A devout man trembles

After Acts 9:9-19

He is a devout man,

known for being so,

known for following 

the law, known to those

of the old faith and

of the new, respected.

He hears his name 

called, in a vision, 

and his response is 

what one expects from 

a devout man: here

I am, Lord. He is told

of the man blinded,

sitting in a house

in a street called Straight,

waiting. He knows a man

named Ananias will come,

a man named Ananias

will lay hands on him,

restoring his sight.

This man, this devout man,

knows without being told who

this blind man is, knowing 

what he’s been sent to do.

This devout man is told to go

to the blinded man, the man

who will have a mission

of carrying the name

to the world, a mission

of great suffering.

This man, this devout man,

obeys and goes to lay 

his hands on the blind man.

And he calls the man

his brother.

Photograph by Elia Pellagrini via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Blinded by the light

After Acts 9:9-19

Blinded by the light,

he is brought to a house

in the street called Straight,

perhaps because the others

were all crooked or curved. 

He sits and waits, three days,

eating nothing, drinking nothing,

a severe fast of three days,

three days of death and darkness.

He has a vision, a single vision,

of a man called Ananias come

to him and lay hands on him

to end the darkness. 

On the third day, a man

named Ananias comes to him.

A man named Ananias calls him

brother, the first to call him that,

implying he is changed and reborn.

The man lays his hands upon him, 

telling him he is sent by the voice

heard on the road to heal the blindness

of his eyes and the blindness 

of his heart. 

The scales fall away,

the blindness is dispelled,

the baptism is performed.

And so ended the third day.

Photograph by Jp Valery via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Great fear

After Acts 5:1-11

A man dies for his deception,

a woman dies for aiding and

abetting deception. Not just

eventually but right at 

deception’s revealed moment.

The people, the witnesses,

see the deception, 

see the penalty immediate,

and are seized with a fear,

a great fear, and those

not there, but only hear

the story later, are seized

with a fear,

a great fear,

a trembling of the heart,

a trembling of the soul.

This God, our God,

is the God who knows

all things, even

the dark places

of the human heart.

Photograph by Olesya Yemets via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Deception: him

After Acts 5:1-6

What was he thinking,

to sell a piece of land,

call attention to his gift,

and hold back a part

for himself? Was it

a simple case of having

your cake and eating it,

too, getting full credit

when only partial was

deserved? Did he not

think that those

performing signs and

wonders would not see

what he had done, see

through the deception?

Did he think himself

clever and others

foolish, willing to be

deceived? Deception

was seen immediately,

as if anticipated. Hearing

the condemnation,

he fell down, breathing

his last.

Photograph by Karim Manjra via Unsplash. Used with permission.

I am Ananias

After Acts 9:10-17

I am Ananias, a quiet man,

quietly a follower of the way,

the way that was born

in a cattle stall, born

on a hill in Jerusalem, born

in a cave on the hillside.

Quietly, the voice speak,

the voice unheard until now,

telling me to go, to find

the murderer, the persecutor,

the hater of the way, to find

him and to heal him, this hater,

to lay my hands upon him,

my hands upon his eyes,

blinded, to heal him.

I am a follower of the way,

a disciple, a saint, a brother,

a Christian obedient.

I go.

Top photograph: The Bible Series TV.