What Is Your Preference?

 

 

Mask or ventilator?

To breathe or convulse?

Topside or the beyond?

Pulse or no pulse?

 

Hugs bring flowery shrubs

Kissing then missing,

It’s your life and your family’s

You are blatantly risking.

 

Protocols or death call?

Safety or danger?

Hibernate or eliminate?

The late or a stranger?

 

 

What is your preference?

COVID doesn’t care

Whether you are suicidal

Or acting out of fear.

 

Prolife or pro-death?

A restful sleep or fitful?

Eliminate risks or encourage?

COVID-free or a lull?

 

Whatever your preference

You will act on it

And COVID will stay with us

Or take its exit.

 

 

Behaviour is discernible

It reflects choice,

Listen to your conscience

It’s the right voice.

 

What is your preference?

Your family cares,

Stop feeding COVID

And chase it from here!

 

Stewart Russell © August 31, 2021

 

The Three COVID Contact Cs

 

 

Close contact,

Confined spaces

Crowds

All three to do with the church:

Hence, we have the three contact Cs

As announced by COVID experts.

 

Close contact should never be

No matter how prayed up,

COVID doesn’t care about your faith,

COVID is a bitter cup.

 

Confined spaces mean fewer

Fewer in number I mean

And thus, it behooves a wise congregant

To avoid a crowded scene.

 

Crowds is a definite no-no

By now you would think we know,

Even at church this is dangerous

Commonsense should tell you so.

 

Another church is in the news

And the authorities are concerned,

Come on church, let’s lead the way,

There’s much for us to learn.

 

Christians are no less vulnerable

Than any other group,

We are all just as susceptible

To COVID and its mutant troupes.

 

Christians have comorbidities

Many suffer from old age too,

And even the young are coming down

With the COVID-19 flu.

 

Some say that the authorities

Want to close down the church,

I say, cooperate with the authorities

But continue your research.

 

They may be targeting the church

But COVID is targeting you,

So, be on your guard fellow-believers

And keep Jesus in your view.

 

Be aware of the three C’s

Close contact, confined spaces and crowds

And to keep self and country safe,

Let this be your vow.

 

Stewart Russell © August 28, 2021

 

Guess Who These People Are

 

 

Welcome to the Lodge Road church

These are some of its members

Perhaps you will be able to spot them

If for a moment your mind can linger.

 

This one is of a fairly light complexion

CEO of this long-standing assembly

Multi-talented and quite devoted

And his ten years here should be noted.

 

He is well supported by his lovely wife

And his two daughters the pride of his life

The older, a leader in her very own right

As she leads the youth in this worthy fight.

 

This person almost lives here in this building

And she too helps care for the perishing

Dark skinned unlike the one before

And often gets here to open the church door.

 

The board comprises a fairly mixed crew

One handles the money and all that’s due

Another writes like it’s going out of style

And all church business she has to file.

 

Slim and dark deals with Sunday school

Now assisting a new member in the pool

Two years she has served as its CEO

But this year decided that she has to go.

 

A certain young man who is an usher

His wife is now the Sunday School Super

Last conference a member raised her hand

So now the Sunday school she must command.

 

 

Watch out for this particular person

That likes to beg during the Christmas season

The end of her name is the opposite to come

When she begs it’s for a very good reason.

 

This man could be the tallest man around

A man among men, his history is sound

A very bright fellow I consider is he

Well known in the Lodge Road community.

  

This one sounds like bajan but is Guyanese

May stutter sometimes but aims to please

He majors on the positive side of vice

And as a chairman he is absolutely nice.

 

This young man’s name rhymes with shovel

But not the kind of person you’d see grovel

Upright, though short, and a little plump

Always a pleasant smile and never a grump.

 

The above are the members of the board

Try to remember them don’t be absurd

Let’s work along with them all year through

And make Lodge Road the church with the view.

 

 

A few more members I would like to highlight

As we press forward in this spiritual fight

Time would not allow me to name everyone

So just a few more and then I am done.

 

Like this person who sits in a particular seat

And comes on Friday nights to give us a treat

Her spouse lacks inches and he must be here

So he faithfully comes and does his share.

 

She is an usher, a cook and shrewd organizer

Like another lady she is an exquisite dresser

The Friday night act comes under her domain

She is responsible and takes much of the strain.

 

There’s a light-skinned girl, she’s like a queen

On every Friday night she too can be seen

As well as a certain girl who play she could act

Up to this morning she was displaying that fact.

 

This one likes much food even though he’s lean

One wonders where he puts it for it can’t be seen

And I seeing now the new SSS is an actress too

Showing off her skill with the advertising crew.

 

This particular lady lives out in Wotton

She lives in the top part not the bottom

She is a Friday night person and grills the fish

She fries a mean “fries” too, if that is your wish.

 

 

There are others too who help in this cause

And this time is as good as any to take a pause

To thank all of them for a job well done

And say to all you won’t regret if ever you come.

 

This particular family can have a business

There are four sons and that is established

Four sons would give them two funeral homes

We can trust their caskets and not pay the loans.

 

 

Daily she climbs up to the Mount of Praise

I hope for Christmas that she gets a raise

It is not my business to call out her name

Only to tell you that it rhymes with grain.

 

Oh what a voice! A voice so sweet and so clear

Listen to the strains so pleasant to every ear

Getting older but yet still it’s getting sweeter

Attend 7 a.m. service and you’ll surely hear her.

 

This member is neither pretentious nor vain

His complexion just does not suit his name

But he’s cooperative and fits into any slot

And is one of our members that works a lot.

 

 

Ryan Brathwaite is known for a certain race

In a family here there is more than a trace

St Philip they come from and there return

Guess who they are or from one of them learn.

 

Then that little group we call them youth

Thrown in at the deep end and that’s the truth

But help them along and watch them grow

And before long we’ll be reaping what we sow.

 

There’s one who shows off on the keys

She won’t mind if I continue to tease

But the old gentleman and I make a pair

When I lead worship and he’s here to play.

 

There’s somebody with a longish name

It’s very high sounding, nothing lame

Of our prayers there’s none that is bolder

So for prayer make sure you can hold her.

 

By no means is this person less counted

Though her name starts the line above

She is faithful and regular in her attendance

And she speaks out of a heart that is full of love.

 

 

New year’s morning a certain person testifies

And talks about the God on whom he relies

Now in his eighties I am expecting again

He will do so another time in Jesus’ name.

 

I like this girl so much; she gives me sweets

On Sundays, Wednesdays, that is such a treat

She is bubbly and always with a ready smile

Whenever she steps out she does so in style.

 

These two short people are husband and wife

She is short and sweet not given to strife

He is a little rotund just around the waist

A little more exercise and there’ll be no trace.

 

I know these two sisters, one with a stick

I can’t remember a time they were sick

One of them even comes to youth meetings

And both are pleasant, this needs repeating.

 

Give me a break and I’ll soon be through

Take a long look at the person beside you

If it’s not me then it’s not your best view

I know you expected me to talk about me too.

 

Last but not least is a group I must mention

Who do all they can to make visitors welcome

Theirs is the face that represents this assembly

And gives visitors a taste of our hospitality.

 

As promised this is where I shall end

If I left you out you’re still my friend

Time will not afford me now to write about you

You all know me well and you know that is true.

 

 

To the director of music and chief song planner

To all of the poets and songsters who minister

To the Pastor, board and all of our members

Thanks to the Triune God our greatest Giver.

 

Stewart Russell © 2014

 

 

Grasshopper Mentality

 

 

Numbers 13:33

 

And there we saw the giants,

the sons of Anak, which come of the giants:

and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers,

and so we were in their sight.

 

As it was in that day

So, it is in our time,

Not only are we grasshoppers

But so is God in our mind.

 

The land was great

And worthy of possession

But there were giants there:

A gigantic obstruction.

 

Twelve spies were sent out

To spy out the land,

God had promised them it;

That was His plan.

 

The majority reported

The land was already taken

There were giants there

And they were frightened.

 

“They are stronger than we

We can’t go up against them,

No consideration of God;

Don’t you see the problem?

 

 

We look like grasshoppers

in our own sight

And no doubt these giants

Will see us in the same light.”

 

Those giants were too big

Perhaps, even for God,

That’s what ten spies thought

But these were not all.

 

Two read it differently

And urged to possess the land,

They believed, unlike the other ten,

This was God’s command.

 

Well to cut to the chase

They preferred to go elsewhere

And wandered in the desert

For forty years.

 

 

God judged that generation

For their gross unbelief

And all but Joshua and Caleb

Became deceased.

 

None of that generation

Entered the promised land

But Caleb and Joshua,

Not another man.

 

Moses could only view it

From the summit of a mount

Of them that entered

He was not in that count.

 

 

The grasshopper mentality

Is still alive and well

And believers are reluctant

The Good News to tell.

 

The World are the giants

And we are the grasshoppers,

We’ve become so politically correct

The Gospel don’t seem proper.

 

Join them or be quiet

Appears to be the trend

Or simply engage in a show

Of let’s pretend.

 

Some call this hypocrisy

Others call it survival

But the grasshopper mentality

Is a more appropriate title.

 

The World is the field

Where the harvest is ripe

But to them we are grasshoppers

We continually gripe.

 

The Gospel is too good

To waste on these animals

God, come for your church

And save your people.

 

This world is getting worse

Even a blind man can see,

And in this ungodly confusion

Is no place to be.

 

 

We keep on forgetting

That we are salt and light

And the world will get worse

If we refuse to fight.

 

The difference is made

With each soul that is saved

When we carry out the command

Which the Saviour gave.

 

“Go ye therefore

And teach all nations!”

But there are giants in the land:

A gigantic obstruction.

 

 

The world is our Jericho

And God has empowered

But we look like grasshoppers

In their eyes and ours.

 

It’s the grasshopper mentality

That fills us with fear

Causing us to be as grasshoppers

In our eyes and in theirs.

 

Stewart Russell © November 20, 2020