Praise

Psalm 93

David Benning, 30 Sep 1982

I hear the rushing-rushing water roar:

The mighty sound of voices lifted up.

They swell and well and gushing forth erupt

And dash about a thousand times before

They bound and sound around again no more;

And silence stills the echoing air with awe

Then majesty—so perfect, without flaw—

Flows down. O, hear again those mighty voices soar.

The Lord is clothed with Majesty and Power:

O Lord, how excellent Your Perfect Name!

Yet You have recognized our lowly frame

And thought of us in Love and did us shower

With the Gift of Your Son—to show that You cared;

And the Promise of Heaven—the Home You’ve prepared!

- D. Benning

Son Splendor

In regal splendor Light from everywhere shines bright
Upon the earth in hues of vividness:
Running, skipping, sliding—gleeful sheerness
From reds, greens, sodden browns, whites—crystallites!—
Reflecting, runjumpingly, from off His Crown with might.
In glory ‘round us streams, beams—does opalesce—
His Righteousness (shimmering, fathomless)
Drapes ‘round us, caresses us with Son Light.

     Angles, brightly clothed in radiance,
     Now lost in dazzle of His gold pavilion,
     Minist’ring in blur of rainbow-spangled dance,
     Blend with praise and upward raise
          The glittering of gold-vermillion!

- D. Benning
July 1981

Rage, Rage Against the Light

It has been far too long that I have ignored, forgotten and neglected this blog space. No more. God is not silent nor should His children be either for they have much of which to talk and sing and praise and thank!

This poem is in answer to Dylan Thomas' famous poem, "Do not go gentle into that good night."  I was contemplating this and it struck me all wrong.  For a Christian, death is not an encroaching Night with darkness and void and despair and cessation of Light.  No, for a Christian, it is Dawn.  It is the beginning of an Eternal Morn.  It is being with GOD who is Light and in whom there is no shadow of turning.  

But for someone who does not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Coming of His great and glorious Day will be one of fear and dread because His Light will expose their deeds. "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." John 3:19

written: 07 Dec 2011

 

 

They go not quiet at end of night,

   Their old age burns and churns at certain day;

Rage, rage against the coming gleam of Light.

Earth's sages speak and claim unconquered might

   And wax poetic at their fate,

   Their heads unbowed at Horrors great,

Yet rage, rage against the coming end of Night.

Good folks, though that be subjective blight,

   Arrange their deeds by shades of gray,

   Yet curse what gods there be at Day

   And slip like quarry-slaves away,

And rage, rage against the coming Light.

The wild men then and unschooled sprites

   Who laughed and sang at endless dark,

   Reviled the talk of coming Spark,

   Now shudder at the Light so stark,

And rage, rage against the end of Night.

While solemn men and healthy youth alike

All quake and writhe and curse and strike

   And call to rocks and rills,

   To mountains, stones and hills,

   “O! Blind our eyes and hide our night

   From Him who comes in endless Light.”

Then rage, rage against His coming Might.

But come He must and all that's just

   Will thrill and trill at ending Night,

Then on that day, bid tears away,

   Step gently in His Light!

 

- David Benning ©2011

Do Not Deny Love

Do not deny Love

   nor quench its strong embrace.

Love beckons and it calls;

   Love woos you with its grace.

 

See how many times, ere you had known,

   this Love had borne you softly:

   protected, directed, corrected;

and kept you from your own

   harm that you had imagined “lofty.”

Oh see with what tender heart Love broods over you

   to reck, to check, to beck and bend

   and blast your gourds that grow not true—

All in love to bring you to that glorious end!

But, O! How strong the pull that opposes,

   interdicts and imposes fallacies and lies!

Do not deny Love

   nor chafe under its gentle care.

Do not be drawn back to feeble lights

   whilst Love its sunlight shares!

Do not be drawn to sin and darkness

   like moth to harmful flame.

   like pig to dirt and wallow, filth and shame.

Is it in your nature to be thus drawn?

   To fritter, flitter, fob and fawn?

Then ask why this may be!

   And if you still be moth within,

   then turn, yearn and churn within,

   and call, fall, and recall Love’s mercies new again each morn.

It is not within your strength to change your nature,

   but Love, in its strong embrace,

   will change, exchange—think not strange!

   So that no longer moth but His child reborn!

Do not deny Love

   but hasten to submit, admit and bend;

And there with shall bloom forth a thousand gifts—

   All crowned with Love who is your Friend.

- D. Benning

I Remember

I remember Tuesday, September 11th, 2001.

I remember driving our three young children off to school, the sky was a little overcast and a light drizzle had fallen. I stopped for gas and commented about the rain. The clerk said "It's angels crying." I had no idea what she meant. After dropping the kids off and hugging and kissing the girls for the 47th time that morning, I drove off to Sac State where I was studying for my MS and finally turned the news on. We remember.We remember. The magnitude of the event was too much to grasp.

I remember that I was scheduled to work that morning in the computer lab. Most of us were glued to the real time feed from New York. It was surreal watching the images of the burning towers, the fallen towers, the people staring in horror, the people running from the tidal wave of dust rushing through the canyons of the city streets.

I remember the decision came from the Sac State administration to close the school and send everyone home. The wait time in the parking lot was insane. I went back up to the computer lab and waited till after 1:30 before trying to leave.

I remember driving home, the news numbly drumming on my ears the staggering facts of lost and desolation.

I remember my wife worked at a Junior High in Vacaville, the opposite direction from our home in Dixon. I wasn't certain whether she would have been let out or not. I didn't even know whether our children's school was let out or not. But I drove there anyway. I need to see someone familiar.

I remember thinking about all the children who would *NOT* have parents come to pick them up.

I remember feeling the relief when I pulled up and my wife was there and our three children around her.

I remember stopping at a store the next day and there were USA flag decals for sale. I bought two. One for each car. Those decals are still attached to the windows of our cars.

I remember a classmate, a forty-something year old from Iran, told me that his mother called him waking him up. She had seen the news of the events in New York and Washington DC even before he had. She told him that she was ashamed for those despicable rogues that had killed so many.

But I also remember news images of many parts of the world dancing in glee that the mighty had fallen.

Yet I remember a sense of unity and resolve that formed from that week.

I remember getting an internship with the CEC in downtown Sac and often parking near a fire station and feeling great admiration and thankfulness for the work that those and others like them did.

I remember our politicians boldly standing together with no partisan gulf between saying "Never again!"

I remember. It was only eight years ago. Why does it seem like we are trying to remember a distant historical event like Pearl Harbor or the sinking of the Maine or the storming of the Alamo? I fear that we must remember... and act... and prepare, else we will have to remember yet more tragic images. Hiding our collective societal ostrich heads in the sands is no cure.

I remember that in the weeks after 9-11, many showed up in churches and places of worship. But that was short-lived. Instead society seems to have spun around from anything religious and rushed to drown out the echos of the falling towers by plunging into deeper dispassion and decadence. It's interesting that eight years ago in September the symbols of Western Prestige and Capitalism fell. Last year in September the very institutions of Capitalism began falling: remember Lehman Brothers? Sept 15th, 2008 they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

I remember. But it seems that more of us had better start remembering--- and learning something from these events.