K. J. Ramsey

The Book of Common Courage. K.J. Ramsey. 2023. [January] 224 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Lord Jesus,
who stepped down
onto the muddy banks
of the Jordan where
your cousin John
pulled you under
to be drenched in the baptism
of a repentance God surely didn't need
so that every waterlogged ear
could be freed to rise to the sound
of the Voice of Love coming down:
we want to hear
what you heard
that strange day.

The Book of Common Courage is a devotional written in verse. Are these verses poems? Maybe. Maybe not. Probably. Think of the 'verse' in a verse novel, this is similar. There are verses and verses. (Pun intended. Each bit of poetry is introduced with Scripture verses.) Some seem to be intended to be prayers. Though not all of them have that prayer vibe going. (Though to be fair there's always more than one style of prayer.) What keeps some of them from being prayer--in my own subjective opinion--is that they have more of a vibe of being an uplifting message from Jesus to you. Christ does speak to us in his Word. I think Genesis to Revelation, you can certainly hear God speaking--plainly, clearly. With the indwelling Holy Spirit as both your guide and the author, without a doubt the Word of God is speaking.

This is definitely a devotional more than a prayer book. Though devotional books can contain plenty of prayers. Is this one meaty enough? That's a subjective question. It isn't as meaty theologically as I personally want in a devotional book. However, I think the goal is emotional and spiritual health.

Quotes:

I shall not want
except that I do.
I want a Shepherd
who comes through.
I want my stress
to be wrapped
in God's arms.
I want my life
to be healed
from all harm.
Perhaps it would
be better to say
I lack nothing
because Love
will stay.

Jesus,
You say the words
we hate hearing,
but you never
demanded anything
you were not willing
to live first.
Tune our ears
to recognize the syllables of love
thrumming through the sentences
that make us shudder
For your resurrection
reminds us
that suffering
can shift us
into a better story.
Amen.

Jesus, the Promised Shepherd,
you who are always making a way
for your people to rest
when other shepherds demand
performances and success:
reveal the green pastures
where we can heal
that we, the plundered,
may become those
who thunder
kindness as the sound
of a Shepherd's kingdom
where mercy
abounds.
Amen.

Blessed are the broken,
those shattered in spirit by those
who should have made them strong.
Blessed are the grieved
in a world that pretends
positivity will take away pain.
For while the kingdoms
of the able and affluent
corral and crush,
the kingdom of God
is a seed
split open.
May you know
your breaking
is a broadening.
May you trust
your ache
is an awakening>
The kingdom of God
is a seed split open
and the kingdom
belongs to you.

If God keeps track of your tears
and holds them safe in a bottle,
then perhaps
your pain is precious.
Perhaps
your tears
tell truth.
Perhaps
you don't have to stop
the flow of what God
wants to hold as a treasure.
---crying is holy.

Prayer
is not
constant
positivity.
It is honesty
held in our hands
and hurled at the sky.
When David dared
to curse at the air
and Christ cried
from the cross
that the Father
was not there,
they both pierced a hole
in the
universe's clouds,
and now Love's ears
are tuned to the sound
of candor and cries
as much as praise
rings out.
The world has forever
been widened
for worship.
Our worst words
of self-pity and
loudest wails
now have become
welcomed prayers.
Christ's prayer
pierced
the veil.… (more)