The new

Haiku responding to Hebrews 12:18-29

It is diff'rent now,

not like in the past, with God

clothed in fire and smoke.

Trembling and awe,

encountering God with fear;

that's how it once was.

You who are in Christ

meet the living God with joy

and great festival.

We come to Jesus,

who forged the new covenant

between us and God.

Do not refuse him

when he speaks words of freedom,

accept his life-gift.

God speaks: creation

trembles. Earthly things will pass;

those from God remain.

God's promised kingdom

cannot be shaken. It's ours;

God's gift. Be thankful.

Showing gratitude,

we bring our worship to God,

along with our lives.

© Ken Rookes 2025

Under attack

Christianity is under attack! they cry.

I respond inwardly, keeping my thoughts to myself.

Good! It has been ever so,

or at least, it should have been.

I will join in the attack,

there is so much that denies the kingdom,

so much that despises the words

that we declare came from the carpenter’s lips.

He was up-front with his followers,

told how he would suffer, be put to death

for the words he spoke, the things he did.

Said they could expect the same.

We are frightened

watching with alarm as the privileges of our glorious past

are challenged and slowly stripped away.

This cannot be God’s will! Surely this is not right!

But, perhaps it is right;

maybe it is God’s will. When all else is removed;

when what remains of Christianity

is love, bleeding and incarnate,

then we might be said to have arrived

at the gates of the kingdom,

and we should have cause to rejoice.

Ken Rookes 2024

In patriarchy

Haiku of the powerless

In patriarchy

women are commodities;

discard when it suits.

They ask, Can a man

lawfully divorce his wife?

How will he answer?

What did Moses say?

A simple certificate

to dismiss will do.

You misogynists!

Because you are hard of heart

Moses gave this law!

In God’s great purpose

two people come together

to be joined as one.

Together as one

in mutual support, love;

marriage is God’s gift.

The twelve gate-keepers

were dismissing the children;

Jesus takes offence.

Let the children come;

the kingdom belongs to them.

They bring God’s blessings.

Powerless children;

by grace alone they receive.

So, too, must you come.

© Ken Rookes 2021

Growth

 

Haiku of the kingdom

Agricultural

metaphors abound: seeds, growth

and much fruitfulness.

Here is the kingdom;

seed is scattered on the ground,

grows in ways unseen.

How does the seed grow?

Who can understand? Who cares,

we’ll still harvest it!

Again, the kingdom

is like a mustard seed; small,

but great potential!

A home for the birds;

a great outcome for this seed,

small and unacclaimed.

Parables sneak up,

catching hearers by surprise;

life-giving wisdom.

Great story-telling

Jesus! Drawing us in, and

disturbing our thoughts!

© Ken Rookes 2021

A final kingdom image

Haiku for ruminants

Matthew delivers

a final kingdom image:

sheep, goats and judgement.

The sheep receive praise,

commendation for their acts

of love and service.

Hungry or thirsty,

naked, stranger, in prison;

so many need help!

So much injustice,

while those who pretend to care

only want power.

As you act with love

to the least of my fam’ly

you show love to me.

On the other hand,

the goats stand condemned, having

failed to practise love.

Jesus, Son of Man,

measures kingdom credentials

by love and service.

© Ken Rookes 2020

It will be like this

Haiku of the Kingdom

Lots of parables;

what will the kingdom be like?

It will be like this!

The mustard seed, small,

sown in a field, growing large;

a home for the birds.

Yeast, mixed with flour,

three measures, causing the bread

to rise and become.

A hidden treasure,

uncovered; sell ev’rything

and purchase the field!

A merchant, searching

for pearls, finds the perfect one;

sells ev’rything else.

The net that catches

all kinds of fish; sort them out,

discard the useless.

Do you understand?

You are like a scribe finding

new and old treasures.

© Ken Rookes 2020

When the harvest comes

Haiku for judging

The kingdom of God,

what is it like? A story

agricultural.

An enemy comes

by night, sows weeds with the wheat,

and then goes away

Good mixed with the bad,

how quick we are to rush in;

how quickly we judge.

Growing together,

weeds and wheat: strange companions,

until the harvest.

Take time, seek the fruits;

these alone will determine

what is good and bad.

Jesus sows the seeds,

the children of the kingdom

produce righteous fruit.

Judgement is waiting

for the children of darkness

at the age’s end.

The righteous will shine

like the sun in God’s kingdom.

Do not wait to shine.

© Ken Rookes 2020

Sent ahead

Haiku for mission

Seventy, there were,

in pairs, sent ahead of him

with a word of peace.

Jesus said to them,

The harvest is plentiful,

we must bring it in.

Be a labourer.

Tell of the kingdom’s good news;

touch them with new life.

You will be like lambs;

vulnerable. It’s all right;

that’s the way it is.

Those who follow me

must deal with hostility.

It is always so.

Travel light; no bag,

no purse. Don’t be distracted

from the work of peace.

Some will welcome you.

Stay with them, be satisfied.

Bring healing, breathe hope.

It is coming near,

God’s kingdom; we’re bringing it.

This is a great work.

Rejoining Jesus

they spoke with joy and wonder

of what they had seen.

© Ken Rookes 2019

So you are a king?

Haiku for a trial

The procurator

knew what the job demanded;

kept the lid on things.

Pontius Pilate

found the case most perplexing;

called him in again.

Let’s not mess around:

Are you the king of the Jews?

How will he reply?

Jesus answered him.

What do they say about me,

what makes you ask this?

Hey, I’m not a Jew!

Your own people turned on you;

what is it you’ve done?

It’s not from this world,

my kingdom. No, otherwise

we would be fighting.

My kingdom is found

in another realm, where peace,

love and justice rule.

So you are a king?

Pilate keeps on questioning,

cannot understand.

All earthly kingdoms

self-destruct, bring only pain

and futility.

This worldly kingdom,

wherein we dwell, is rooted

in greed, wealth and fear.

For this I have come,

to speak truth. Listen to me;

let me be your king.

© Ken Rookes 2018

Some came seeking truth

Haiku for the wise

Not all of the scribes

were counted as enemies;

some came seeking truth.

One brought a question

to Jesus, not to trick him,

but to understand.

Of all God’s commands,

which is the one that comes first,

which is the greatest?

The shema, he said.

The Lord is one: Love the Lord

with heart, mind and strength.

The second is this:

You are to love your neighbour

as you love yourself.

The scribe was impressed.

These are very good answers,

there is none better.

You show great wisdom,

you are close to God’s kingdom,

responded Jesus.

Close to God’s kingdom,

nearing the destination!

Yes, I would take that!

© Ken Rookes 2018

One thing is lacking

Running to Jesus

he knelt: For life eternal,

tell me what to do?

Jesus answered him;

You should know what God commands;

do these things and live.

Teacher, since my youth

I have kept the laws of God.

Jesus looked with love.

One thing is lacking:

Go, sell what you own, and give

it all to the poor.

Then come, follow me,

your wealth will be in heaven;

you will know true life.

The man was dismayed;

his possessions were many,

he could not let go.

How hard it will be

for the wealthy to enter

the kingdom of God..

Camels will pass through

a needle’s eye easier.

The rich will struggle.

Who then can be saved?

Mortals cannot achieve it,

God makes it happen.

You who have left home

to tread the kingdom’s pathways

will be rewarded.

© Ken Rookes 2018

They brought their children

Haiku of blessing

They came to test him,

the Pharisees, loving law;

What about divorce?

For your heart’s hardness,

Moses permitted divorce.

Human brokenness.

Two becoming one:

a generous unity

and image of love

They brought their children

to be embraced by Jesus,

seeking his blessing.

The twelve gatekeepers,

also known as disciples,

spoke sternly to them.

Let them come to me,

said Jesus indignantly,

and do not stop them.

To children like these

the kingdom of God belongs;

enter like a child.

He took the children

into his arms, blessing them,

declaring God’s love.

© Ken Rookes 2018

The kingdom

Haiku of emerging abundance.

The kingdom of God!

A diff’rent reality,

strange, unexpected.

The seeds are scattered.

The sower gets on with life;

the seeds sprout and grow.

First the stalk, the head,

then the grain swells full and ripe,

and the harvest comes!

Take a mustard seed,

the tiniest of them all;

grows big for the birds.

The kingdom of God;

growing fruitful love, justice;

though we may not see.

Many parables,

riddles to confuse and hide;

his friends understand.

The kingdom of God;

when God rules in hearts and minds,

grace and love abound.

© Ken Rookes 2018

What is the kingdom like?

Haiku of discovery

Like a mustard seed,

small, seeming of no account;

yet it surprises.

Like yeast mixed for bread,

lost in the flour’s abundance;

transforming presence.

Like treasure hidden

in a field and forgotten;

a most welcome find.

Like a collector

who searches for a lifetime,

chancing on the prize.

When you find your pearl

nothing else really matters;

you must possess it.

So with the kingdom,

this way of being, of life

abundant and true.

When we were children

they told us of these things; now

they have become real.

© Ken Rookes 2017

The harvest is great

He travelled about,

teaching in their synagogues,

proclaiming good news.

Jesus wept for them:

like sheep without a shepherd,

helpless and harrassed.

Call out to the Lord,

more labourers are needed;

the harvest awaits.

So much to be done

to bring peace, healing, wholeness,

forgiveness and hope.

The time had arrived.

He called the twelve together,

gave them the challenge.

Heal, bring life and love,

show them the kingdom is near.

Teach them about God.

Do it in my name.

Show God's generosity,

don't expect payment,

Bring in the harvest;

gather the people who love

into the kingdom.

© Ken Rookes 2017

Magnificat: a haiku sequence.

Haiku for a revolution

A young teenager,

so the ancient story says,

offered up a song.

The girl is with child;

this is a thing of wonder,

of hope and of joy.

Nobody special,

she is God's lowly servant;

humble, accepting.

Magnifying God,

she sang with praise, rejoicing

at God's strange favour.

Mercy unconfined,

across the generations,

for those who trust God.

God's strength surprises

to scatter the great and proud

in their vanity.

From their noble thrones

the powerful are brought down.

Let the day come close.

The poor, down-trodden;

these will be elevated

to God's chosen place.

The hungry will eat,

they will dine upon good food;

the rich will miss out.

From this young girl's lips

came words of revolution.

Most disconcerting.

© Ken Rookes 2016

When John heard in prison

Haiku of enquiry

 

We missed you, Baptist;

your amusing desert rants

made us think again.

The authorities

were less amused; took offense,

waited for their chance.

If you'd stopped and thought

you might have backed off, instead

you're locked in prison.

So you sent your mates

to find out what's happening.

They seek out Jesus.

They ask: are you he,

the one we are expecting,

or do we still wait?

Open up your eyes,

what do you see, and hear,

as you look about?

The blind see again,

lepers are being made clean,

the lame are walking.

And as for the poor,

they're hearing the good news

with joy and with hope.

Go, tell the prophet

that God's kingdom has come near.

Tell him: be at peace.

© Ken Rookes 2016

There is a place

They say there is a place, a state;

a sacred somewhere.

Distant; but not always.

A mystery glimpsed, at times,

on other occasions, cloud-shrouded

with shimmering smoke, obscured

such that only the persistent

will gaze long and hard enough

to be certain it is there.

A place that is there to be found by those who search;

a few stumble upon it.

Their surprise and delight is great.

There, meaning is written sharply,

truths are incandescent

and painted on walls.

There, light shines with the clear brightness

of autumn late afternoons,

the loving is fierce,

and justice compels.

This elusive place appears

as a flash glimpsed

for a moment among the shadows;

where mystery's flickering panorama excites

and calls to the depths

to awaken aches and earnings.

Seek, the man once instructed his friends.

You will find; and watch

as the divinely dusted universe

opens to disclose its possibilities.

© Ken Rookes 2016

Shine

If Jesus had been strolling around

southern Australia today,

rather than Palestine in the first-century,

he'd have dropped his fig-tree metaphor

and gone with the Jacaranda.

“Look at the Jacaranda,” he'd say.

“When it puts forth its purple-Advent flowers,

to compete luminescently

with the sky and to carpet the earth below

in a circle of blue;

can summer be far behind?

No; nor God's kingdom.”

Hail to you, wondrous tree of purple;

botanical immigrant,

transplanted two hundred years ago

from another new world.

Your dazzling hue has ensured your welcome.

Like the land's many human inhabitants

you regard yourself as a true-born native,

among the greens, reds and yellows

of indigenous eucalypts and wattles.

Hail, Jacaranda!

The arboretum's John the Prophet,

landscape herald of one who is coming

and of the remarkable kingdom

of hope and justice.

(For which, we still yearn.)

For a month you shine, harbinger

of the extraordinary,

until your flowers fall and fade,

your leaves of green resume their rightful place,

and we are returned to our ordinary lives.

There our achings are embraced,

tasks and challenges are taken up,

and we get on with it.

© Ken Rookes 2015

Silenced

In the fears and uncertainties of first century Jewish politics

an insecure monarch lusts after the niece
who also doubles as his step-daughter.
At a birthday banquet,
the girl entices the gathered dignitaries
with a dance.
Arousing, provocative,
teasing and taunting;
she knows how to shake it.


In the old man’s fantasy foolishness
half a kingdom is offered
as the prize for his pleasant titillation.
A prophet's head,
severed from its outspoken owner'’s body
and proffered upon a platter,
is the price prescribed
by the girl’s vengeful mother.


A king's self-importance is never a small thing.
His ego expands even further
in the presence of multiple weighty witnesses;
the offending voice will be silenced.
For good.


It's been all about power, lust, politics, pride, and retribution.
Between them, over the next two millennia and beyond,
these evils will account for the larger part
of the world’s pain and sorrow.

During that time other offensive voices will be raised

and many will be silenced.
But an outrageous few will recklessly persist
so that the kingdom,
the kingdom grounded in love and truth and sacrifice
will come;
one day,
as promised.

© Ken Rookes 2015