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    Melting World: Chambers of the Soul in a Melting World Spiritual Poems
    Melting World: Chambers of the Soul in a Melting World Spiritual Poems
    Melting World: Chambers of the Soul in a Melting World Spiritual Poems
    Ebook191 pages1 hour

    Melting World: Chambers of the Soul in a Melting World Spiritual Poems

    By Richard Alan Ruof

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    As secularism and commercialism proceed to dominate American life, the removal of structures that protect and nurture the spiritual experience has perilous effects. Values wane; greed, self-interest, and incidents of conflict alarm. Chambers of the soul are invaded and the dearest treasures sacked. Those most vulnerable are children and youth, the married, the poor, and the disconnected.



    While in his first book Songs of the Lesser Servants the author presented in poetry spiritual experiences and perceptions of the changing social situation, this book concentrates on secularisms effect on the inner person. Melting World presents the ever-renewing spiritual contrasted with worldly ruin.



    Poems of experience, vision, parable, and allegory spring from everyday situations. Each poem challenges the reader to examine current perceptions of faith and secularism.



    Modern humanity must realize that secularism is not ideal society before it is too late to turn back. Under the guise of issues of church and state, mans spirituality is removed in schools, public places and media. Generations view man as a higher primate without soul or spirit. Spiritual man without Gods presence dies in a melting world. Hope remains in begin again.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateJun 5, 2004
    ISBN9781418410018
    Melting World: Chambers of the Soul in a Melting World Spiritual Poems
    Author

    Richard Alan Ruof

    Later in life the author sensed an unfinished business. Spiritual experiences posed questions about life’s meaning.   At ten the author had a vision of the face of Christ, followed by dreams of decimation of earth.  He turned to prayer, eventually becoming a Christian pastor.  Throughout life the arresting spiritual deepened life’s meaning.   Fearing he never would share his experiences, he asked for a gift to relay their meaning.  In poems a source beyond gave blessings and warnings.  The poems address the ongoing flow of modern life and convey experiences on long daily walks.    The author earned four academic degrees, but found lives of God’s lesser servants especially engaging.  These poems were given in a place called Auburn, PA.  

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      Book preview

      Melting World - Richard Alan Ruof

      © 2004 Richard Alan Ruof  

       All Rights Reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any  

       means without the written permission of the author.

      First published by AuthorHouse 05/18/04

      ISBN: 978-1-4184-1001-8 (e)  

       ISBN: 1-4184-1002-0 (sc)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2004090314

      Bloomington, Indiana

      These poems were registered for copyright 7/12/98, except last section 3/25/04

      Contents

      PREFACE

      INTRODUCTION: SPIRITUAL POEMS

      I. CHAMBERS OF THE SOUL

      II. END OF AGE

      III. TRACES OF THE GREEN

      IV. TWELVE POEMS OF THOSE WHO WAIT

      V. THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      PREFACE

      The increasing dominance of materialism and the spread of secularism to all institutions of American life—including the church—are taking a toll on the spiritual. Coupled with the reduction of values to blurred popular statements and the constant obsession with prosperity, there remains little place for the expression of faith in public life. It has especially affected our children and youth with the removal of the sacred from the public schools and media. In some areas the sacred appears, but cheapened and repulsively distorted.

      Furthermore, the government has come to equate spiritual expression to the special interests of religious institutions, depriving our people of the timeless potential of the spirit that once informed the meaning of daily life.

      One questions why a people does not protest the obvious indoctrination of the absence of God as the advancement of atheism and a setting for Durkheim’s normless society.

      The author’s quest has been to find a method of spiritual expression in poetry. After receiving most of these poems, the author discovered the poems of Emily Dickinson. She seems to express that the poem is the form best suited to communicate the spiritual experience:

      I dwell in Possibility—  

       A fairer House than Prose—  

       More numerous of Windows—  

       Superior—for Doors—

      Of Chambers as the Cedars—  

       Impregnable of Eye—  

       And for an Everlasting Roof  

       The Gambrels of the Sky—*

      As the poems of this volume were being written, the title Chambers of the Soul came to mind. It suggests that as we huddle in shrinking chambers of the soul, we find a refuge from a world that is melting. Our world is losing the structures that once were havens for visions and expressions of soul and spirit, as well as moral shelters to protect the sacred nature and priceless value of the individual.

      One recalls the assaults upon conscience, spirit, and expression of faith solely in the interest of advancing secular power under the scepters of Rome and of England. The past methods of intimidation, torture and execution have been replaced by more subtle ways to remove Christ, Moses, spiritual values and articles of faith from society, replacing them with materialistic and secular counterparts. Though the opposition appears humane, reasonable, and inevitable, the results are devastating.

      On spiritual foundations rest the invisible structures of order, love and tolerance and the endearing institutions of marriage and family, which are the basis for self-respect and respect for others.

      *Emily Dickinson #657, p. 327. Johnson, Thomas H., ed. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Boston, N.Y., etc.: Little Brown & Co. 1960.

      April 2003

      Personal materials have been avoided except where permission has been granted. Otherwise, similarity to now living persons is coincidental. Nor are comments relating to organizational systems specific. The events, scenes and portraits describe the spiritual and worldly, an everyday world of shifting dimensions.

      I think of these poems  

       As a burning out hole  

       I wrote in flaming fields.  

       Given by an eagle—  

       May you in your reading  

       Find a place of relief  

       Where you wait in safety  

       Until the world turns green.

      Revelation 8:13

      To one who gave me words and  

       to my wife Anne who uplifted them.

      These poems were written as echoes of calls to faith and warnings of the martyrs, in particular Richard Gwyn, a Welsh schoolteacher, and his wife Catherine.

      INTRODUCTION: SPIRITUAL POEMS

      One night I was awakened  

       By a spirit messenger  

       Her face transparent with light,  

       Her eyes wistful, misgiving  

       As she brought a giant package  

       That seemed much too big for her.  

       But I found it had no weight  

       Or form when I opened it.

      Inside I found nothing

      Indulgence appreciates,  

       No flesh-like forms, no sounds earthly;  

       But its contents rose round me.  

       It had passages, scenes  

       And chambers the soul frequents.  

       I heard warnings that were stern;  

       And I saw souls passing on.

      Some were maliciously handled—  

       Some ridiculed by detractors,  

       Some victims of violence—  

       But still their souls continued.  

       Some paused in chambers withfriends  

       Or memories of a lover,  

       Or in comforts that had been,  

       Their past faintly visible.

      These rising apparitions  

       In spiritual poems depict  

       Times and scenes each soul receives—  

       Temperature by a clock.  

       For as the hours hurry  

       World melts and soul must quicken  

       To greet the coming Savior  

       Whose visage outshines all others.

      I. CHAMBERS OF THE SOUL

      "and there were many lights in the  

       upper chamber, where they were  

       gathered together"Acts 20:8

      A. Devotion

      THE LAMPSTAND’S CRY *

      Weary in my dreams I wandered,  

       While there moved with me a figure,  

       Till I slumped before a lentil  

       Staring over life’s last doorsill.

      There beneath the stately columns  

       Nectar swirling in a tumbler  

       Summoned me to drink its contents,  

       But the silent figure cautioned—

      "Drink but half the living liquid,  

       For your love shall also drink it."  

       Knowing life is kept on borrowed time  

       Questioned I if others would not die.

      Then again the dream continued  

       Under skies of deepening blue.  

       And a spirit voice was calling Cry!  

       From a speck far off in the sky.

      And the voice called louder, crying  

       From a lampstand in the sky,  

       Boldly posting its inscription  

       As if five flames signaled the Martyrs.

      Then in fallen night it slowly  

       Moved across the darkened sky.  

       Bright its outline shone, a hundred  

       Times or larger as it neared.

      Farther down the dark horizon  

       Sweepings of a master brush stroke  

       Shone, like golden particles of light  

       Glowing from cathedral ceilings.

      Morning rays of sunlight breaking  

       Penetrated dense green foliage

      Showing forest hills luxuriant  

       Growing over ruins of man.

      Gently nudged, I leaned before the scene  

       Looking on a masterpiece.  

       Cottages by deep and crystal streams  

       Beckoned me to rest in peace.

      Wearily I sorrowed for our age  

       Why the faithful often suffer  

       While the worldly wicked prosper  

       Knowing there’s no price to pay.

      Then an ancient hieroglyphics  

       Raced their sacred pictures by me:  

       Greedy lions gorging themselves  

       On carcasses of the helpless;

      Speedy leopards prowling forest trails,  

       Preening in their hidden lairs;  

       Buffalo with thunder trampling  

       All that blocks their destinations. Jude 10

      So the beast of worldly humans  

       Freely feeds in arrogance  

       Till at final judgement all shall see  

       History fell victim to the beast.

      Sorrow not at earthly treasures lost;  

       Christ surrendered all to man’s cross.  

       So the sick, defeated, weary  

       Sound the cries of final victory.

      Look to heaven; do not weary.  

       Lift the fallen; cheer the sorrowing.  

       Comfort one another with this cry:  

       Children, Jesus soon is coming.

      Suddenly the upturned faces melt,  

       Rapt in Spirit adoration.  

       People kneel ignoring the sermon  

       As the preacher sees the Word fulfilled.

      For the lampstand’s heavenly owner  

       Seated by the power of God  

       Comes to lift his peoples above  

       Rising up to meet Him in the air. 1 Thess. 4:17-18

      What a heavenly sight is seen!  

       All earth’s colors suddenly rise  

       Peoples joined in holy unity  

       As they fly away to paradise.

      * Revelation 2:11 The Martyrs

      MOVEMENTS OF GRACE

      A Dream

      To vespers came an angel  

       Drifting down from sky, falling  

       To earth where lowly kneeling,  

       She spread her fingers sifting  

       Our place of sinful condition.  

       To Christ in praise sang the soul:  

       Before you have we fallen  

       So we may be forgiven.  

       From on high you descended  

       The Holy God of Heaven  

       Our place to take on the cross.  

       It was your choice bringing God  

       Down in lowly suffering  

       To lift us through sacrifice,  

       Inverting our positions:

      Our death replacing with life  

       As God in suffering dies  

       That we might rise to Heaven.  

       So

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