God of fruits that feed and nourish, God of dangers that puncture and cut, light the porches of well-being; for while you hand out treats in places we find so hard to discover, we seek the tricks of promises for an easy eternity, looking in the fields of fortune for the harvests of fame. Amen.
Monthly Archives: October 2021
Fall Days
To return to the books of prophetic doom seems extreme on lazy fall days such as these. Don't worry about proper lunch companions. The messiah will return when we are ready. Too many ransom themselves to the futile ways inherited from their fathers and mothers. Honesty comes in many forms of complexity. Be the fire that raises beauty from the ashes.
Confessing Prophecy
I said, "I have a confession to make. I failed to do what Simon said." She said, "Perhaps it takes one act of disobedience before we can claim our inheritance." I asked, "What practicality does a belief have if it doesn't make a difference in our lives?" She answered, "Is it a belief or is it something that should be trashed?" I said, "I have yet to consult with the oracle of doom and gloom as to what if any action is needed." She said, "Leave prophecy for the pages of the books taken seriously by scholars."
“The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed.” – Luke 17:20
Hidden God, beyond the horizon, underneath the nearest stone, behind the turn of the earth, within the veins of dropped leaves; we turn and turn again and you spin around us with yourself; come into our lives with things that do not need to be observed for our attention wanders and the shiny has replaced the simple. Amen.
Thanksgivings
The paradox found in the sign saying exit pointing the way home. Being discovered in a desert place by someone carrying a glass of water. When the answer to the question, How do we get away from it all? does not matter. And the light from a distant room shortens the length down the hallway.
The Faithful Remnant
I said, "I dreamed last night that the troublers of conscience came streaming out of the woodwork." She said, "Sometimes even the ravens demand attention while performing." I asked, "How does a voice make sound in the midst of people who are convinced that only they know the real ways?" She answered, "Silence is fertile ground for mutterings to emerge." I said, "In walking from place to place, so many feel mysteriously unconnected to anything that might be called human." She sighed, "The faithful remnant may come and go unexpectedly but they will be seen and heard."
Ground Questions
What makes the fallen ash leaves curl when they touch the hard ground? Does looking down at the ground make the circling vulture dizzy? How many nuts buried in the ground will last the winter for a squirrel? Will the ground remain solid beneath my feet as I stand in uncertainty?
Turn Circles
The holiday celebrating this and that came and went. The dark-eyed junco returned from summering in the north. After spending some time comparing the symbols of linear and circular thought I put my notes away. Days are passing. Why must I cover the ground walked by so many before me while horizons ahead of me wait to be fused into some greater picture where all turn circles in the dance?
Steps
It is difficult to write these poems while I continue to live outside myself walking avenues covered by the steps of my ancestors.
“I AM has sent me to you.” – Exodus 3:14
God of Now and God of Then and God of Will Be, who endlessly appears in the corners of our eyes, burning, in a bush, in a smile, in a picture and in the alighting of a falcon in a tree; we imagine your name in our imaginings and find our thoughts far too narrow and small for pure being to settle into us in these dizzy days; send us into the realm of corners where we dare to believe nothing is true and sacred and, burning, we may be seen rising in our finest moment of freedom. Amen.
A Thread You Follow 