On Trinity Sunday 2017 we had the joy of welcoming Toby Gate and Zelda Smith as members of our fellowship.
Zelda is quite well known locally for her poems, so it was no surprise that she was asked if she could share one with us!
Just a few words of explanation.
When our minister asked me to read one of my poems, my first thought was, it must be something relevant to the occasion. So yes, I needed words, yes words.
A most potent and powerful tool to express our deepest feelings and motions. Love or hatred ~ sorrow ~ joy ~ to make or to mar ~ war or peace ~ to build up or to pull down ~ together or divided. Dare I say we are all guilty of using words with very little thought for the outcome? So I gave this poem some thought.
I confess it is a big ego trip! All about me, me, me! Please bear with me.
Dear friends, here in front of you all, at last I‘ve come home! Commit myself to this church, St David’s Uniting Church, our own dear minister and to you all, a warm, caring, loving, Christian fellowship. I have never had to search for Almighty God, here in this place, he has always been – Ever Present!
May this church with its minister and its people, be a beacon in our town and beyond.
May it be so. Zelda Smith
JOURNEYS END
That long and winding road – which has eaten up the years,
full of joy and happiness – tribulations – tears.
I’ve walked the walk and talked the talk and now I’ve reached this place
where God is All – who worship here – to minister His Grace.-
I felt that God was moving me to worship – everywhere
for yes!, we are brothers, sisters and should for each other care.
So for three times on the Sabbath, morning, noon and night,
yes! I’m boasting, may God forgive, my halo pinches tight!
All denominations, I embraced within my scope,
and through the intervening years, God gave me strength to cope.
I went to Baptist Chapel and to the Catholic Church,
and God was all around me, I never had to search!
Dear friends who picked me up and brought me home unscathed,
I delighted in their friendship and in their warmth I bathed.
Accepted everywhere they went, never badgered to convert,
as an undiminished Baptist, still alive and still alert.
They knew of this, respecting me, for all that’s past between,
I am strengthened in my beating heart, with all I’ve heard and seen.
It’s been ten years a calling, and age it takes its toll,
but my brothers and my sisters, here, with love it filled my soul.
But now I need a resting place, my travelling days are done,
I am here until God calls me, the battle has been won!
I’ve really tried to sow the seed, for all that’s good and right,
to live the life, however hard, to fight with joy, the fight.
So please accept me as I am, with all my foibles – fables,
for my faith in God means everything, it stabilise, enables.
For longevity, I pray, through all my life is sweet,
as, God willing, every Sunday, I with you all will meet.
So onward, upward, in this church, I embrace you ALL
as I am trying hard to follow, in the footsteps of St Paul.
Zelda James 11th May 2017