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Thessaloniki

(x = space)

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Thessaloniki

(from a skeptic maybe unknowing, maybe envious)

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To the Thessalonians,

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God wrote you twice

Once was not enough

Why not?

All the other cities

Jerusalem

New York

That did not get a postcard

Or a phone call

A telegram to say with urgency,

Wake up

And smell the western Asian coffee

You got two letters

It could be said you’re twice as bad

Or that the urgency was dear

Are you better now?

I should come to see you

How you’re doing

But I don’t have a camel or a burro

And Land Rovers are expensive

I have to see the wall

Through video eyes

Though I hope my prayers

Are real enough

I write my petitions

And read your letters

(I see you’re actually

pretty good)

Hope for the best

And signing off

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C L Couch

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Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

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Photo by Elena Theodoridou on Unsplash

Thessaloniki, Greece

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Deception

(x = space)

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Deception

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A devotional

Means devotion

Means devoted

Attending and obeying

A liege lord

There is one, only one

Who may pull rank

On all of us,

Stewards in the realm

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A king, one king

Call it queen

There might be jesters in

The courts of heaven

Reminding us

That foolish to the world

Is wise

Fools for stewards,

Then

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The world, though,

Might only get angel cacophony

From those who hear

The choirs of heaven

Over the fields

And do not believe

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The shepherds

They are wiser

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C L Couch

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Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

“Electromagnetic Crown”

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Diocletian Martyr

(x = space)

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Diocletian Martyr

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In my cell I see a bird

I think the bird is

The spirit of God

I don’t know for sure

Until the bird speaks,

Speaks to me

Without words

This is a real cell

A cell from which I will be taken

To die

At the hands of one

Who can command it

Though cannot command anything

About my soul

God has come to comfort me

To tell me I belong to God

And will be meeting

With God, soon

In a closer way

I could not know on Earth

The pain might be quick

It might be long

The bird does not tell me,

Imperial will having its own way

Despotic yet

Graced with freedom

As is mine*

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I could have been quiet

I needn’t have said anything

When questioned

Or at the corner

Where I told the story

Of God’s goodness,

Standing on the edge

Of all I knew

And soon would lose

I don’t know what happens next

In terms of what I gain

Maybe a mansion

Maybe nothing

I don’t permit myself an expectation

But relationship

Knowing my loved ones

Once here,

Beholding curing

Of my enemies

And me of them

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Great harmony

Before the Lord

And the Lord

Who might dance with me

While the angels sing

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C L Couch

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*(in freedom

   maybe grace

   we are all despots)

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Looking Up

Photo by Prince David on Unsplash

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Wake-Up Gospel

(x = space)

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Wake-Up Gospel

(John 10:25)

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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

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Works righteousness

Alone,

Some say

Indulgences for sin

Is close

When works as

Polity and practice go wrong

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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

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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

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There could be peace on Earth

Well, some of it

Bless-ed assurance,

All that’s needed

In God

In each other

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C L Couch

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SOURDOUGH

Photo by Conor Brown on Unsplash

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Deborah Would Know

(x = space)

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Deborah Would Know

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So where will I go

And how will I get there?

I will go with help

To a place that’s been decided,

Which is an affirmation

Of some sort of prophecy

And nothing of

My own

Where it be miracle or grace

Or a birthday surprise

Tickets for the circus

Though I found close-up

The circus had been hard

On animals

(I hear they’re doing better)

Somewhere

Somehow

Like lyrics in a song

Something fixed

Something to believe in,

Something to avoid

Eaten up with stress

If only I could believe

As I believe in the core of Earth

Or air,

Both unseen

Or unheard

Except when working on or in

Something else

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C L Couch

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a statue of Deborah (1792) in Aix-en-Provence, France

by Georges Seguin (Okki) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1524991

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Monarch

(x = space)

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Monarch

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King Jesus is all

My all in all

I know he’ll answer

Me when I call

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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)

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Scandalous doctrine?

Some

Might think so,

Saving

Saving welcome for

Those outside

The fold

As Aslan

(in Lewis)

Says is so

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God bless the ecumenical

Those who serve

That all might know

The glory

Living in

The realm of God

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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

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As Pretty As It Is

Photo by Calvin Mano on Unsplash

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

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Three, One, Three Again

(x = space)

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sorry, long

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Three, One, Three Again

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Creator, savior, guide

Maybe I understand the trinity

Maybe not

They are lively

And immediate

They are at work all the time

And understand rest

They commend a sabbath

And the days on either side

They are all efficiency

And all love

We have access to them

And, as teachers and advisors

Not to mention

God,

They nudge us

All the time

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2

What kind of commanders

Legions at their call

They give us time

And patience

Before anything like

A final battle

Victory assured

I mean in this moment

We wait and wait and wait

Or, worse, deny

While they withhold rejection

Until the moment

Past the moment

Before judgment

Should decide

x

They give us time

Keeping everything at bay,

Which is love

All love

Splicing revelation

Tailoring salvation

For each one

Each encounter

How wondrously and thunderously

Special

What kind of God

What parts of God

Can do this

And then do it

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3

Hear, O Israel

And all other nations,

Catch them in the human heart

Live as one

Each one as all

Repair the ruin of the Earth

There is so much faith

And good work to do

x

They are mild

They are also Armageddon

What kind of love

What kind of God

Three then one

Then three again

They live in constant relationship

So should we

Within the parts

Of ourselves,

Each one

And then

Altogether

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More than one in one

We can have that, too:

Remember might

Remember love

Both mingled in each moment

Quicksilver

And slow water

Everything that moves

And tries to rest

They show us the way

To give us something every day

Then just after our last day

After work

And battling

And sabbathing

To lead us home

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C L Couch

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Maybe it’s not my tradition, but I mean to be respectful of the Shema.

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Temple of Edfu, Egypt

Photo by Jeremy Zero on Unsplash

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After I Believe

(x = space)

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After I Believe

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I don’t know how

     to live for you

I wish I did

I know

     the Spirit is supposed

To guide me,

Though what are

     the steps to take

And practices

     to follow

I don’t know or am

     out of practice

     (hah)

Or never knew and need

Companions

     also in the flesh

To help me

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C L Couch

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Photo taken from The Nue Co. marketing campaign.

Photo by Finn on Unsplash

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Rain

(x = space)

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Rain

x

Heatwave and thunderstorms

That’s all we got

Church is still on-line,

Though I guess it doesn’t have to be

Watching the delta variant

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The sermon’s about encouragement

That’s good

Providing it, however, with

Prudence and with wisdom,

Which is better

To say that everyone’s amazing

Overdoes it

In making, it is true

Each life is extraordinary

But for all the lives unmade,

What shall we say?

That there was less extraordinary?

Maybe it’s the application

Of the Pickering social theory

In that it’s how we treat

Each other

And each one

If you want to value life,

Then offer drink safely to everyone

Feed everyone

Make and offer shelter

To everyone

Peace for security

The chance for learning

The chance for work

That complements

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Sometimes saints are martyred

By pagan foes,

Sometimes by the believing

Church itself

Believing more in institution

And a sanctity in politics

Control and profit

Over faith and vision

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Savor belief instead

Feed the children

And the youth

And the grown-ups

With all things that we need,

And I will hear the nations

And the corporations

Claim

That we care

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C L Couch

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1 Thessalonians 5:11

(Hebrews 10:24)

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Raindrops keep falling on my window pane.

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

London, United Kingdom

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