teachables
learnables
a week from now is Maundy Thursday
I believe
antique name made from mandatum
meaning command
because they were not suggestions Jesus gave
at the Last Supper
but
orders
ours to obey
if we’re going to follow him
the savior with indwelling spirit and creating God
three
one
God all the time
who
John 3:17
sent Jesus here not
to condemn the world but that the world
by Jesus
would be saved
we might be saved
in present
tense
the price paid
made into grace that is free for us
not because the cost was weightless
in meaning but because
God
dying is what God may do
and then once
first
victorious
over death offer eternity to us
as by that grace we may
choose
to live
if after the irony of mortal death
which doesn’t change
sigh
so on Thursday
we had a dinner at the church each year
cooked and
served
by deacons
elders
many meal volunteers
what followed then
was a service of worship with
Communion
special ‘cause it was at night
and
I don’t know even the child of me
felt the community
gathering
first
in the hall and then the mullioned
beamed and genially beaming
room
c l couch
photo by Geda Žyvatkauskaitė on Unsplash
easy company
what shall I say
this
sabbath day
but believe in God
and so
be saved
while none get credit or commission
and can’t tabulate
but
that any should be saved
and so in absentia
hope
when all are there
to celebrate
c l couch
photograph by Liana S on Unsplash
Because We Can Doesn’t Mean We May
And where is conscience
In all this
May we agree
This is a secular value
Maybe not
Maybe we’d say
It’s a confluence of chemicals
And so adjust the chemicals
According to agenda
And this is it
We’ll say
We can do anything
And so might as well
And so the anarchies of one
Guided by something
Because we are
Guided by something
We will release
All anathema
All destruction
Because
We could
So might as well
All this
Without a conscience
Without a human try
At salvation
Our part preceding
Armageddon
That we could line up for
Weapons down
Bringing drink with food
Instead
And also medicine
With the medicine of joy
As another
Secular choice
We could do this
We can do it
C L Couch
Photo by John Benitez on Unsplash
“Donate Blood Today” (which might translate more easily than part of an image on a page)
The Invitation
God is love
And if you wish to live with love
Then you could know the source
And be encouraged
Helped
In this life
To the next
And if you wish to live with hate
Then you could get to know the source
Of that
The nothingness
To have
In this life
And the next
That’s pretty much
The way of it
Love or
Its absence
Choosing one
Or the other
The rest is ignorance or luck
And it’s likely as you read
You will have neither
For your own
Lesson and
Salvation
C L Couch
Photo by Richard Gatley on Unsplash
Shall We Dance
I don’t know what
To say
More importantly,
I don’t know what
To do
What would you do?
You would love through everything
And give
And serve
You would breathe justice
And you would also allow everyone a voice
And give everyone a turn
You would let water roll
And gather it in still, green places
So that people might have a drink
And maybe around which
To build
And then let the water move on
So that it gathers safely
And keeps moving to feed others
You would
Protect the land,
Give people what they, what we, need
Though we would yet be on our own
Because that is the truth and mystery of will
You would allow each one an hour on one’s own
And make it fine
When each of us returns
To be welcomed back sometimes as if we had been gone for a long while
You would let us be parents
And also children
The child to be a child, certainly,
And also let the grown-ups be from time to time
Like children
You would remember we aren’t perfect
There are flaws built in through sin that maybe wasn’t ours
But in some paradox
Or even some kind of unfairness
We’re left to deal with
One by one
And in every generation, until everything’s renewed
‘Til then
You’ll keep us from perfection
Yet love us without flaw
While we will pray and liturgize haphazardly
Depending on our creeds and the splinters we’ve allowed
‘Til unity
Make sense
For love
And practicality
And you come down
Come up
Come form the side
At last
To finish the justice that was started in creation
To fix our flaws
The way we broke the Earth
The way we break each other
Mended finally
To last
As last
And how we were
The first day that you made us
When we had a garden to tend
That for all we know
Was planetwide
At first
And everything to name
Because you meant for us to task
Everything we are
And love the work
And labor of our lives
So today I will wonder
And do things
And wondering’s a thing
And think on you
And think on everyone
And everything
On Earth
And in the stars that as a kind
We have only started
To approach
And hopefully
If flawed
Though flawed for now
And even though
With your approval
As some of us
Wrote and sang
Shall we dance
After our work
And in our work
C L Couch
The popular song “Shall We Dance” is from the musical The King and I, though there is an earlier, eponymous movie (a vehicle for Rogers and Astaire).
Photo by Levi Williams on Unsplash
Prayer for Me and Everyone
(and everyone who needs to pray this way)
O God
Our help
Help me
Keep me safe
And sane enough
For jazz
Or really
For the world
Largely indifference
But with those
As we say
(as I say)
Who’d just as soon
Cheat you
As smile at you
(who cheat you
first
by smiling
at you)
Really
Though
I need your company
And to feel it
Please
As companionship
If I may ask
Not so much
As a judge
Even though you are
And shall
And woe to me
When that business
Comes
And
Yes
I’m thinking
Like the Amish farmer
Who when asked
If saved
Replied
For all this faith
And service
I hope so
And I hope so
Though there is a world
That needs you
Even for orneriness
And even
Scorn
And hatred
For the differences
It fears
While some of us find
Difference
Interesting
And how did I evolve
This way
Conservative
Yet believing
In the prismatic way
One light becomes
Well
Help me
Lord
Please
I am too poor
Without resources
To do much
But I am I
Such as that is
And it seems
According to doctrine
And the smallest
Mustard-seed
Like
Miracles that happen
You persist
Somehow perfectly
In loving me
And keeping me
And I’d like to ask
And will
About my friends
By blood
And choice
And happenstance
And for a world
That’s cracked
And losing air
To please give everyone
A chance
And then another
We need you
In unknowing
We are a cloud of witnesses
If a stormy
One
You made
And let become
Over ages
Where is Eden now
Where are the rivers
And the perfect
Vegetation
And shall
We ever
Know such things again
As at the start
If that
The angel on assignment
Could step down
And lowering
The sword on fire
Raise the other arm
Then say
The trialing time is over
Welcome back
C L Couch
Photo by NASA Hubble Space Telescope on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
Maggs
x
Yesterday or recently
(depending on
the rate
at which cop blotters’
notes move on
to general news)
A boy
Who was 7
On a scooter
(child’s fit)
Treading the thing next
To his mother
Was hit by a truck
An NYPD
Tow truck
The driver on his cell phone
When it happened
x
This could be the news
Of the day
If we wanted things
This way
Then move on to pestilence
To wider crimes
To war
x
(sequel)
x
Is there more to say today
Beyond small tragedies
Small hopes
Perhaps
What happens if
Remediation
Anyone who seated at
Any round table
x
Good news
That’s strong and wide
And numerous
Throughout the world
We would talk about these
Too
x
(d.s. al coda)
x
There has to be the larger news
As well
That’s normal
Becoming all the media
In circles
I mean cycles
To see and hear
x
But sometimes
We keep it small
A fire here
Some thieving there
Small
Local tragedies
With ads surrounding
x
Maybe a fundraiser
For a smaller while
Highlighting
Human need
Addressed
x
It’s a mishmash
And
Yes
The larger
Overwhelms the smaller
(the whale that subsumes
the krill)
We might say
The way of the world
And who sets that way
The Earth
God
Or us
Or even us as
God’s
Program directors
x
Well
Signing off
Let’s find out
How things might be arranged
To settle heart and head
Into priorities
Of one day to the next
x
(now d.c.)
x
We must do the things
To do
Address the wicked
Heal the wounded
And remember
x
Remember Lewiston
Tree of Life
Parkland
Columbine
x
Elevate each spirit
In our minds
That has already gone to God
While our ongoing care
And remembrance
Go on
Here
x
And do we learn
Do we get better
Fuller
Sometimes
Sometimes it takes a trend
Some public outrage
Sometimes
Some public mourning
x
We can change
We can grow
What is the main thing
What are
Side things
Which is first
Then second
In our lives
x
How do we moralize
With wisdom
Restraint
Humbly working it out
As if about
To kneel
Before a divine
Committee
That keeps knocking
That keeps asking
x
(30)
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Mike Hindle on Unsplash
x
(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
Moment Clear
(to go with “The Moment,” “Moment Passed”)
x
Hello
You must be God
I don’t know what I’m saying
I could read from a book
I suppose
You’d know the words
And I guess
That you know mine
x
Why are you invisible
Why are you only known
Through agencies
Through angel words
And actions
Fighting
Providing
Or announcing
Such a scary thing to Mary
Words in the sky
To frighten shepherds
Though getting them
To Bethlehem
As well
x
And may I know you
Unseen and surrogates
The promise
In the making
Of the cosmos
Promising perfection
With you later
x
Well
Maybe it’s simple
Believe in you
Or not
You remain the same
And for some reason
Have a plaintive part
As if you long for us
Having made us
Then pushed us along
From making
Into life
Into choices
x
And we may choose you
On our own
Without good evidence
Through with impulsive knowing
That there’s good and bad
Somehow both
And good is better
Bad amounts to nothing
Even though it gets to dress
In temptation
That we find compelling
x
Oh God
How do we know
How do we choose
I guess we do
We do
And that is all
No more
No less
Through faith there is the grace
The gift to everyone
In shadowlands
Enough clarity
To know you
And to have you
Knowing
You have us
Through the next moment
Of posterity
Into eternity
x
That’s it
We believe
And you remain
Unrevealed
So that faith keeps to the road
As invisibly as ever
The way
Belief and grace
Shall take us
Knowing when we fall
From lack of evidence
Or from gilded devils
With their feet out
x
We can pick up ourselves
And even reach for you
To know that something’s
Someone’s
There
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Randy ORourke on Unsplash
x
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