FLY

FLY
lyrics and song by Joseph Bishara
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I want a boat. maybe a train.
I want a chopper made of copper,
or an aerey-o-plane.
rocketships can get me fame.
I know what I want to try -
fly

found it hard finding home.
caught my stinger in the wringer.
worked my fingers to the bone.
my heavy hand picks up the phone
to give it another try
fly

ups and downs, thin and fat,
got my highs and my lows and all of that,
when the blues fall through to a deep blue vat,
don't forget where it's at -- and why,
fly

a breath in me, a breath in you
i'm not one who will tell you what to say or do
but a broken heart won't pull you through
set your sights on something up in the sky.
fly

missed the boat. skipped that train.
lost a chopper made of copper,
and a silly old plane.
rocketships aren't all the same.
spread my wings and leave a nest behind -
fly

Leap New Year Baby

Interesting opportunity for teaching: By the Gregorian calendar, I was born September 12th 1971. However, according to the Coptic calendar ('annuit coeptis' written on the back of every U.S. dollar over the pyramid) I was born on new year's day, 1 Thoout, 1688 A.M. (Anno Martyrum). The 12th of September and the 1st of Thoout correspond with each other only once every four years (because of leap year day). This year, the 1st of Thoout is today, September 11th. I think it's kind of cool to be a Leap New Year's baby. So I've decided to celebrate my birthday on whichever day the Coptic Anno Martyrum begins (usually the 11th but every once in a while the 12th). Happy New Year or "Head of the Year" as they say in Arabic (Ross-elSanna) or in Hebrew (Rosh-aShanna).

Slave With A King's Ransom

by Joseph Bishara

What did the slave buy
with a king's ransom?
Filth, ragged and frayed.
When the king passed by
How he wished he were handsome
for the sum of the treasure he'd paid.

Was it loss of place
that gave him cause
to seize his garment to wrent?
Or the fall from grace
giving him pause
for the harm it surely had meant.

Cain's Cry

Following are lyrics to a song I am writing.

Cain's Cry
by Joseph Bishara

There's a hole in my heart and blood on my hands
A brother is gone. I can't understand
why I did what I've done, destroying all I had planned

There's a hole in my soul and a mark on my head
Seven times cursed, if you strike me dead.
I've destroyed who I love, and buried my only friend.

Able no more to cradle his head
Two peas in a pod and I brought his end
I've got hell to pay down, and the bill comes due when I'm dead

CHORUS
I'm a lost generation, in a well of souls.
And I'm lost to the nations, for whom no bell tolls.
I've got fire inside me, like a falling leaf,
and a cry to remind me. Help me find some peace.

This one's a mess, I just can't undo.
I lied then confessed, in a sentence or two
And his blood still cries out, from the grave that I sent him to

A family that weeps, for both us two.
My shame and my blame, for putting them through.
I've got hell to pay down, and heaven says it's come due

CHORUS

Song: "You Are..."

YOU ARE ...
(music and lyrics by Joseph Bishara)
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My inclination
was to find inspiration,
so I put my pen to the page.
But I just had no more,
It was all a big chore,
So I got up and walked away.

Then I stood in awe
at the beauty I saw,
Lying there that way.
When I watched you sleep
I started to weep,
and you take my breath away.

FIRST REFRAIN:
You are my joy.
You are my life.
You are flesh of my flesh.
You are bone of my bone.
You are my love.
You are my breath.
You are my wife.

I was having such fun
playing with my son
bouncing him on my knee.
I sung him a song
and he slept in my arms
and I rocked him softly to sleep.

SECOND REFRAIN:
You are my life.
You are my joy.
You are flesh of my flesh.
You are bone of my bone.
You are my love.
You are my breath.
You are my boy.
... flesh of my flesh.
You are bone of my bone.
You are my love.
You are my breath.
You are my boy.

Heaven Forcefully?

Every now and then, a verse in the Bible will confound many.

Enter Matthew 11:12. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and forceful people lay hold of it.

Take it in its larger context. Then search different translations and find different meanings entirely. Was the kingdom of heaven under siege by evil men? (recall in Matthew 23:13 “But woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! 3 For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.)

Or were the "violent [who] take it forcefully" zealous Christians (as I believe John Chrysostom teaches)? Other translations suggest that the kingdom of heaven progresses forcefully into the world. And a passage in Luke offers a different perspective. The bottom line: no one knows for sure AND every version or flavor of the explanation of this has good meditation.

I don't offer answers though many learned scholars of history do. Rather, I only wish to make the point. I am pleased to see a verse which challenges us all to ponder, and which offers no apparent spoonfeeding for an answer. Even now, even today, I wonder if there are verses which can only be expounded and revealed by the One who inspired them. (...only my humble consideration)

A Meditation on Lazarus

Yes, I'd read the story in the eleventh chapter of the gospel of John several times. Every time I read it or I listen to a sermon on it I tend to pick up a new nuance or an undiscovered application for my life. Topsy turvy, broken dreams, unrealized potential, and unfulfilled effort, cold and still seem to litter my legacy.

This time I was asked to give a lesson on Lazarus' story, and a welcome answer to a particularly difficult problem came. My pupils were children: a small Sunday school class of six- to nine-year-olds is all it took. As I explained to them the basics of this story, I pointed out to them the expectation of man.

"What do you think Jesus will do when he finds out his dear Lazarus is sick?" Of course we all thought Jesus should go and heal his beloved Lazarus and we were all surprised when Jesus let Lazarus die and we all wonder why Jesus would do that. Then Martha echoes the same sentiment, "If you had been here, my brother would not have died." Mary the other sister repeats, "If you had been here, my brother would not have died." Even some people watching on asked, "Couldn't he have done something to keep Lazarus from dying?"

On a smaller scale, I find myself in the same crowd. Where were you Jesus? I need you now. ... and nothing happens. An opportunity dies, or a possibility collapses. ... nothing. Sanity seems to fade. ... nothing. And then burial ... and decay ... of what was so dear to me. Dead and gone and moving on, it would seem.

Many saw Lazarus walk out of his tomb and were astonished. Everything they thought they knew securely died as the dead man came forth.

Oh now I remember. Something will happen that not only will raise me up, but also those around staring at me walking out of my own grave. It has happened to me before, it will happen to me again soon, and it will certainly happen on a literal level later.

Kind of takes the sting out of "not yet".