to leave from the town's hem.
40 So they went out of gaol and came
Into Lydia's place and game,
And when they'd see the brothers there,
They strengthened them and left their share.

Apologies by those who wield the sword
Are only made when caught, embarrassed, floored.
The fear of their superior alone
Will tempt them to apologize, atone.
I've found that giving quick apologies
Embarrasses the rulers on their knees,
And makes the common clerk blush in degrees.
It is a thing to laugh about, not groan.
Beloved, I stand apologizing now
That I'm so slow to see Your hand and brow
Upon the silent countenance to wakes
Beneath the hill in birchen, aspen stakes.
In winter I apologize again
For having no leaves standing on my den.

ACTS 17

1 When they'd passed through Amphipolis
And Apollonia not to miss
Coming to Thessalonica,
Where there was a synagogue's draw
For the Jews, 2 then Paul in his way
Went in to them and for the sway
Of three Sabbaths reason with them
From the Scriptures, 3 explaining gem
And showing that the Christ must come
To suffer and rise up in sum
From the dead: “This one that I preach
To you is the Christ, he's a peach.”
4 Some of them were convinced at that,
A great crowd from the Greeks that sat
In the faith, and not few among
The leading women, joined the rung
Of Paul and Silas who had sung.
5 But the Jews who were not persuaded,
Were jealous and they took paraded
Some wicked men from marketplace,
And gathered a crowd set in trace
Of all the city in a roar,
Attacked the house of Jason sore,
And tried to bring them out to see
The folk. 6 But when they did not find
Them, they dragged Jason and some free
Brothers to the magistrates wined
Shouting, “These who have turned the world
Upside down came here too uncurled.
7 “Jason has harboured them, and these
Are all acting against decrees
Of Caesar, saying there's another
King, Jesus, reigning with his mother.”
8 They troubled the crowd and the rulers
Of the city when they heard foolers
Of these things. 9 So when they had taken
Security from Jason's bacon
And the rest, then they let them go,
And in their acting were not slow.

The world's been spinning upside down since they
Went out defending all the world one day
From the oppression of the royal crowd:
Since Rome spoke with the dragon words aloud.
Another king? May Your dear heart forbid,
Beloved, we keep another under lid,
While David chafes in the tomb where he hid
To spend the centuries with his dead kid.
It's envy always breeds the magistrates
Involvement in the neighbour's loves and hates.
They always demand bail, and post a fine
Before they go back home to drink and dine.
I'll bet on resurrections if I may,
Despite the darkened streets and lonely way.

10 Then the brothers immediately
Sent Paul and Silas by decree
Away in the night to Berea.
When they arrived, they went into
The synagogue there of the Jew.

Berea is the place I long to be,
Where Scriptures are read, re-read readily,
And taught and sought and thought about daily.
Berea is the place and the degree.
The sea, the cliffs, the mountains where the sky
Comes down to touch the earth both sweet and dry,
All catch my waiting ear and roving eye,
All worry at the start and to comply.
Beloved, set sail with me to that far place
Under the eye of modern, ancient Thrace,
And I will turn beneath the sail to trace
The lines of love that make Your noble face.
The last time we went sailing for a dove
A raven entered in upon our love.

11 These were more fair-minded than those
In the Thessalonican rows,
For they received the word right fast,
And searched the Scriptures in the cast
Of every day whether these things
Were so. 12 Therefore many in rings
Believed, and also not a few
Of the Greeks, and the women too
As well as men. 13 But when the Jew
Crowd from Thessalonica knew
The word of God was preached by Paul
At Berea, they came to fall
There also and stirred up the crowd.
14 Then straight off the brothers allowed
Sent Paul away, to go to sea,
But both Silas and Timothy
Stayed there. 15 So those who guided Paul
Brought him to Athens to install,
And getting a command for Silas
And Timothy to come to guyless
As fast as can, they both set off.
16 While Paul waited for them to scoff
At Athens, his heart was provoked
Within him when he saw invoked
In that city idols uncloaked.
17 And so he argued with the Jews
There in the synagogue, abused
The worshipers, and in the mart
Each day with those who came to start.

I'm silent at the market place, I find
It is illegal to raise voice unwined
Without a paper duly sought and signed
By magistrates that I have not combined
With the subversive ways of the unblind.
So I am silent in the market place,
Though I look on, and I search every face
To see if there is anywhere the trace
Of love and light, obedience to You
Revealed in lineaments of roving crew.
I daily walk the margin of the town,
I daily drink the hostile smile and frown,
And know the doors are shut that in a stroke
Might have been opened underneath the smoke.

18 Then some philosophers met him,
Epicurean and Stoics grim.
Some said “What does this babbler say?”
Others replied, “he seems to pay
Attention to some foreign gods,”
Because he preached them on the sods
From which Jesus rose up with clods.
19 And so they took him and brought him
To the Areopagus trim,
Saying, “May we know what this new
Doctrine is which you speak of true?
20 “For you bring strange things to our ears.
So we want to know what appears.”
21 All the Athenians and all
The foreigners there on the wall
Did nothing but relate and hear
Anything new that would appear.

Ask me, fine friend and stranger in the way,
Ask me if I've an answer for the day
And for the struggle to find in the fray
The peace that all men need beneath the ray
Of sun and moon, beneath the guiding stars
That drip their incense from a reddened Mars.
Or if you will not ask, I shall repeat
The note I've spoken from desert retreat:
The answer to all ills and the reply
To praise and joy unravelled from the sky,
Is Decalogue alone, one God to be
A haven and a Sabbath of the free,
A harbour for the parent and the bride,
A place of refuge and a room to hide.

22 So Paul stood up there in the place,
The Areopagus to trace
And said “Men of Athens, I see
In all things your religious spree,
23 “For as I was passing through and
Looking at your altars that stand,
I even found an altar there
With this inscription, and I share:
To the unknown God lying bare.
Therefore, the One you worship though
You do not know him in the show,
That one I proclaim to your row.
24 “God, who made the world and all things,
Since He's Lord of both heavenly rings
And earth, does not live in the fair
Temples made with human hands' care.
25 “Nor is He worshipped with men’s hands,
As though He needed any lands,
Since He gives to all life and breath,
And all things from their birth to death.
26 “And he has made from one blood each
Nation of men to live and reach
All the face of the earth, and set
Their times and boundaries where they're met.
27 “So that they should seek YHWH, in hope
That they might grope for Him, not pope,
And find Him, though He is not far
From each of us, failure or star,
28 “For in him we live and we move
And have our being, as would prove
Some of your own poets who said,
‘For we're also his offspring bred.’
29 “Therefore, since we are the offspring
Of God, we ought not think the thing
That the Divine Nature is like
Gold or silver or stone, or spike
Shaped by art and human hand's strike.

Beloved, You are unknown to me, though I
Have daily traced Your image on the sky,
And found Your footprints ranging on my heart
In infinite safaris from the start.
Beloved, You are unknown, all I address
Are certain You're a spirit to confess,
Above, beyond material in mess.
If so, as every true man must believe,
You are a nothingness that I retrieve.
You are not gold nor any metal rare,
That what are You, still thinner than the air?
You leave tracks like the crow's tracks on the sod,
Well frozen where the rattling of the pod
Still whispers to the wind of the true God.

30 “True these times of ignorance God
Overlooked, but now He commands
All men everywhere to repent,
31 “Because He has set a day spent
On judging the world in justice,
By the man he's ordained to kiss.
He's given assurance of this
To all by raising him up from
The dead and made alive in sum.”

If You are in a place beyond the trace
Of fond Orion as the teacher race
In my childhood was fast to make embrace,
You are too far from me to see my face.
If you are in a place too close to me
To meet my eye across the table's tea,
Then you cannot reveal to hand and heart
The truth of Your own being and Your part.
I taste the crumb, I drink the wine, the tart
Seduces tongue, I scramble for the cart.
Is there life for the turkey after thanks?
Or for the porker after Christmas banks?
If You can resurrect the tasty meal,
I will believe in everything I feel.

32 When they heard of the resurrection
Of the dead, some mocked in rejection,
While others said, “Let's hear you later.”
33 So Paul just left them there to cater.
34 Yet some men joined him and believed,
Among them Dionysius sleeved
The Areopagite to miss,
And a woman named Damaris,
And others with them in their bliss.

There's always an excuse to send the guy
Who tells the truth away, and make him fly.
The only word that's popular to hear
Is when the eye is blind, and deaf the tear.
Damaris is a lady that I know
Who came to save the world and save the show,
And so I search the world from every turn
To find that lady come in what I earn.
Dionysius is named for that great god
Who clambered over death beneath the sod
To find the light of mystery to glow
On everyone who lays hand on the row.
There's always an excuse to follow blind
The wind that pretends it is sweet and kind.

ACTS 18

1 After these things Paul went away
From Athens to find Corinth's day.
2 And there he found a certain Jew
Named Aquila, born in the view
Of Pontus, who had recently
Come with his wife from Italy,
Priscilla was her name, because
Claudius had made Jewish laws,
That they should leave Rome, and he came
To them in Corinth with his dame.
3 So because he did the same work,
He stayed with them and did not shirk,
They were tentmakers, both the same.
4 He discoursed in the synagogue
Every Sabbath, in dialogue
With both Jews and the Gentile frog.
5 When Silas and Timothy came
From Macedonia, the flame
Of the Spirit compelled Paul too
To testily before the Jew
That Jesus is the Christ in view.
6 But when they had opposed him and
Blasphemed, he shook garments in hand
And said to them, “Your blood be on
Your own heads, I'm clean. From now on
I will go to the Gentiles' pawn.”

Tentmaker preachers are the best, I know,
Ed Elwall if no other told me so.
If there's a creed behind the arm of church
That pays the need in kind from harm of perch,
Then there's a belly of a pope to seal
The tongue and message by the turn of heel.
Tentmaker preachers have the best appeal.
Beloved, I preach to wall and stony path,
To pine and birch beneath celestial wrath,
And some may hear and some may turn away,
And even crickets only stop a day.
But where I open heart to joy and gloom,
I preach the word of coming cloud and doom,
And rest my soul on Your bed in Your room.

7 And he departed from there and
Entered a certain house, one manned
By one named Justus, who served God,
Whose house was next door to the broad
Synagogue. 8 Then Crispus, the chief
Of the synagogue, had belief
In the Lord with all his house too.
And many Corinthians too,
Heard, believed, were baptized in crew.
9 Now the Lord spoke to Paul at night
By a vision, “Do not take fright,
But speak now, and do not keep still,
10 “For I am with you, at the kill
No one will attack you or hurt,
For I have many folk alert
In this town.” 11 And he stayed a year
And six months, teaching without fear
The word of God to them to steer.

Some hear Your voice, or say they do, but I
Doubt in the audience beneath the sky.
I hear the twitter and the rustle come
In still small voices, and I hear the sum
Of nature speaking in the mystic voice
Of the wood voices speaking to rejoice,
But never do I hear the words take shape
In meaning human and come in to drape
Across my dreams of light or darker choice.
Beloved, I am no St. Paul, no, nor saint,
But You might speak to smaller men and faint
Who in the crowd of come and go reside
In hope beneath the greater human pride.
Speak to the woollen-garbed, one without cape.

12 When Gallio in Achaia sat
As proconsul, the Jews in spat
With one accord rose to attack
Paul and brought him to judgement whack,
13 Saying “This fellow persuades men
To worship God against the slack
Of the law.” 14 And when Paul would speak
Gallio told the Jews with cheek,
“If it were issue of wrongdoing
Or wicked crimes of him ensuing,
O Jews, there would be reason why
I should bear with you, or I'd try.
15 “But if it's to do with the words
And names and your own laws and herds,
Look to it yourselves, for I do
Not want to be a judge in pew.”
16 And he drove them from judgment seat.
17 Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes,
The ruler of the synagogue,
And beat him before judgment seat.
But Gallio took no note in fog.

Good Gallio one without harms or disgrace
Invented separation in this place
Between the state and church and sent the clerics
All packing with their intrigues and their lyrics.
That would be well enough, except the man
Turned a blind eye upon the priestly plan
To beat Sosthenes at the judgement seat:
Distinction between church and market street
Brings justice only if without defeat
The anti-Semite is not free to act
Against the law and against peace in fact.
Beloved, since Rome arose there's been no change
As humankind burns kind eye on the range
Of sales and profits, gaining what they lacked.

18 So Paul still stayed there a long time.
Then he departed from his prime
Brothers and sailed for Syria,
And Priscilla and Aquila
Were with him. And he had his hair
Cut off at Cenchrea in share
Of a vow he had taken there.

Paul is a Pharisee under the law
And always will agree in humble awe
With Your commands. But see here, what's this thing?
The vow requires no razor nor the sting
Of cutting hair at all. So why does Paul
Cut off his hair when he's against the wall?
I fear to guess, Beloved, because I know
He's made it so his keeping law won't show.
If he starts out his vow with hair cut short,
It won't have time to grow before the sport
Has run through the time of his vow, and none
Will realize at all what Paul has done.
I disapprove of circumvention of
The law to save the Romans' faith and love.

19 And he came to Ephesus, and
Left them there, but he came to stand
In synagogue to dialogue
With the Jews. 20 They begged him to stay
A longer time with them in sway,
But he would not, 21 but took his leave
Of them, saying “I must receive
This near feast in Jerusalem,
But I'll come back to you again,
In sha Allah.” He joined the men
To sail from Ephesus. 22 And when
He had landed at Caesarea,
And gone up and greeted the freer
Group of called out ones, he went down
To Antioch into the town.
23 After he had spent some time there,
He left and went over the share
Of the Galatian, Phrygian stair,
To strengthen all disciples there.

Despite the fact that Paul rejected all
The works of the law by the sacred pall
Of Protestant in harried market ball,
He rushes to the feast of ancient time
As though to miss it would have been a crime.
He could have stayed to preach to those with ear
Bent to his words this time without the fear
That some would take him to the judgement bar.
He could have stayed and been a preaching star.
Instead he went on pilgrimage to find
The holy places to the Jewish mind.
Beloved, I too have hurried on a day
Toward Jerusalem, mere hope my pay,
To find the temple mount and stop to pray.

24 Now a certain Jew named Apollos,
Born in Alexandrian town,
An eloquent man of renown,
And mighty in Scriptures to stall us,
Came up to Ephesus. 25 This man
Had been instructed in the plan
Of the Lord, and in spirit strong,
He spoke and taught right things along
Of the Lord, though he only knew
The baptism of John and crew.
26 So he began to speak up bold
There in the synagogue and told.
When Aquila and Priscilla
Heard him, they took him by the claw
Aside and explained him the way
Of God in detailed light of day.
27 And when he wanted to cross to
Achaia, the brothers in crew
Wrote to exhort disciples there
To receive him and keep in care,
And when he got there, he became
A great help to those in the name
Believing through grace, 28 for he spoke
Unsparingly to Jewish folk
In refutation publicly,
Avowing from Scriptures' decree
That Jesus is the Christ to be.

While Paul went off to keep the yearly feast
And left the willing synagogue decreased,
Apollos came to fill the void and tell
The story of repentance loud and well.
No man is indispensable for grace,
You always have another in his place
To right the song and run the frugal race.
The truth is known by great down to the least.
Beloved, I barely touch my lyre and then
My lips are hushed in presence of all men.
As the word is increased in heart the tongue
Is turned aside where youthful bells had rung.
I wake the torrent of my task and touch
The flowers of memory that I still clutch.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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