PreacherRhetorica
  • Home and to sermons
    • Year B frontispiece >
      • Proper 5B
      • Seventh of Easter
      • Sixth of Easter
      • Fifth of Easter
      • Fourth of Easter homily
      • Third of Easter
      • Second of Easter
      • Easter Day
      • Maundy Thursday
      • Palm Sunday
      • Lent 5
      • Next Before Lent
      • Presentation (Epiphany 4)
      • Third of Epiphany
      • Second of Epiphany
      • Epiphany (2)
      • Epiphany
      • Holy Innocents
      • Christmas
      • The Reign of Christ (Proper 29B)
      • Christ the King (Proper 29B)
      • Proper 28B (2nd Bf Advent)
      • 3rd Bf Advent (CofE)
      • Proper 27B
      • All Saints Sunday
      • Proper 26B
      • Proper 25B
      • Simon and Jude
      • Proper 24B
      • Proper 23B
      • Proper 22B
      • Proper 22B homily
      • Proper 21B
      • Proper 20B
      • Proper 19B
      • Proper 18B sermon
      • Proper 18B performance poem
      • Proper 17B
      • Proper 16B
      • Proper 15B
      • Proper 14B
      • Proper 13B
      • Proper 12B
      • Mary Magdalene homily
      • Proper 11B
      • Proper 10B
      • Proper 9B homily
      • Proper 8B
      • Birth of John the Baptist
      • Proper 7B homily
      • Proper 6B
      • Trinity Sunday
      • Pentecost
      • Lent 4 Mothering Sunday
      • Lent 3
      • Lent 2
      • Lent 1
      • 2nd Before Lent
      • 3rd Before Lent
      • 2nd of Christmas B homily
      • Christmas Day
      • Advent 4B
      • Advent 3B
      • Advent 2B
      • Advent 1B homily
      • Year A frontispiece >
        • Proper 28A (2 Bf Advent)
        • Proper 27A (3 Bf Advent)
        • Proper 26A (4 Bf Advent)
        • Proper 25A Last after Trinity
        • Proper 24A
        • Proper 23A
        • Proper 22A
        • Proper 21A
        • St Matthew
        • Proper 20A
        • Proper 19A
        • Proper 18A
        • Proper 17A
        • Proper 16A
        • Proper 15A
        • Proper 14A
        • Proper 13A
        • Proper 12A
        • Proper 11A
        • Proper 10A
        • Proper 9A
        • Proper 8A
        • Proper 7A
        • Trinity Sunday (Homily)
        • Pentecost
        • Seventh of Easter (Sunday after Ascension)
        • Sixth of Easter
        • Fifth of Easter
        • Fourth of Easter
        • Third of Easter
        • Second of Easter
        • Easter (Poem)
        • Maundy Thursday
        • Palm Sunday
        • Lent 5
        • Lent 4
        • Lent 3
        • Lent 2
        • Lent 1
        • Next Bf Lent (Epiphany last)
        • 2 Bf Lent (Proper 3)
        • Epiphany 7 (RCL)
        • Epiphany 6 (3 Bf Lent)
        • Epiphany 5 (4 Bf Lent)
        • Presentation of Christ
        • Epiphany 3
        • Epiphany 2
        • Baptism of Christ (Epiphany 1)
        • The Epiphany
        • Second Sunday of Christmas
        • First Sunday of Christmas
        • Christmas Day
        • Advent 4A
        • Advent 3A
        • Advent 2A
        • Advent 1A
        • Christ the King Yr A (2)
        • Christ the King Yr A
        • Remembrance Sunday
        • All Saints' Sunday
        • Harvest Homily
        • Harvest
        • Admission of Pastoral Workers
        • Saint Thomas homily
        • Corpus Christi
        • Trinity Sunday
        • Pentecost
        • Pentecost: another example
        • Year C frontispiece >
          • Christ the King (Next bf Advent)
          • Proper 28C (2nd bf Advent)
          • Proper 27C (3rd bf Advent)
          • Proper 26C (4th bf Advent)
          • Proper 25C (Last after Trinity)
          • Proper 24C
          • Proper 23C
          • Proper 22C
          • St Michael & All Angels (homily)
          • Proper 21C
          • Proper 20C
          • Proper 19C (story sermon)
          • Proper 18C
          • Proper 17C
          • Proper 16C
          • Proper 15C
          • Proper 14C
          • Proper 13C
          • Proper 12C
          • Proper 11C
          • Proper 10C
          • Proper 9C
          • Proper 8C
          • Proper 7C
          • Proper 6C performance poem
          • Proper 5C
          • Proper 4C
          • Trinity
          • Pentecost homily
          • Seventh of Easter
          • Ascension Day
          • Sixth of Easter
          • Fifth of Easter
          • Fourth of Easter
          • Third of Easter
          • Second of Easter
          • Easter homily
          • Easter (story sermon)
          • Maundy Thursday
          • Palm Sunday
          • Lent 5C
          • Mothering Sunday
          • Lent 4C homily
          • Lent 3C (story sermon)
          • Lent 2C
          • Lent 1C
          • Ash Wednesday homily
          • Next Bf Lent/Last of Epiphany
          • Epiphany 4 (RCL)
          • Second Before Lent
          • Presentation of Christ
          • Fourth of Epiphany
          • Third of Epiphany
          • Baptism of Christ
          • The Epiphany
          • First of Christmas homily
          • Christmas Day homily
          • Christmas Day
          • Advent 4C
          • Advent 3C
          • Advent 2C
          • Advent 1C
        • Non-lectionary sermons >
          • Plough Sunday
          • Advent and Christmas ideas
          • Christmas Day homily
          • A Christmas Tale
          • Remembrance 2013
          • Remembrance Sunday
          • Harvest homily 2
          • Harvest
          • Harvest homily
          • Harvest Water
          • New Pastoral Ministry
        • Ascension
  • Homiletics
    • A Definition of Preaching
    • Speaking locally
    • Notes from a masterclass
    • Design analysis 1
    • Design analysis 2
    • Encouraging feedback
    • Preaching in an amnesic society
    • The Aldi bag syndrome
    • Blog
  • Disciplecraft
  • Recommended
    • Preaching Fools
  • Second of Epiphany

You Have Heard It Said - a performance poem
Epiphany 6 (Third Before Lent)
Matthew 5.21 -37

Picture
[This poem aims to make one point from the Gospel reading: although Jesus uses there well known phrases, he asks his hearers to recognize that holiness of life requires more than the commonplace understandings of those phrases. This poem uses the structure of the sayings in the Gospel to examine
well-known proverbial sayings with the same intent. The Jesus Way requires of us
more than commonplace thoughts and responses. The piece doesn't claim to be  great poetry, and you are welcome to amend it as you see fit. It is simply an attempt to reframe the challenge of Jesus using contemporary commonplace sayings.]

You have heard it was said
Charity begins at home
Your care
confined by what you know.
But I say to you            
     love is not bound,
     it stretches your will,       
     enlarging your soul,            
     confounding constraint        
  
    and making you bleed.
For if you care alone for those near,
what have you learnt
but to subsist?

You have heard it was said
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks
Your learning of life dulled by your age.
But I say to you            
     the tree grows until its dying  day,            
     living is learning,            
     experience and the new            
     knocking on each other,         
     making discipleship true.
For if you know only yesterday’s answer,
where will you meet
the risen Christ anew?

You have heard it was said
A friend in need is a friend indeed
Your action spurred by trouble or demand.
But I say to you            
     an ally anticipates,            
     knows before the alarm     
     the urge to empathy,            
     the need to act
     and intervene for the good.
For if you wait for the call — hesitant, reserved --
can the name ‘friend’
be a true title to you?

You have heard it was said
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
Your imagination held tight by what is.
But I say to you            
     a better way there may be            
     sight isn’t vision,            
     what’s comfortable can be a sham,          
     how things are            
     excludes too much.
For if you let what is, be all
where do you see
the Kingdom’s changing call? 
 
You have heard it was said
A little of what you fancy does you good
Your cravings directing what you feel whole.
But I say to you              
     your fancy is often a fraud,            
     indulgent, self-satisfying,            
     pretending to control          
     a reason that’s false,           
     to fool your own self.
For if you measure your pleasure
by only what appeals
whose will is done?


You have heard it was said
Blood is thicker than water
Ties of birth determine who’s kin.
But I say to you            
     kin is belonging            
     that’s given by God,            
     ties that bind            
     are as wide as           
     sovereign grace.
For if you make your clan sole affinity
where then is God’s plan
for inclusion that heals?

You have heard it was said 
Paddle your own canoe
All that matters is the self that is you. 
But I say to you            
     the self so insistent
     was made in the encounter of others,            
     their touch and their care,   
     made you —you,            
     created your space to occupy.
For if you seek just what satisfies you
where will you be in
making others other?

You have heard it was said
Children should be seen and not heard
For they have yet to earn a place in the world.
But I say to you            
     now is the time             
     to live and respect,            
     not tomorrow and not yet,     
     joy is for now
     it’s not an adult’s sole inheritance.
For if you deny the children voices
how may you know
the things that you’ve lost?

You have heard it was said 
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
For I am the arbiter of what appeals.
But I say to you           
     the patterns of life so vast   
     is in more than you can see,            
     empathy, knowing and delight,            
     so much bigger, grander,           
     than one take of what’s in sight.
For if you see only what suits you now,
where’s the space into which
your soul may grow?

You have heard it was said
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
A golden rule that encompasses all.
But I say to you        
   that is the meaning of prophets and Law,            
   and not a stroke, not a comma,             
   of them shall be undone,           
   but the grace that I bring             
   gives more ...
For if your righteousness gives what you would get
does it not make a bargain
of what can only be free?

Here is the notion,
Here is the action
In the realm where grace is all:
Not commonplace, not easy,
Not ‘as was said.’
Nor what’s agreeable,
Just the enigma of a God
With an earthly frame
Calling us on --
Not to abolish but to fulfil
And to seek in all things
The Divine will.

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photo used under Creative Commons from Håkan Dahlström