celestial travel ecumenical
the journey crost
over
the bar
a star that guides
the journey each of us have to
take
hoping the water’s navigable
and the pilot
knows the way
and has firm grip upon
the wheel
and can command the crew
both technically and
kindly
then Tennyson has sailed this way
crost to the other side
and
we might do the same in variants of
faith
and transport but
to arrive
to disembark or simply step
from this life into
heaven
or
what you call it
how you get
there
that
we may study
talk about
while we pursue
c l couch
Crossing the Bar
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
after Tennyson composed the poem, he requested that it appear at the end of all published collections, and it did
photo by Gene Gallin on Unsplash
"Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach Ferry, North Carolina, USA"
(x = space)
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King Ralph
x
Bittersweet remembrance
As we have
Of all
Remembrance
This of my dog
Our dog
The family dog
From years ago
I used to take him
To the creek
Way out back
Behind the neighborhood
I’d let him run
Through rocks and water
(all was shallow)
He was free
And yet he stayed
With me
There was an incident
With some cows
Imagine the same patched colors
On the bovines
And himself
But came back
Under the fence
And through the water
And the rocks
Once again
But tempers reigned
Among the humans
And I left
I did not see Ralph again
Getting old and sick
As we do
Weighed down by disappointments
Maybe
As we have
Yet I remember liveliness
The chain leash upon the hook
(irony
for freedom)
That I pulled
Only a little
And from wherever
Ralph came running
Knowing it was time
To go out
And run some more
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C L Couch
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Photo by Alvan Nee on Unsplash
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(x = space)
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A Good Wednesday
(Passion, Passover, Ramadan)
x
It’s Wednesday
When Amanda would
Bound—how
Does one bound
If one is not
A deer?—but she
Would bound
Into class and
Announce, “It’s
Hump Day!”
x
Now it’s Holy Week
So this is Holy
Wednesday
For which there
Are liturgies
With special
Prayers
x
We imagine
What Jesus
Might be doing now
Because we are
Conditioned
By the narrative
For timing
x
Maybe he’s visiting
With friends;
Maybe he has actions
And words
For healing
And teaching,
Knowing what’s to
Come and having
These his
Final opportunities
x
For us
This year
There is a confluence
Of events,
Of seasons:
It’s Ramadan
And also Pesach
Or Passover
x
There are several days to each
That are the same
x
Three great truths
Come together,
Great faith
Celebrated
Bittersweet
x
Bitter
With fasting
And remembrance,
Sweet with
Fasting and remembrance
x
God is great
x
The angel passes over
Faithful homes,
Jesus saves,
And the prophet receives
Revelation—goodness,
Such good chances
That we have
To respect
And enter into
Many groups
x
The places where we worship
(observant)
Entering with curiosity
To know,
To have regard
For learning
And appreciation of
Our neighbors
x
Respect, appreciation—these
Are forms of love,
The kind of love
That comes from God
To feed our faith
In one another
x
As if God could say,
Come together
Right now
Over me
x
But don’t imagine
Not a heaven or a hell:
With appreciation
Of the music
We can have some
Heaven here
And have it there
x
C L Couch
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Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
(FOR ALL)
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(x = space)
x
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2 poems about ecumenicity
x
x
Many Things to Make
(nothing like a rant but a ramble)
x
And there are other great traditions, too,
About which I know next
To nothing
Remembering the Gulf War when
Some of us felt ecumenical
And took part in gatherings of Christians,
Jews, and Muslims
Where I got to hear the testimonies
Of the followers of each
And who they were as persons
And believers
x
There was a young woman
Of Islam
Who articulately smoothly,
Even beautifully
That who knew her better than her parents
With regard for her
And so who better to arrange
A marriage for her?
x
And I was convinced
And I disagree
And there was beauty in the
Disagreement, too
x
Doubting that we changed much
Of anything—there
Was still a war, and our young
People left to fight—but
In the moments
Of these hours
There were the points of light
The President then
Had been asking for
Inside the nation
x
There is so much more
To learn
About my neighbors
In the nation
And the world:
Who are the believers?
What do they believe?
What is the story of their faith?
Might they respect
The disagreements, too,
So that our world
Has a chance
To survive
To prosper
To believe
So that with integrity
We might reach for another world,
Too?
x
Pray the world lasts
Until we meet upon Megiddo
Not to fight
But have a meal,
Exchange apocalypse in faithful terms
And human
For a conclave
And a celebration
Of each other
x
x
Reasonably
x
Most of us believe
And there are those who don’t
Though binary’s not enough
There must be more
Than defining one thing
By its opposite
Humanists
Secularists
Unitarians
People of the Renaissance
Who gave science a category
Near faith
Without faith
x
Objectivists
Phenomenologists
People of reason
Rationality
Naturalism
Modernism
Fitter for post-modernism
Than the rest of us
x
Who could lead the way, in fact,
In appreciating
Difference
And diversity,
The creative celebration
Of the mind
And the experiment
x
Sorry I must
Define these as an
Other
But they must be
Welcome at the table
They could welcome us
We could invite each other
x
coda
x
Yes, which is not to say
Believers are irrational
Some are
Some want to be
And there are those who keep
Their faith as
Something in the wild
Those who lost at Whitby
But kept the Celtic
Style and ritual
Below
And now in daylight
Seek in celebration
Understanding for the rest of us
x
But faith has reason;
Might we say
That reason is creation
By creator?
Say no
Say yes
But allow for some very smart people
To believe
x
No one has to change
Except in violent intent
It should be an instinct to
Understand oneself
When understanding others
x
Keeping in mind
With hopefulness
That the one requested
Will in turn
Turn toward you to say
And what is your story?
Delightfully,
Be ready
x
C L Couch
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I was writing before dawn and thinking about the seasons that are upon us now, wonderful times—and that in the spirit of this or that we might serve each other not only better but also for the first time, the stakes being, well, everything
now it’s dawn
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by M. Garlick/University of Warwick/ESO – http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1627a/, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=99645426
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(x = space)
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On the Ecumenism of Species
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Dogs and cats should share
Often, they do
They share heat when it’s cold
They can share toys
They can treat each other
As toys
Food is another matter
Their systems are different
So unless it’s An Incredible Journey
Situation,
They should eat apart
And eat apart
Be who each other is
They can rest together
Often, they do
And enjoy God’s-creature status
Both, together
All, together
Now
x
C L Couch
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Photo by Madalyn Cox on Unsplash
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(x = space)
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Wake-Up Gospel
(John 10:25)
x
My works I do
Show God
They testify of me
Jesus did that
And says it every time
We read or hear it
He shows
And says it again
x
Works righteousness
Alone,
Some say
Indulgences for sin
Is close
When works as
Polity and practice go wrong
x
Indulgence on a decorated paper
Certified
Purchased
Ahead of time for sin
This doesn’t happen anymore
Reformation
Counterreformation
Timing keeps them apart
Though unity
Should bring them near
x
Then there are
The Evangelicals
The siblings
The independents
They are seen
And heard
Close in doctrine
But there is the edifice
The cathedrals
The state churches
The republic in the Vatican
What shall be done
With these?
x
Still, there could be
A table
‘Round whose delegates
Might bring a gift
For conversation
Each thing distinct,
Each thing to say
We are here
And we have something
To make it better
x
Then everyone could talk
And everyone could listen
The works of God
That show God
Could be manifest
Together rise
Against decline
Against blooded
Or bloodless war
x
There could be peace on Earth
Well, some of it
Bless-ed assurance,
All that’s needed
In God
In each other
x
C L Couch
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SOURDOUGH
Photo by Conor Brown on Unsplash
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(x = space)
x
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Monarch
x
King Jesus is all
My all in all
I know he’ll answer
Me when I call
x
In a final chapter of
The Last Battle,
A non-Narnian who was
An anti-Narnian for
A time,
Has met Aslan, the
Metaphor of
Christ and God
x
And this young man
Is abashed
To know he has
Been serving faith
In another god
And way
And now must own
His condemnation
x
And Aslan
(and Lewis)
Judges remarkably,
As only God-as-love
Can
To pronounce that
Service done well
In his life
Is counted as
Service unto him
x
(sorry,
as a character
Aslan is male,
though we know
don’t we
that God is female
and male,
Jew and Greek
and more than
these)
x
Scandalous doctrine?
Some
Might think so,
Saving
Saving welcome for
Those outside
The fold
As Aslan
(in Lewis)
Says is so
x
God bless the ecumenical
Those who serve
That all might know
The glory
Living in
The realm of God
x
C L Couch
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The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis
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“King Jesus Is All,” a traditional gospel song
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Galatians 3:26-29
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Matthew 6:29
x
As Pretty As It Is
Photo by Calvin Mano on Unsplash
x
A Dose of Paradox
They sit next to each other on the shelf
Salt and pepper
In the fridge, mustard and ketchup
Beer and wine
The opposites that don’t attract
But must live near each other
And often used together
Complementary colors on the wheel
Yellow and purple
Orange and blue
The colors of Christmas
And the Italian flag (add white)
Paradox is ecumenical
I guess I should say yin and yang
But it’s not a coin, you know
Two coins thrown into an ocean, more like
Love and death
Sex and abstinence
Not opposites, not really
Not two sides
Not life and death
But death and resurrection
They must be by each other
On the shelf
They must be used
Both and unevenly
There isn’t a good pattern that we see
Through our dark glasses
It’s ecumenical
It’s church
Folk who get together for no other reason
And often reason breaks it down
The Muslim and the Jew
The Christian and the Hindu
The Buddhist and the Taoist
Confucian and Shinto
All those who have a way
And have it rather exclusively
Thankfully, the broad shelf is there
The place for all things to dwell
In readiness
No one wins unless
All win
Respect is the spice
That will keep us at the table
Using everything we know
And not so much
Mister Marlow said restraint
And he was right
The horror was in letting go
Not knowing there are many directions in
Which to fall
Well, there it is
It’s Friday
For those who have one, the end of
The work week
It is finished
Let’s hope for restoration now
Before the work begins again
And those who work on weekends will
Have another day
See, the cycles do not hold
For all
And without doubt
Not in the same way
C L Couch
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