abstract muscling
so now we know
that what’s material is important
but what is
unseen is important
too
why things were made this way
we may take up with our
creator
later
ideas
a belief in peace
love
visions
dreams
hope
and faith
and the presence of the Lord
as well as our
unspoken prayers
and
yes
these maybe prompt the material
the moving of solid matter
relying on
the coursing
blood
the muscles of our bodies
things come to mind
anyway
naturally enough
and
we may choose and guide their way
as well
of all the unbodied items that
move through
we
may also choose what
to choose
and then enflesh
meaning
then
to the apologist or
less formally
the friend
we may choose to think on God
to
have that count
as evidence unseen
(you
know)
and maybe to transfer like
any other abstract from
a real
if unsubstantial place
in us
through all dimensions of our being
vision
thought
and flesh
throughout the day
and
to the wonders we’re assured that
should
be following
as after fair winds
also hard
to see
apart from its effects
that can try
all our senses
c l couch
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
(Hebrews 11:1, KJV)
photo by Ben Gillam on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
I Should Get God
x
I should finish
For the day
Though I haven’t thought of God
Frankly
Enough
Even in everything
Thought
Reason
Let those serve
Better than roted doctrine
But through holy words
Inside
x
For there
(sometimes in the world)
God is there
I know
Existence not incumbent
On my knowing
x
It is a choice
Not to exist
But to believe
x
I talk throughout the day
To someone there
Who is not
(if I were crazed)
A Roosevelt
Or Fred Gwynne as an angel
x
Though I like Fred Gwynne
An angel
(you may look it up)
And so think of his portrayal
As an angel
Telling stories
In a deep voice
Given to
A sonorous performance
x
That’s my suburban way
Real angels are magnificent
And frightening
Reflecting awful
As in awe
In aspect
In deserved
(for being)
In response
To God
x
But we talk
Maybe-angel
And I
And I am nudged
Throughout the day
For choices
To consider
And which work out
(tend to)
If I listen
x
Presence
Like a present
(pun)
For grace is free
Salvation won already
A door that works
Like a door
Except
Without a door knob
x
We are inside
There is a knock
We know who it is
And only with a latch
Only on our side
And shall we open
And invite
The one we know
If only heard of
Now and then
x
And it is Jesus
Even as a stranger
Exudes the promise
Though we may leave outside
The person
And the invitation
We are allowed
x
Existence doesn’t change
So much
But our will
Is changeable
As it is viable
x
We truly make the difference
In this meeting
Thinking head
Incising heart
Maybe a hopeful spirit
With yes
Well
There is God
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Katia Rolon on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Timothy Keller
x
The author of
The Prodigal God
Has died
I’m sorry
Though we know
Where he is going
He was good
At challenging
What we know
By using
What we know
Take the Bible story
Of the brothers
And their father
He tasks us
To consider
Problems and virtues
In each attitude
And then reminds us
That the final action’s
Missing
Which is do all three meet
Together
For the feast
Provided
x
C L Couch
x
x
Timothy James Keller (September 23, 1950 – May 19, 2023) was an American Calvinist pastor, theologian, and Christian apologist. He was the chairman and co-founder of Redeemer City to City, which trains pastors for service around the world. He was also the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City and the author of The New York Times bestselling . . . [beginning of Wikipedia entry]
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By Z thomas – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67989122
Milano, Cimitero monumentale, edicola Galbiati (“Il figliol prodigo”, scultore Enrico Butti, 1885).
x
(x = space)
x
x
Devilry
(the passing mischief)
x
I suppose the devil
Is after me
In a suburban way
After you, too,
I imagine
Maybe there’s a strategy
Maybe the strategy
Is chaos
Lack of plan
To ruin all the plans
x
Temptation, certainly
And also despair
A bright life
Too bright
To cover all the rest
The real pain
The real faith
To get us through
x
The real hope
That’s in the jar
After all the evils
Have escaped
That move around
Outside
And try to set up
House or shop
Church or
Place of work
Lanes of traffic
Bars
Or at the store
x
More so the aim
To find a place inside
To take our rest
And better
Resolutions
x
It’s not a grand
Or grandiose
Establishment,
A studio
With garish sets
Ringed
By biggish cameras
Managed
By phantoms
x
It might look like
The nicest place
We know
Only off in ways
We can identify
Should we be ready
And aware
If only of ourselves,
Our close-in loves
x
Deviation
Hell
The hell of it
Is that it is a trick
As all the stories say
The diabolical
Looks like everything
And is
Nothing
Maybe sound and fury
For a while
‘Til the ending
As the better stories
Say
x
Give in
Or not
It seems easy, I suppose
The wider path
The golden opportunities
The promise of
A winning ticket
While the other way
Purportedly
Is narrow
But certainly accessible
And it gets wider,
Wide enough
For two or more
x
Not to moralize
But moralize
One way is always easy
Joyless
But easy
The other way gets hard
But promises
The peace, we know,
That passes
Understanding
x
Though we always
Understand enough
For the
Irascibility
(and ability)
Of will
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
When Great Pain
x
If God exists
And God does exist
And if God loves
And God does love
And if God has power
And God has the most
Then how
Then why
I don’t know,
Why are things so messed up
So screwed up
So damnably awful?
We could ask this and these
On calmer days as well
It’s fair
x
All things of substance are good
Really
You move toward evil and the devil
Then you move toward nothingness
And nothing
These will increase, day by day,
Until that’s all
(so much worse than Porky Pig)
There is nothing
Not black
(black is good)
But a void
Out of which God has created
But not us
Nothing we have will last
Except as legacy
Then memory
Then
(let a couple of beats go by)
x
We are on the side of flesh
Who value flesh
(I am ignorant about
mortification)
And what’s inside
Flesh is not bad
It is ours and was made for us
By the true owner
Of the universe
Who keeps with perfection
From the smallest moment that we know
And smaller
To the next
x
And what of pain?
Why is there pain?
How can there be a God of pain?
Well, there is
Who is the God of love
Who promises alleviation
And for you
Family
And friends and neighbors, too
For a broken
And a splitting-further world
x
Pain is a stake
(and stake)
It is on the table of the world
It is not ours
Though we can wield it
The way we can
Wield healing and solutions,
Too
These are realities and means
And we have so much to do with them
For now
We can move with
Pretty much anything we want
Inside
Outside
Toward ourselves
Toward our neighbors
Toward the world
x
Persist
Sometimes is all there is
When pain is great
The next moment
And the next
One moment
Two moments
Enough accomplishment
Until everything’s incorporated
And we stand up
And move
Not move on as in forget
Move on as in everything’s a part
Of us now
x
And I know
It’s hard
To say we’re not alone
When we are alone
Without the peace of it
But we’re not
A lesson for the speaker, too
We’re not
There is companionship
And company
For life
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Conor Sexton on Unsplash
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, United States
x
Saving Graceland
1, Give It Up
And there are the things that happy
Anyway
Bad things, starving things
Taking from life, risking faith
At each turn
We lost someone close
We lose a job
We lose a place
We lose what we thought
Were good associations
We lose something in ourselves
We lose some health
We lose materials we think we need
Because we do
And where is belief in this,
Where are you?
You’re here, but we don’t know how
So we give up
Or don’t embrace in the first place
Because there’s honest reason not
To take hold
We might even curse God
Denial
Or the arranging of an adversarial relationship
From then on
We take down faith symbols that were
Totem as well as decoration
No beauty there
In truth,
No more
And what’s to bring us back,
To move us on?
We’re grown up, we don’t need you
We only need ourselves
Maybe with like-minded
Maybe not
2, Restoration
I don’t know how each one
Might come back
Or start at all
I mean, there is confession
And repentance,
But what about when no one’s
Done anything that’s wrong?
I don’t mean venial
Considerations
I guess I mean victims
Who comes back from being robbed
Of life,
Of living goodness?
And if there were no faith
But awful things have happened,
How might it begin?
A blank slate would be easier
To mark on with good lessons
Or reason through
Someone’s apologetics
That happens, and it needs to happen
But wondering from a point of loss
Of theft
Of trickery
Or manipulation
Then believing again
That everything with truth and beauty
Might return to the mind’s eye
The vibrations of the heart
All the evil stuff to be forgotten
No, that’s not going to happen,
Though there might be mitigation
For a start
3, Landing
A favorite way in stories to rid oneself
Of evil is through laughter
For evil characters often hold
Themselves and what they think they have
Too seriously
An argument of one that must be global
Humor, a healthy kind
Even if delivered in exasperation
Cuts through the agenda
Exposes the lack of clothing on
Self-styled emperors
Not that it’s the only way
Or on its own an anodyne
But healthy humor
Like right thinking
Goes a way toward righteous victory
Perhaps in metanoia
Though there should come
A sober time for reflection and
Decision
Or (and) simply to feel it through
Faith is funny
Worse, it’s foolish
Even if it shows the way
Turn over folly
To find some wisdom
The way some lies are best understood
Simply in opposite consideration
(take out the “not” or put it in
around each lie)
A different kind of foolishness
Made wise
Toward what we need
And where to have it, here
And on the other side
In certain testimony,
Something about rooms in mansions
Finally, though, we must face the hurt
We won’t want to, which is a good
Sign
We’re on the way to something real
Don’t worry about being smart enough
Unless it’s also made aware
How to get smarter
Don’t let your ego, on another hand,
Make choices for you
Finally, you know, it’s faith
It’s choice
It’s a choice we make
It’s the kind of choice that anyone can make
And if you think someone cannot make that
Choice for deficiencies,
God will think this, too,
In God’s way
Nothing needed will be withheld
To guarantee the offer
Or the taking
We all can be there in
Graceland, one by one
And all together, starting
The process anytime
C L Couch
Photo by Mahmudul Hasan Shaon on Unsplash
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