(x = space)
x
x
The Moment
(the Christ encounter)
x
The new
Not new
x
They are letters
xxxxxof love
How often we forget that
Whose message is for many
x
Finally,
Everyone is mentioned
x
A gift to all
xxxxxthe words
The grace they represent
An invitation to the Lord
A life with heaven,
After
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Will Paterson on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Faith Alone
x
The Bible
Through a friend
Took us to Ephesians
Yesterday
Where we are saved
By grace through faith
One thing required
Of us,
To believe
x
Faith alone
Ignites the spark
As if the kindling
For the fire of grace
Were waiting
On the inside
All this time
x
Let salvation blaze
In heaven and
In testimony
While
Here we need to know
Whose means for fire
Rests
And waits
For the one thing
That matters
For a spark
A start
To save
x
Ephesians 2:8
(thank you, David)
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Andrew Seaman on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
To Philemon
(“and to the church in thy house”)
x
We are encouraged
By your faith
In fact
We have joy
x
Give Onesimus
Another chance
We send him
To you
He may have wronged thee
Take him back
x
If he owes anyone money
Or its equivalent
I will repay it
I tell you this myself
Who
Told you about the faith and
So be saved
x
Receive him
Who to me has
Become
Peer and colleague
And he will serve you
Especially this way
x
Treat him now
As one who has
Standing
No matter how it might
Have gone
Before
x
Let the deeper parts
Of all of us
Be glad
That we are one
In Christ
x
From all of us
Who live
Captive by the world
For now
Grace and peace
To thee
And thine
x
From prisoners with me
Paul
x
C L Couch
x
x
Philemon is the addressee of a brief epistle in the Christian New Testament
x
Photo by Mike Hindle on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Consider It All Joy
x
Let the outside
Be awful
If it must
For princes of the world
Might have their own way
There
(not letting
princesses rise
by the way)
If only
There
x
Be good on the inside
Your own realm
Where you have willed
Let in
Avowed
God to rule
While you serve God
Servant
Steward before monarch
Even when pressed
Persecuted
Outside
Sigh
Sometimes devilishly
On the inside, too
x
Consider it all joy
The paradox of life and death
And resurrection
Final joy
Complete
And unrelenting
Even
In new tasks
Assignments from
A celestial magisterium
Or shall we say
The will beneath the crown
Of the Lord
x
Doing what God says
Because
The glass is clear and
We can hear
x
x
Consider it all joy when we must have trials, knowing that this testing of our faith makes endurance. And let endurance be complete even by trials so that we are whole, lacking nothing that we really need especially inside.
James 1:2-4 (paraphrased a little)
x
Photo by Sam Mgrdichian on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
A Simple Faith
x
A simple faith
That says
I love you
God
I know that you
Love me
x
Help me
To love the world
You made
The child you gave
To save it
Keep me
Not giving in
Except to you
In faith
x
Let goodness
Not be slight
Or slighted
Not by me
x
Help me to love
My family
And friends
And stranger I have yet
To meet
Or never shall
x
Pearls
And swine
Doves
And serpents
Not to cast with
Or to invoke
But to be reminded
Of my worth
x
You are God
Deserving all that
God is due
But I must take you
Day by day
It seems
To love you best
Your world
To my listening ear
And the people
Here
x
While we are here
‘Til there
x
C L Couch
x
x
“This Is My Father’s World” is cited and adapted
x
Photo by Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Everyone and Everything
x
Our God
Our God
Why do we forsake you?
x
Well,
We can’t see you
That doesn’t help
We have great stories
They’re not ours
We can imagine heaven
Get it wrong
We have you
Because we say so?
Not to invent you
But to have you
Nothing required
But a choice
No initiation
Though we have written rituals
And applied water
And
A party
(and why not)
x
Then there’s
Metanoia
The changed life
That could cost
Something of mortality
What we think we want
And really want
Again
To have for taking
Like the food
Upon the table
That is
For everyone
x
New life
That dresses like the old one
Sounds the same
Tastes different
Taste and see
The Lord is good
We do not eat the Lord
But consume
All the same
x
We may break
With ingestion
Live on our own
And what we think is food
Is good
(usually, we know)
Molecules to eat
In such a way
To threaten finite balance
In the universe
x
Yes, sometimes
We are that important
x
Back to God
Or forward
Mostly forward
Though repentance
Is kairotic
One day into another
Until the day is perfect
With
Perfect night
x
Questions are important
Doubt is part
Faith isn’t stupid
Isn’t tricky, either
Have it
Eat it
Live it
If you want
x
Then ready for the world
(as is)
With, as we say
Or someone says,
Truth and understanding
x
An amen
Without the end
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Ryunosuke Kikuno on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
And Shall It Be
x
Amazing love
And
Can it be
Sing so
For it is true
Take comfort when
We’re certain
There’s no comfort
Accept pardon
When we’re
Certainly
Condemned
Because we’re done
Unless we wish
It so
Hubris
Material ambition
Only
A choice for evil
And the revenant
x
For the rest
How many
We can’t count
There is the chance
For faith
And for eternity
x
Well,
We don’t talk about this
At home
x
Well,
Maybe you should
While you are here
Before you’re
There
‘Cause there is coming
Which should
Be wondrous
Faith
For grace
And peace
And joy
x
The world seems to strong
Against
And it is armed
With sticks and stones
And missiles
Sent by will
x
Or drama
About other things
Comedy
Or tragedy
Too often tragedy
With violence
x
Or the fog
We settle into
With excuses
x
We’re not stupid
Everyone can know
x
To turn
Gospel-surprised
By story
Grace
And faith
x
And don’t worry if
My faith sounds differently
For different
Words
Or looks odd in concerning ways
For habit
x
Is there belief
And is there love?
Then all of us
So-set
Never perfectly
Are nonetheless
On the way
That matters
x
Believe
If you want
Not like choosing paint
But choosing
Life
This life without
The hard parts
The ignorant
The terrible
The peace-less
Parts
x
Subsumed as if forgotten
Like the pardon
For our sins
Some of this is easy
Like a promised burden
That is true
x
All can believe
Test the waters
Test the
Spirit
Go with what
Seems to you
In prayer
Is true
And don’t worry about
Eloquence
Or righteousness
In prayer
x
Believe
And live
Today
And when tomorrow fades
Into today
Forever today
Forever
x
C L Couch
x
x
“And Can It Be that I Should Gain” by Charles Wesley (1738)
x
Photo by Ismael Paramo on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
The Mix of Faith for Heaven
x
It is a mystery
And paradox
Thoughts
And feelings
Words for the hearts
Of millions
By each heart
Pierced
As a rule
x
Gospel for everyone
For one
For no one
‘Til engaging
We read
We hear
Interpret
(we’re allowed)
Good news about God
Having been
Set down
By people
In relationship
With God’s spirit
Making a kind
Of ersatz scribe
According to
The world’s
Expectations
x
Die to live
Love and take the hit
Joy in
Hard labor
Even for one’s enemies
The world wins
But does not really
Heaven after the end
And peace
Now
And forever
x
Though
In this life
Our flaws remain
And trip us up
And bring us down
And we
Are blamed
We blame ourselves
Though
Grace and mercy
Should attend,
Which is the holy law
But
Civilities
Must have their way
They often damn us
Excoriate
Our chances for changes
From
The first
After transgressions
x
Sigh,
Too many contradictions
Living near each other
In fact
Embracing
Over, under
Anywhere the breastplate says
For reassurance
x
A life of faith
Is hard
Easy
Soft
Rigid
Impossible
Demanded
Eternal
Fleshly
In each moment
Cells sloughed off
Like sin
Perhaps revealing
Virtue
In redemption
Should anyone on Earth
Have care
To notice
This
And those
While on Earth
Then disappear
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
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
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