Vojta Braniš: “Post-War Motherhood"
at the Yugoslavia Nationality Room
Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh
Acts 11:1–18
New Revised Standard
How int'resting their minds were changed
About one big taboo;
"We know that Gentiles can't receive
New life, like us," they knew,
Until, to Peter, God then came,
And taught him otherwise,
Which, when he told the church, they said,
"Our standard is revised!"
I am amazed how quickly God
Reversed the tried and true;
Or they, amazed more by God's grace
Than we, let God get through!
These days, so wedded are we to
God's gifts to man and wife,
We seem to think God powerless
To fill with grace the lives
Of two whose genders are the same!
Why? How could that bring hurt?
Perhaps we should think back to when
God bade the saints convert.
Scott L. Barton
(Although this poem was written when same-gender marriage was not yet widely accepted, there are still parts of the U.S. and certainly the world where that is still the case.)
Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’ And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”
+ + +
Revelation 21:1–6
Just the Facts, Ma'am
Christ is the alpha and omega,
The beginning and end,
The be all and end all,
The whole ball of wax.
Christ, the bride adorned,
Forsaking all others,
For better, for worse;
Nothing do we lack.
Never out on a limb,
Or up a creek without a paddle,
Or at a complete loss;
Christ has your back.
All things new,
Trustworthy, true,
Your meat and your drink,
Love to the max.
Scott L. Barton
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
+ + +
John 13:31–35
Message in a Model
“Perhaps the most important sculpture in our town,”*
Our guide to Pittsburgh said with love and pride.
An odd remark, I thought, for such a figure small,
Yet soon I found myself quite satisfied.
For here, Slovenes, Croats and Serbs together showed
Our need for common care, and end to war;
In warfare, women and the children suffer most—
A consequence that ought not be ignored.
Thus so, our Lord, when bidding farewell to his friends,
Foresaw the ease with which our ties can tear,
And told them that he had for them a new command,
That by their love, they might their faith declare.
I grieve how Christians eas’ly say another’s wrong,
When what we need is, each, in our own way
To show to all the love from God that we’ve received,
And in obeying Christ, that love portray.
Scott L. Barton
(*Road Scholar leader Woody Cunningham, in the Yugoslavia Nationality Room in the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning.)
When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
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