there will be
there will be
no sorrowing there
Jesus
himself has gone before
to take a cross
to set it down
maybe horizontally to make
a bridge
between
God and us again
as
at Eden
he
for he and she
went through the valley
first
and shall come back
maybe
by angel agents representing
either way
we shall go through
and at the start
or
in the middle
or at the dale’s ending
we shall be told
we may
set our crosses down
no longer needed
since
there will be no longer
any
sorrowing there
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photograph by The Walters Art Museum of the ink-and-color work of Ishiwata Koitsu “Twilight at Imamiya Street, Choshi 1932” via Unsplash
in her father’s and her mother’s house
(for Saint Patrick’s Day)
Brigid
told her father
about faith
and made a cross of straw
to make her point
that Christ
and faith in Christ
is made of
ordinary things
even life in the spirit
even faith
because the spirit
has been with us
since creation
and was
the cause
of creation
and he believed
and made a kingdom
of it
which might
not seem fair
since
everyone should make up
their own minds
so as
to understand the stakes
and that
the stakes are high
in choosing
one way
or another
which is why
conversion by
a literal sword
let alone doctrinal
isn’t the
best strategy
and
in fact
far from it
believe or not
one by one
and two
and then whatever
however
a family is defined
as in
as for me
and my house
because the house
believes
and then
a group
a temple community
or in said houses
where the faithful
used to meet
at first
you know
where people lived
wherever
sometimes while
persecuted generally
and so to meet
in a hiding
of some sort
with symbols on the outside
exchanged
in a kind
of code
and so Brigid
took her chances
even
with her father
since rule was absolute
back then
and it all could have gone
another way
but she was
and is
connected to the ages
and the land
and maybe she knew
how everything should
fit
and how a cross
of straw
might seem
to teach it all
like bread
and wine
and other things
(straw
a shamrock)
might have an added
use
for spiritual matters
worship
or evangelism
so Christ be with you
in every way
the breastplate indicates
and the faith
as Brigid knew
the cause of Christ
but only
one by one
and then two
and then the group
of however many
is defined
first as family
then a wider
(not political)
community
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photo by Boston Public Library on Unsplash
Lift
(the congregation sings)
Humble sign
Of
Ordinary execution
Ancient
Egyptian
Means
And then Roman
One by one by one
And two
We make this cross
Depict it
Empty
Or with Jesus on it
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Photo by Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash
long season
(means lengthen)
day of ash
season of thought
also season of service
and of
sacrifice
though all seasons behoove
today
ash on foreheads
ash made
from last year’s palms
and might look like a cross
for a while
then those who say
sorry
you have dirt
on your face
I thought you’d want
to know
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photo by Randy Laybourne on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
in a glorious church
x
look at you
Jesus
on such an ornate cross
we don’t truck
with indignity
or even
execution
you’re still alive
up there
though as you die
you die for us
x
rude cross
more like it
wooden beams
thick branches
off the trees
of the Earth
we say the nails were iron
ongoing execution business
for a smith
with earthly metals
coal to burn
or pieces of wood
cut off
shaved off
something like the matter
of a cross
x
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x
x
Photo by Michael Newcomb on Unsplash
x
I don’t mean to be a spoilsport about faith and faith art; I do think spiritual simplicity might be important
x
Since we built the church, there were pewter candlesticks upon the altar; Francis Nurse made them, y’know, and a sweeter hand never touched the metal. But Parris came, and for twenty weeks he preached nothin’ but golden candlesticks until he had them. I labor the earth from dawn of day to blink of night, and I tell you true, when I look to heaven and see my money glaring at his elbows – it hurt my prayer, sir, it hurt my prayer. I think, sometimes, the man dreams cathedrals, not clapboard meetin’ houses.
John Proctor
The Crucible
Act 2
x
(x = space)
x
x
Halfway Home
x
The sacrifice
Of your shed blood
He said
On our behalf
In prayer
His words the surrogates
A shadow
Of the death itself
x
Horribly
A bleeding body
Shed of its spirit
At the last
A life too pure
A sacrifice
For us
x
Yet there it was
In expiation
Half redemption
For our sins
x
The weight of everything
That hates
Crushing his body down
Pushing out his spirit
On to Hades
Or Valhalla
To Gehenna
Or to Sheol
As it’s understood
To name it
x
Half the promise
The brutal
Ugly
Barbarous part
Complete
And it is over
He said it was finished
Maybe it is
x
C L Couch
x
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
On the First Day
x
Ash Wednesday
Let’s have ash
Upon our foreheads
Crosses that will smudge
And that’s all right
Throughout
The day into
The evening
For the season
x
We say it’s for remembrance
Of death
And our mortality
But our foreheads are warm
There’s temperature beneath
And all the little crosses
Bearing small,
Smudged,
And living
Testimony
Everywhere
x
Not bad for evangelism
Contraindicated for a show
Rather a story of
Black, loving humility
x
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x
x
Photo by Taylor Flowe on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
distracted
x
in the concluding
of the service
we sang
in the hymn
behold his hands and side
and I stopped following
x
that’s hard
the hands and side were pierced
there was blood
out of its natural place
and it ran away
from the body,
stealing life
and we are to behold all this
x
it happens to others, too,
the bleeding
from a fall
from a blade
(the scalpel blade is good)
or from a bullet
or from shrapnel
or part of a car or truck
or other crash
and we can talk about
what missiles do
x
we release so much blood
and it becomes
the thief of life
x
what was Thomas thinking?
maybe he knew brutal living
and the dying
all too well
and didn’t mind the asking,
blood for proof
or the holes in hands
and mark of the spear
at least
x
was he chagrined?
he knew his master
and the following
restored
for everyone, as far as
Thomas might be concerned
and in euphoria
he might not have cared so much
about the scolding
because blessed are those who
don’t need such evidence
for proof
x
whatever
he was back
he was alive
the gruesome marks
the signs of blood,
blood now thwarted
in thievery
x
the marks he saw—and
did he touch as bid?—either way
concluded,
concluded
everything
x
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x
x
photo by Allef Vinicius on Unsplash
x
the story of Thomas doubting is in the twentieth chapter of John’s gospel in the Christian New Testament
x
(o = space)
o
o
Nothing Good
(Good Friday)
o
X
Saint Andrew’s cross
Peter’s cross is upside-down
Francis
Who was not crucified
Favored the T, it seems;
He received stigmata
o
The shape of history
The record of our story
Told in a symbol
Without words
One who knows no words
Inked or engraved
Still knows the story
Holding close
The symbol
Of enmity
Prevailed,
A death upon the cross,
Then hidden in the ground
o
There, that’s done:
Both broken discipleship
And keeping pristine empire
Are served
o
Such a cruelty of days
This day
To call it good
Nothing good about it
Really
We were at our worst
Nothing good about it
o
C L Couch
o
o
o
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