Poems from Pat Bidmead

Prayers you could make before purchasing the bread maker

THANKSGIVING

Kneel at the altar rail

And receive the Holy bread with gratitude

For you have the Lord Almighty to thank

For your daily food.

And with humility sip the wine

Of eternal living

For Christ suffered Cross and nail

For your salvation and mine.

Prayers you could make when you turn on the bread maker for the first time.

BREAK THE BREAD

On either side of the gravestones

Spring daffodils nod

Reverently to long dried bones,

Break bread of your doubt,

Only to find the bread

You are fed is crust of truth

Making you whole.

Drink wine of your mistrust

And find the wine you sip

Dispels misgiving,

As you taste blood of living

Seeping into your soul.

Prayers you could make before Crushing and Pressing grapes

A COMMUNION PRAYER

I kneel low before your table

Asking forgiveness for my sins,

I partake of bread and wine

And my prayer for today begins,

Almighty Lord please give me

Strength to rejoice in the gifts of others

When this my jealous heart decrees

I desire them to be mine,

Let not the Cain in me break through

To let envy undermine the praise

I would offer to you.

Prayers you could make after Crushing and Pressing grapes

THE ANSWER

I am waters of the stream

Carrying half forgotten dream

Of redemption down to the sea

For identification with me.

I am flower on the stem

Breathing Amen thought mist

For love to be kissed.

Into being.

I am leaf of Autumn

Chasing wind in dumb wonder,

At depth of the prayer

Linking dreams of glory

I thought no longer there.

I am harvest corn

Knowing at last why I was born,

For once this earthly body is no more

Mine will be the gift of everlasting bread

And eternal sweetness of wine.

Prayers you could make before Fermentation.

SPIRITUAL GROWTH

The God within us

Leads us up a steep slope,

We grope our way via a hanging rope

Pausing half way to rest a while

And drain a glass

Of well deserved wine,

But a message in the gritted dregs,

Urges us to climb yet higher.

When we would rather return

To the grassy plain in the false belief,

That we can in some other way

Reach the summit without pain.

Prayers you could make after Fermentation

SACRIFICE

Fingered crust of pain

Laid in despair

With weighted tears

From the flood

Of sorrow’s weary years.

Blest is the bread,

Sacred the tears,

For body and blood

Symbolized in bread and wine

Is the unspoken mystery,

Through which we are fed

And our thirst quenched

With un-weighed tears

For Christ does not

Measure sacrifice.

Prayers you could make before siphoning wines from one barrel to the next

POSSIBLE AND IMPOSSIBLE

God is encountered day by day

In every facet of human experience,

Digital technology making possible

Impossibilities of only yesterday.

On line channels of communication buzz

But we listen only from a chill distance,

Tagging off at will and failing to see

Beyond remote control button

Is a world full of heavenly promise,

Where humans can react face to face

To share the bread and wine

In a world redeemed by sacrifice

Prayers you could make after siphoning wine

WINE OF LOVE

On the the table of hate

May dishes of greed be replaced

By plates of remorse,

As the diners wait

While the dough of poverty

Becomes the risen bread

On which all humanity

Is fed.

So at last humankind

Can eat the bread of equality

And sip the wine of love.

Prayers you could make before Bottling

GIVING

The rich give the poor

A bowl of rice,

And a glass of watered wine

But for the loan

They charge a fee,

And the loaded dice

Is full of certainty,

That the poor will feed

The hunger and relieve the thirst

Of the rich for eternity.

A TASTE OF HEAVENLY WINE

As I kneel in submission at the holy table

With all my sins before me spread

On a lace cloth of regret,

I come to partake of the bread and wine

In which forgiveness is met.

Etched deep within me and double lined

Is guilt that can only be mine.

Yet on my lips I find

A taste of heavenly wine,

And and on my knees with my soul

In state of undress,

I feel intoxication

Of complete forgiveness.

Prayers you could make after Bottling.

ABOVE THE ALTAR

An empty Cross of love hangs above the altar

Where shadows come and go

Creeping across unknown spaces,

Pressing intruding fingers of shade

Into emptiness to draw

A face of suffering,

And in each sip of wine

I taste a bitterness that is mine.

For I know my sins are buried in the pain,

And my tears of shame run length of the Cross.

EASTER GLORY

On either side of the gravestones

Spring daffodils nod

Reverently to long dried bones.

While beyond heavy door

Carved in sacred wood

Is story ending in Easter glory.

Kneeling before the throne

I empty my mind into the wine

To find warm winds of love are blown

Through this stone soul of mine,

Making known to me

The unknown.

FROM THE SHADE

Long ago when time was curved

Above rough wooden table of despair,

A single glass of wine stood,

Hope faintly reflected there

Recognized but not understood.

The years have served

To enhance the wine

Yet the tears that are mine

Have remained mixed with the pain,

But I find a truth underlined

In blood that cannot fade,

The sacrifice made

On that cross of wood

Is more fully understood

When seen from the shade.

Prayers to be said while Drinking the wine

HALF A HEART

How shall I serve your Kingdom

When I kneel drinking the wine

With half believing lips?

How shall I say your holy will be done,

When I offer but one hand

To your service and come

Into your divine presence

With a mind that drips

Bitterness and jealousy,

Into the sacred cup

Leaving only half a heart

That worships?

GLASS OF QUIETNESS

I kneel to drink from glass of quietness

And feel peace slip back into my soul.

I seal faith of prayer with wine of love

And there I find eternity is mine.

LOST AMEN

One wine glass on a tray

Holding fruit of the vine,

As yet untasted,

Symbolising tear that is mine

Falling in regret.

Three roses in a vase,

Each bearing but one leaf

Upon a tender stem,

Shivering in deepest grief

For my lost Amen.