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gentle peace.
the day,
the sky,
whispered breeze.

posted by Geoff Bullock at 5:59 pm 2 comments the frail and broken kind,
the flawed and tattered faith
of humankind.
a failing faith,
a faltering faith
a faith that's weak
a faith that errs
a faith that stumbles
a faith that falls
a faith that has more questions
than it has answers.

There is a faith
that is seen in faithfulness
a faith incarnate
a faith that endures.
This faith
holds and heals,
it 'knows' and feels
it is not reliant
on who I am
what I do
or say.

A faith that lifts me up
when I am marred by life,
a faith that stands beside me
when I am scarred by strife
a faith that shines hope on a
hopeless mess
a faith that doesn't wait
until I confess.

Heaven's hope
faith in the fire
a light in the storm
complete and entire
let me place my trust
in this faith that
finds me
as I was, as I am
and as I will ever be
the all that I am
and the all that I'm not.
I place my frail faith
in the faithfulness of God.

posted by Geoff Bullock at 8:58 pm 0 comments 
May the love of God be risen I pray the past no longer haunts you
and that grace can reign supreme
so your painful memories
can heal with mercy and with time.
we all have sad secrets
our failures and our faults,
desperate disappointments
that condemn our remorseful souls.
triumphant in our lives
with hope to see the future
untarnished by the past.

posted by Geoff Bullock at 12:00 pm 0 comments 
Grace, grace, grace our hearts bursting with love
and grace.
as every pain and every shame
is covered by this grace

For we battle with the darkness
constantly shaking ourselves free
to these chains and shackles.
Grace wrestles with us all,
with our hearts and voices
as our todays and tomorrows are shaped

posted by Geoff Bullock at 4:07 pm 0 comments 

There are time when love must overwhelm pain,
There are times when grace must season the heavy soul.
I am a captive in mercy's arms,
Forgiven freely,
I can once again soar
Even though my heavy heart
Refuses to fly.
I am borne aloft on wings,
Steadfast and true.
This is my confidence,
This is my comfort.


posted by Geoff Bullock at 4:05 pm 0 comments 

When I finish my seminars on Grace and Worship I usually make the statement: "The church could easily be about to see her finest days". When we seek to understand, grasp and share grace we become, as Henri Nouwen writes. "wounded healers", the grace that heals and liberates us we extend to others, friend and enemy alike. Grace releases us from the desperation of a faith that is upheld by one's own strength. Grace brings us all onto the plateau where all are equal, where all are loved and where all are extened forgiveness. The 21st Century church needs to once again to encounter grace, a grace that renders the spiritual “pleadings”, works and endeavours, that are perfomed to gain “something more” as unnecessary, a grace that reveals our strivings as having, as Paul writes in Ephesians 4, "fallen from grace". When we plead for forgiveness from those who we have hurt and marginalised, when we cease our moral crusades and choose love and hope, when our songs are silenced as we are rendered awestruck by the majesty, the glory and the unbelievable improbability of God's love for us, then we may see Christ's body once more on this earth as his love and grace reaches out through us.

posted by Geoff Bullock at 11:08 am 0 comments Faith's response

"What would be your initial response to faith? Would it be a conservative mora,l outlook concerning sexuality, somewhere new to go on a Sunday morning, a developing of a prayer habit, a new book to read and some interesting phrases to repeat...praise the Lord even a puzzling emphasis on giving your money away?
Wouldn't grace expressing itself in compassion, love overwhelming hatred, forgiveness expressing itself towards those we have hurt rather than those who have hurt us, wouldn't this be our expression of faith?
I need faith to live in the burning light of God's love, a love that, by faith, takes up residence in every part of me, not just Sunday, not just my taste in music, prayer, communion and offering. A faith that compells and propells me to live as an outworking of love.
I need faith to change my self-centeredness, faith to see through the crust of mankind's sadnesses to have compassion on the lostness of their hearts. I need faith to face my cross, I need faith to rise in a resurrection of compassion that could express love to all who are waiting for a dawning of hope.
I need faith to believe that I am met by grace incarnate. I need faith to believe I can make a change. I need faith to "see" him whom inspires my "being", who challenges my living, who brings me to respond to the light of all he is and inspires me to be.
Perhaps that could be a Sunday with all the trimmings, however for me it is much more every other day.

posted by Geoff Bullock at 9:32 am 0 comments 

In the most sublime way God has chosen us, the weakest of all creation to prove the adequacy of grace. Amazing isn't it. He could have thrown a myriad of stars into space. Constellations, suns, planets and moons but, no, he choses you, he choses me, and, to each of all mankind, he bestows grace, mercy, love and a free will. God in his grace stands back as we grapple with the with grace we receive and the grace we give. In this way God has chosen to "need" you and me over all other created things. Astonishing!


posted by Geoff Bullock at 5:09 pm 0 comments Have you ever permitted yourself to ask a question where you may not like the answer. Have you ever asked yourself a question that may challenge everything that you believe. Faith is not found in what we believe. Faith is a journey through unbelief to find an answer. Unbelief is not an enemy to faith, rather it may be the door where we leave our knowledge behind to find the truth on the other side. Perhaps the greatest challenge to our spirituality may be to shake ourselves free of false interpretations and expectations until the real begins to emerge from the presumed.

posted by Geoff Bullock at 11:48 pm 0 comments 
The journey to "becoming" Having received grace we journey towards graciousness.

Having received forgiveness we journey towards being forgiving.

Having received mercy we journey towards being merciful

Having received love we journey towards being loving

Being accepted we journey towards being accepting.

This our worship.

posted by Geoff Bullock at 11:19 am 0 comments 

There are great themes in the life of Jesus. Themes that broke out of promises, prophecies and psalms of the Old Testament to become living in the life of Jesus. Grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, hope and acceptance became incarnate in the flesh and blood that was woven around the Son. Throughout the Gospels we see the very character of God, his "personality", take "words" and make them flesh. We see Jesus, in every encounter, showing us what it means to be a follower of God. Jesus final statement was the word sacrifice; "Not my will be done". This choice must move our worship out of our comfortable Sundays and into our days, weeks, months and years. We are challenged by his life to live a like that is a sacrifice to this unconditional and unmerited grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, hope and acceptance. Just as these words became flesh in Jesus we must, by grace, endeavour to make them flesh in us. This will require sacrifice: "not my will, but yours".

This week the Australian Government has made cruel and heartless decision on refugees. Our Democracy is a representative Government. In essence what we see in our politicians is a mirror of who we are and are becoming as a nation. I would like us to consider this in terms of our worship: our response to Christ. When Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus found out that they had become enemies of the state they fled into Egypt and God showed us, as follows of his son, just who we were following:

Jesus the refugee.

I pray that this is worthy of some thought. Perhaps "sacrifice" may take on a new meaning.

posted by Geoff Bullock at 12:01 pm 0 comments quiet my soul,
peace, my heart,
still my thoughts
pause and rest.
gentle lies the light
on the truth that is seen
wait and be patient
take time to be free.
walk, footsteps softly
hold, don't restrain
love with abundance
speak mercy and grace.
peace my heart
hear heaven's rhythm,
sing angel's song.
may the day find you with eyes open
like a child let loose to play.

posted by Geoff Bullock at 11:35 am 0 comments