Lenten Poems 2022
Writing Lenten
Poems was a tradition I began during silent retreats at St. Francis
Church, writing a poem a day during Lent. It's been over a decade
since. While away for spring break this year, Shirley and I talked about
what to give up and what to take on. For the latter, I suggested a daily
poem, sometimes taking an image from what is around us, to reflecting on a
passage from the daily
lectionary that gave me pause. So here are a sheaf of poems from Ash
Wednesday to Easter. Some are a bit odd,
some not very good, but as William
Stafford once said when asked what he did on days he was not so good, “Well,
then I just lower my standards.” To
write anyway, is a freedom we can ill afford to discard.
Ed
Ash Wednesday
The frozen bay
with its dusting of snow
reaches to the horizon
if the color of ash were
white
we would be immersed
looking out I am reminded
of my insignificance
the dust to which I will
return
and yet I will wring
meaning from these words
humbled
yet moved by the beauty
of something not seen
before
Wed, Mar 2, 2022
Driving
into the snow
The falling flakes are
determined
to go in the opposite
direction
as if they are saying
don’t rush there
it has the look of
jumping
into hyper-space
in an old star trek
episode
with the surprise
that when you arrive
you are not quite sure
how
With a steady hand
I follow the tracks in
front of me
and hope the driver
somewhere up ahead
has made all good
decisions.
what are the chances?
there are no lines
in the snow
just the occasional feel
of the rumple strips
to let me know I’ve gone
too far left or too far
right
As I journey
through this life
I imagine God
nudging me
a rumple to the hands
when I can’t see far
ahead
to color inside the lines
and sometimes risk
outside
Thu, Mar 3, 2022
Mirrors
On a two-lane road
in the northern woods
straight as an arrow
to the horizon,
for twenty miles
a gray sedan
is tailing me
but he keeps his
distance,
I check the mirror
each quarter mile
to be sure,
though I am going
plus five
he keeps the rhythm
and the twenty yards back
until I relax,
then on a hill
with a rare passing lane
he accelerates to plus
twenty
passes to my left,
and I wonder
if that’s
how evil operates,
keeping its distance
but matching stride for
stride
until we think it’s safe
then striking,
taking the lead from us
and watching us fall
behind
in his mirror
Fri, Mar 4, 2022
Siege
Haiku
Feeder's empty
shells
where black seeds have
been plundered
the crows have moved on
Sat, Mar 5, 2022
"The haiku is a
Japanese poetic form that consists of three lines, with five syllables in the
first line, seven in the second, and five in the third. The haiku developed
from the hokku, the opening three lines of a longer poem known as a tanka."
haiku | Definition,
Format, Poems Example, & Facts | Britannicahttps://www.britannica.com › ...
› Literatures of the World, https://www.britannica.com/art/haiku
Amaryllis
There are few ways of
saying glory!
that are clearer than
this trumpeting flower;
it arrived a trimmed bulb
during Advent.
We watched its daily
journey
with growing anticipation
it was coming soon
long green finger-leaves
spread its open palm
to give its gift
first one, then two,
then three and four
in sequence played
the triumphant air
saved for such times
then bowed so the next
could shine
after their piece was
done
they clung to the stem
to life
to the memory
Sun, Mar 6, 2022
Boi Cavalo*
The chef in Lisbon
told us that if anyone
saw something new
in the market,
they must buy it
and find a way to cook
and serve it.
Today I read in the
Propers
"The fear of the
Lord is clean"**
and I am stuck on the
newness
of fear that is more than
cleansing,
it is clean
not in itself
but by its object
So often we read in the
text
"be not afraid"
that other fear
that is not the fear of
the Other
but the fear of myself
of losing myself;
but if I am found
I shiver in the majesty
of His seeking.
Is that the fear that is
clean?
So, I must bring this to
the pan
add some oil
and stir
until the sweet fragrance
rises to my nostrils;
If I am puzzled
then I am open
to being cleansed.
Mon, Mar 7, 2022
* Restaurant Boi-cavalo, https://boi-cavalo.pt/en
** Psalm 19:9, https://www.lectionarypage.net/WeekdaysOfLent/MondayFirstWeek.html
Looking for signs
Isaiah 55:6–11
"Seek the Lord while
he may be found,
call upon him while he is
near"
I tell my students
that the contract is like
a safety net;
you may never need it
but it's always there.
I thought the same about
prayer
God always listening,
wasn't that one of the
Omni's?
I thought I was the one
side
of the conversation that
needed to draw near.
But now I wonder if God
has His seasons
I am looking for the
signs.
Tue, Mar 8, 2022
Second chances
"Who knows? God may
relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do
not perish… When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways,
God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon
them; and he did not do it. --Jonah 3:1-10 (excerpt)
God may relent and change
his mind
and then God does,
is there any doubt in
whose image we are created?
All prayer seems based on
this,
that the God of the
Omni's
can intervene in God's
ways,
a hardened heart
can become pliant again
and kindness shine
from inside the egg
and burst forth,
do we hope (and pray) for
less
from our fellow human
traveler?
Wed, Mar 9, 2022
Fear and Trembling
“Put eloquent speech in
my mouth before the lion…” Esther 14:12-14
Before the lion there is first
the fear,
the silent trembling,
will he smell my weakness?
When I worked as a guard
at the corporate gates,
I faithfully signed out
all the after-hours
comings and goings.
One working the evening
cleaning crew
was leaving earlier than
he should,
and I dutifully marked
the clipboard;
He saw and jumped out of
his car
storming into the
guardhouse screaming
“You are messing with my income!”
A quick look to my fellow
guard
said not to confront him.
So I was silent in my
fear
until he left
then felt the shame wash
over me.
There were no words of
eloquence.
When the lion paced back
and forth
and I was speechless,
unable to imagine what
the Lord
would have me say.
Thu, Mar. 10, 2022
Waiting
My soul waits for the
Lord,
more than watchmen for
the morning, *
more than watchmen for
the morning. –Psalm 130:5
I would think many times
that nothing was sweeter
than achieving a goal,
working hard
and getting there.
My father taught us
the virtue of sweat
out with the toxins,
in with the good,
the stained, wet t-shirt
worn
as a badge of toil.
But the creative moment
never came by striving
it only arrived when
pausing,
waiting for the sweet
words
of peace washing over me
like the light coming
over the horizon.
Fri, Mar. 11, 2022
Paths
Oh, that my ways were
made so direct *
that I might keep your
statutes! –Psalm 119:5
I remember
my priest saying
two decades ago,
“God draws straight
with crooked lines.”
John cried in the
wilderness
with Isaiah:
‘Prepare the way of the
Lord,
make his paths straight.*
In a place of wandering
could there be a straight
path?
It does not look that way
at the beginning
of our journey;
looking back
seems to pick out
the taut thread
among the wrinkled fabric.
I think rather the Lord
has aligned my crooked
paths
and wrought meaning
in the chaos.
* Mark 1:2-4; Isaiah
45:13
Sat. Mar. 12, 2022
Beacons?
The robins have returned
in the mid-March snow,
have these beacons of spring
got it wrong?
They gather in the crab
apple tree,
puffed up redbreasts,
their pride a dashed
contrast
in their hunger;
The dried fruit has hung
on
for this harvest
and one by one
they yield to the pull
of these proud ground hunters,
their glory
buried ‘neath the
vestiges
of winter
in the north.
Sun., Mar 13, 2022
Together
A pause in Lent
for this is a feast day
and feast we have.
to say my life has been
enriched
would itself be in need
of confession
for it does not reach
the height nor depth
that your love has
wrought—
“worked into shape by artistry”
“elaborately embellished”
“deeply stirred”
sometimes the purveyor of
meanings
is poetic.
My life has not,
will not
be the same—
when I met you,
when you met me,
when we met
and became the banquet
of three.
Mar. 14, 2022, written after the Sunday feast, for our 7th wedding anniversary on Monday
Definitions by
Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wrought
Surgery
“Wash yourselves; make
yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your
doings
from before my eyes” --Isaiah
1:16
The pre-op instructions
take two pages of notes
that I write furiously;
take this, not that
it reads like the “thou
shalts;”
the washing is with special
soap,
once at night
and once in the morning,
and thou shalt not apply
lotion!
I follow the rules to the
letter
in the hope that my
passage
through the OR
may be acceptable.
The room is pristine
as they strap me to the
table
like a sacrifice
all is sterile
all is white
all blurs
and wiped clean
the evil excised
until I respond
and am moved.
Tue., 15 Mar 22
Apprentice
“So I went down to the
potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making
of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another
vessel, as seemed good to him.” – Jeremiah 18:1:3-4
The refrain of the old
spiritual
rings in my head
“He’s got the whole world
in His hands,
He’s got the whole world
In His hands…”
Jeremiah is sent to watch
the potter mold the vase
then start again,
mold the vase
until it’s right
“He’s got the whole world
In His hands…”
How many times
do I seek His word
and it’s right here
In the everyday work
my whole world
in my hands,
My Master
at my shoulder
humming.
Wed., 16 Mar 22
Transplants
“They shall be like a
tree planted by water,
sending out its roots by
the stream.” -- Jeremiah 17:8
My wife is growing oyster
mushrooms,
the fertile log
is in a moist terrarium
in partial light;
she checks it daily
and marvels at its rapid
growth;
soon there will be
an abundant harvest
and I imagine the
culinary
creations she will make
I keep a diary
of all the places I have
lived
and worked;
it is long and the travel
wide;
there seems little time
to put down roots
for the oak and maple
yet each has been called
home;
the places I have sown
less memorable
than the people
I have become
The river runs through it
all
And I am nourished.
Thu., Mar. 17, 2022
The Turn in the Plot
“The stone that the
builders rejected
has become the
cornerstone” –Matthew 21:42a
Watching the masons
quickly fashion a brick facade
they toss aside the
imperfect,
what they expected a
brick to be.
I imagine a poor and needy
person
who lost their home in a
mega-storm
searching through the
scraps
finding this misshapen brick,
putting it in his backpack
with a smile
and saying
to himself,
“I will rebuild”,
even if a stone at a
time.
Our faith
may be called the Great
Reversal,
the unexpected,
the surprise,
the turn in the plot
that calls into question
our safe and sure
assumptions.
If the first will be last
and the last first,
we may need to rethink
most of the dark castles
we’ve built in our minds.
Fri., Mar. 18, 2022
Feast of St. Joseph
“Every year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day's journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, "Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety." He said to them, "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.” -- Luke 2:41-51
Today is the feast of
Saint Joseph,
and I am tempted to ask
like the Sicilian in The
Princess Bride,
“Who is that guy”?
He is barely mentioned,
and when Mary says,
“Your father and I have
been searching for you in great anxiety”
the son answers,
“Did you not know that I
must be in my Father's house?”
Inconceivable! says the
Sicilian.
What 12-year-old gets
away with this?
Afterward, Luke says,
He was then “obedient to
them.”
Unwritten words must have
been exchanged.
Foretelling “they did not
understand what he said to them.”
Wasn’t that the story of
much of his life?
It did not gain the full
meaning
until afterward,
as the high priest says
in another movie
confronting the inconceivable
tomb,
“Now it begins.”
Sat., Mar. 19, 2022
William Goldman, “The Princess Bride,” 1987
Franco Zeffirelli, “Jesus of Nazareth,” 1977
Naked Feet
“for the place on which
you are standing is holy ground” –Exodus 3:5b
After the snow melted,
I walked through the
garden
among the old fallen
leaves,
and a piece of metal grabbed
the sunlight;
I reached to pick it up,
a chrome hook from one of
the feeders
that I thought was lost,
but here it was shining
in the late winter sun;
this ground which was
familiar ground,
cold and damp and covered,
revealed itself
like what I imagine the
ground
around the bush
was and became
to a startled Moses,
holiness among the common
that became uncommon
and worthy
of only naked feet.
Sun., Mar. 20, 2022
A Stillness
“As the deer longs for
the water-brooks, *
so longs my soul for you,
O God.” –Psalm 42:1
In the hills above
Hanover
walking the blue-blazes that
branch
from the Appalachian
trail,
I hear the callings
before seeing them:
the chickadee,
chipmunk,
and squirrel;
only the deer practices
silence
a stillness that is the
hope
of not being found;
but it is hope I have
on this path
made firm through the
forest,
hope that the words will
come
and find me
with a calling that
demands a stillness.
Monday, Mar. 21, 2022
“The word "waterbrook" is, apparently, an archaic form of "brook," which, apparently, means the same thing (a small, natural stream of fresh water).” -- https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/waterbrooks.26944/
Trail
“Show me your ways, O
Lord,
and teach me your paths.”
–Psalm 25:3
On the long trail
through many states
I’d look for the white
blaze
to continue ahead,
or the two for turning right
or left.
Sometimes the distance
was long
and I’d wonder if I had
made a wrong turn,
sometimes I’d double back
and start anew
from the last place I was
sure,
sometimes I’d have to
admit
I was lost
and call for the signs
of north or west
to lead me off the path
and hope to cross a road
or stream.
There are few times
more jarring
than to lose
a sense of direction
and hunger for the
familiar
way through the forest,
to summon the faith
that I will get out
and the hope I will be
found.
Tue, Mar. 22, 2022
Blessed Ambiguities
“I will open my mouth in
a parable;
I will declare the
mysteries of ancient times.’ –Psalm 78:2
I read that the One
who speaks in parables
often leaves the listener
guessing,
and I wonder
if the mystery
invites a search
for meaning
and that these moments
may be blessed
ambiguities.
Wed., Mar. 23, 2022
Stiffened Neck
“yet they did not listen
to me, or pay attention,
but they stiffened their
necks.” --Jeremiah 7:26
My chiropractor
has a Lucite, protractor-like
device
that measures how far I
can turn my head
left or right;
it shows what the
adjustment improves,
though I suspect Jeremiah
is thinking more
about an attitude adjustment
and the “stiffened neck”
as a failure to look left
and right
to see which way the Spirit blows,
mindful of the gap
that needs crossing.
Thu., Mar. 24, 2022
Annunciation
“He has cast down the
mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the
lowly.” –From the Magnificat, Luke 1:52
The mallards have returned
their exile to the south
has past
now busy with the work of
spring,
They march from the pond
to the east
to the one to the west
like the day casting
shadows.
I set a ground feeder
on their path
so I can watch from
my office window,
she, leading the way
and he, following behind.
When she stops to eat,
he keeps guard,
his green regal head
looking left and right
then at the King behind
the glass.
She scoops with her bill
munching quickly,
swallows the seeds whole,
an array of millet clinging
to her
like a toddler’s mustache
of milk.
Then she is off, picking
up speed
as he rushes to catch up.
She is on a mission
and knows there soon
will be little ones
and all this lowly metaphor
will rise up with meaning
in the midst of Lent.
Fri., Mar. 25, 2022
Confession
“The sacrifice of God is
a troubled spirit;
a broken and contrite
heart” –Psalm 51:18
In the company of friends
when I heard you speak
of your illness,
though you used the past tense
it still struck as a
hammer,
by your words
both redeemed
and shattered anew;
how am I to be
but troubled?
When the water glass
was cracked
I could not drink this
cup,
still it held the cut
orchid
that blooms
again and again,
and I am ever grateful.
Sat., Mar. 26, 2022
Prodigal
“…he was lost and has
been found.” –Luke 15:32
I remember my father’s funeral
we were each asked
to say some words.
Before I read a poem,
I introduced myself
as the black sheep of the
family.
Later, at the reception, a
parishioner asked,
“Why did you describe
yourself
as the black sheep?
I gestured around the
room
And said, I’m probably
the only one
here who did not vote
Republican.
Startled, she said, “but
why?”
I had come home to mourn
not only my father’s
passing
but our differences.
Sun., Mar. 27, 2022
The Golden String
“I give you the end of a
golden string;
Only wind it into a ball,
It will lead you in at Heaven’s gate,
Built in Jerusalem’s wall.”
--William Blake
My
mother passed this day last year.
It
was Palm Sunday then,
so
appropriate that she rode into heaven
through
Jerusalem’s gate.
Today
I remember Blake’s line
that
Stafford had pinned above his desk.*
I
am ever following that string,
riding through the gate of the poet’s words
and in my mother’s footsteps.
Mon., Mar. 28, 2022
W. Blake, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/I_give_you_the_end_of_a_golden_string
* Robert Bly, The Darkness Around Us is Deep, p. vii.
Sabbath
“My Father is still
working, and I also am working.” –John 5:17
I wonder if on the day of
rest
God is still listening,
adding to God’s to-do
list,
ready for the Monday
at the office of
Creation.
The troubled and thankful
heart
likely says more on the
Sabbath
then other days,
perhaps making this
an intercession
rather than an
intermission.
Which, I wonder, is more
holy?
Tue., Mar. 29, 2022
Forgotten
“yet I will not forget
you.” --Isaiah 49:15
I try to forget
the old moments of pain
and sorrow,
but they are with me;
they have made me
as much as the seasons
of engagement
and elation;
and yet we read
that the Lord forgives
and forgets,
that my evil
and brokenness cease
to exist.
No wonder the Holy One
Says again and again
“You are set free.”
Will I dare
to become the better self
that was always there
and not forgotten?
Wed. Mar. 30, 2022
Ashes
“Remember that you are
dust, and to dust you shall return.” —BCP
A
family patriarch
in his nineties
once told me
his meetings
with old friends was more
and more as pallbearer,
such is the blessing
of outliving all
your friends.
We are reminded
with each passing
that we are somewhere
in that queue
asking, “who will carry
me?”
Friends come and go
but families endure,
there are children,
grandchildren,
and great-grandchildren
to be proud of,
marvel at their youth,
thankful I will be carried
on.
Thu., Mar. 31, 2022
At times, a feast day must be taken in the midst of Lent. That is what the 7 Sundays are in Lent that make the 47 calendar days 40 in the wilderness. To that, I add a personal feast day, celebrating Shirley’s birthday, to whom this poem is dedicated.
Shirley
I think you may be
happiest
when there is something
at your fingertips
that is growing
or about to grow
even in the long winter
that is Michigan.
When you opened
the Lion's Mane kit
you were wrapped up in it
with a look of
determination
and sheer joy
that are among the gifts
you make to those
around you.
As when you create
a splendid dish,
there is this opening-up
of your spirit
as if you are blooming
from the mist
of anticipation
and about to share
what you imagine
with the rest of us.
Fri., Apr. 1, 2022
Made
a fool
“Search and you will see that no prophet
is to arise from Galilee” —John 7:52
I sometimes wonder
if the basic bias
is to decide where to
search
and not to search,
it is not an openness
to find only the expected
rather than what you don’t
expect;
Don’t we learn as budding
scientists
To assume we are wrong
until proven otherwise,
to become the fool
at the opening of the
play
rather than be made a
fool
before the hero saves the
day?
Sat, Apr. 2, 2022
Laughter
“Then was our mouth
filled with laughter,
and our tongue with
shouts of joy.” --Psalm 126:2
It was after my mother’s
funeral
the three siblings and
spouses
went to lunch
near the harbor
reminisced
and laughed,
not at her passing
but at our living,
the crazy things we did
and said as kids;
it is this humor
that has been passed on
to us and our children;
my youngest granddaughter
once exclaimed to her
mother,
“Today we are going to
have
more fun than flamingos!”
And they did.
The joy that is passed on
is seeing the joy
in those who come behind
us
the laughter
is from the laughter
that rolls from their
mouths.
Sun. Apr. 3, 2022
Revival
“He makes me lie down in green pastures *
and leads me beside still
waters.
He
revives my soul’ –Psalm 23:2-3a
We go to the backyard
after the sun sets
and lie face-up
on freshly mown green
grass.
The stars
on a Swiss night
are sharp,
poignant.
There is no twinkle here.
It is mid-August
and we are waiting for
the first
Perseid meteor,
a so-called shooting star
making its mark on the vast
heavens
that arch above us.
It is a long wait
our voices still,
gazing left and right,
then “There!”
a fleeting presence
that warms
our souls
hungering for
for the touch of awe.
Mon., Apr. 4, 2022
Boosters
“For the Lord looked down from his holy
place on high;
from the heavens he
beheld the earth;
That he might hear the groan of the captive
and set free those
condemned to die” --Psalm 102:19-20
Isn’t that all of us?
“Those condemned to die?
As Hubbard mockingly
said,
“You surely will never
get out of it alive.”
The closer one gets to
the end
the more we groan,
especially when getting
up from a sofa
too soft to help.
The chairs for the aging
should be spring-loaded,
a booster seat for the
retired.
I can still hear my
father’s voice
Booming in the morning
“up and at ‘em!”
When I figure out the “up”
I will have to ponder the
“at ‘em.”
Perhaps then
I will be set straight.
Tue., Apr. 5, 2022
Babel
“Glory to you, beholding
the depths;
in the high vault of
heaven, glory to you.” –Canticle 13, Benedictus es, Domine
Standing near the base
of the Burj Khalifa
the Lotte World Tower
the World Trade Center
it was a strain
to see the top,
and the journey
to the observation decks
was an ear-popping ride;
standing at the window
and looking down
to the depths below
was an exercise in
vertigo
that one stepped back
from.
Lewis reminded us
that “the highest does
not stand
without the lowest”
and Tillich wrote of the “shaking
of the foundations.”
Over a score ago
the towers fell
and it was ten years
before I could go to the
site
and stand at the edge of
the fountain.
You ask me why the depths
and the vault speak to me;
I will answer,
Babel.
Wed., Apr. 6, 2022
From the Tower of Babel story: “And the Lord said, “…this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” --Genesis 11:6
A Face That Is Not My Own
“Search for the Lord and
his strength;
continually seek his
face.” --Psalm 105:4
As I grow older
and see the strength of
my youth
slip away
I seek to delay and defer;
surely there is still
a child hiding in the
shadows
who makes an appearance,
like the cedar waxwings
we saw landing in the crabapple
tree
to feast on the
winter-dried berries?
But then they were gone,
left for a northern
spring
and I am searching
for a strong grasp
for a face that is not my
own.
Thu., Apr. 7, 2022
The Enticement
“O Lord, you have enticed
me,
and I was enticed;
you have overpowered me,
and you have prevailed.
...then within me there
is something like a burning fire
shut up in my bones;
I am weary with holding
it in,
and I cannot.” -- Jeremiah 20:7a, 9b
My priest talked about
a nudge from God,
the whisper in the ear
to go and ask,
and he did.
How could I say no?
It has traveled with me
and when I feel the heat
from the stirring in my
bones
how could I forget
his story?
I reach anew
for the pen
and trust that there is
always more than
just these jottings
on the tablet
that nudge me
to listen to the
enticement
Fri, Apr. 8, 2022
Rope Bridge
“Will you not give us
life again,
that your people may
rejoice in you?” —Psalm 85:6
Inevitably in the story
is the rope bridge
with missing and shaky
slats
of splintered wood
strung between one ridge
and another,
fear and destruction
pushing from behind
and hope, milk and honey
pulling from the other,
we must make the crossing
and find this tenuous
bridge
is not one-way,
we are drawn
to the profane,
and as the wind turns,
we yearn for the holy
again and again
each story my story,
into the exile of
captivity
and then into the
promised land.
Sat, Apr. 9, 2022
A Shouting
He answered, "I tell
you, if these were silent,
the stones would shout out." Luke 19:40
In the silence
is a shouting
that cannot be silenced.
Justice, like adoration,
must be spoken,
said aloud,
so all can hear
and not shrink
from the convicting
that truth brings,
the “even me”
is in his path,
and I am caught up
in the procession
to Jerusalem’s gate.
Palm Sunday, Apr. 10,
2022
From mother to child
Your love, O Lord,
reaches to the heavens, *
and your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is
like the strong mountains,
your justice like the great deep; —Psalm
36:5-6a
With outstretched arms
I love you this big
I love you as big
as the whole world
comes the child’s reply.
I love you to the moon
and back.
I love you to the stars
and galaxies
I love you more than
the Heavens can expand
and still we do not
grasp the reach of God
but are cradled
as sure as the toddler
stretches the
superlatives.
Mon., Apr. 11, 2020
Missy
Listen to me, O
coastlands,
pay attention, you peoples from far away! –Isaiah
49:1
The mallard we named
Missy
has come to the ground
feeder
as she travelers the
yards
from pond
to house to the next.
She sees me in the window
and calls to me as surely
as the wind,
this feeder is empty
and I have stopped in
vain!
So, I gather up the
offering
in a red plastic pail
and shift it into the
feeders
in the hope that she
will come again
and I will hear her
voice.
Tue., Apr. 12, 2022
Teacher
“The Lord God has given
me
the tongue of a teacher,
that I may know how to
sustain
the weary with a word.” —Isaiah 50:4
The weight of the teacher
is wearying;
how will the listener
be sustained?
The student
graduates,
turns from front
of the classroom
and walks out into
the world.
There must be
a turning away,
a betrayal,
just as the child
leaves home;
even the animosity
must be borne,
a death must occur,
before there is the
discovery
that the word endures,
the teacher
given back his life.
Wed., Apr 13, 2022
Maundy*
“Then he poured water into a basin and
began to wash the disciples’ feet and
to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.” --John 13:5
I read that Muslims
wash their feet
before prayer,
a rite of purification,
five times daily.
Jesus washed the disciples’
feet
as an act of love and service.
“Why the feet,” I wonder.
Are they what grounds us
to the earth?
Yet Moses shed his
sandals
before the Voice
because it was holy ground.
And it is into the ground
we are buried.
And from the ground
the crops and souls will rise.
Which way is up?
Maundy Thursday, Apr. 14,
2022
* Maundy – “a ceremony of
washing the feet of the poor” –M. Webster
Good Friday
"It is
finished." --John 19:30
We are leaving
the old church
in silence.
The shrouded cross
left on the altar
tied with a purple sash.
She turns to me *
and says,
“I don’t like this
service.”
“It’s a funeral,”
I say, as if that makes
it understood.
She is no longer with us
having left
this old journey
in silence.
We gathered in that place
to celebrate her life,
but the sorrow
lingers.
Good Friday, Apr. 16, 2022
* Remembering Alice Smith
The Hounding
“He has walled me about
so that I cannot escape” -- Lamentations 3:7
A friend
must be sedated before
entering the tube of the
MRI,
closed spaces
cause his heart to race.
The recurring dream
is often about being chased;
there is no escape
but to wake up panting.
As Thompson wrote,
there is a Hound of
Heaven *
and the Fathers remind us
His pursuit is
relentless. **
Even the stone walls
of a tomb cannot
keep Him out.
Holy Saturday, Apr. 16, 2022
* Francis Thompson, "The Hound of
Heaven,"
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/currentstudents/undergraduate/modules/fulllist/second/en227/texts/thompson-hound.pdf
** Augustine, Luther
Easter
The
wolf and the lamb shall feed together —Isaiah 65:25
I notice the piece of
paper
held on the fridge door
with a magnet,
with characters
from another tongue
I do not understand.
She tells me it’s a
recipe,
and knowing her
I trust that it will be
good.
But I secretly hope
for the lamb.
The old saying
to beware
if the wolf is at the
door,
“some danger, threat, or
calamity
is imminent, or at hand.”
*
But today
we are told the wolf
and the lamb are dining
partners,
hope sees fear consumed
rather than consuming;
that is the feast
we sit down to partake
together.
Look, all things are made
new! **
if I don’t understand
I can still break bread
and drink wine
with you.
Easter Sunday, Apr. 17,
2022
* Farlex, “The Free
Dictionary,” https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/wolf+at+the+door
** 2 Corinthians 5:17,
KJV
Most quotes are from the
NSRV and excerpts from the Common Lectionary:
https://www.lectionarypage.net/
