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God

Be, My Soul

(x = space)

x

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Be, My Soul

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Be still

(imperative

second-person subject

that is

you)

This

That doesn’t mean

Don’t move

As much as to quiet

Everything

x

The rush of blood

The frantic function of our organs

The ragged parts of breath

Meaning

The ragged parts of spirit

x

Smooth out everything

For a time

And in that time

Hear

More than ears

What God might say

Or you and God

To each other

x

C L Couch

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“Be Still, My Soul,” a hymn by Kathrina von Schlegel (1855)

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Psalm 46

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Photo by Felix Mittermeier on Unsplash

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First Comes Love

(x = space)

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First Comes Love

x

What shall we say

For real

But that God loves us

And would rather

Love us

Even more than judge us

Though there’s judgment, too

x

Remember the first one?

It was

That this is good

x

C L Couch

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4 God saw that the light was good, . . .

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Photo by Meriç Dağlı on Unsplash

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1

Faith and the General

(x = space)

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Faith and the General

x

And did Moses

God as the ally

Part

The Red Sea

As a miracle

More importantly

As rescue

x

General Wallace

Wanted all of it

A story

For unlearned people

Awash in ignorance

Wanting

To stay that way

Away

Wet with lies

x

Red Sea

Or Sea of Reeds

The miracle diminished

By sponges

That is

Absorbents

Of reality

x

Or is the miracle

A normal thing

(the parting

of a sea

by wind

in certain

seasons)

Nonetheless

Miraculously timed

x

General Wallace wanted

All of it

A lie

At best an illusion

And delusion

Most of all

The notion that a God

Should want to be with us

Even through

A civil war

And send to us

Something

God and us

To save us

From the monstrous

The despicable

We make

And must be

x

And so what happened

(let the Red Sea

and the

Sea of Reeds

debate go on)

Well

He wrote Ben-Hur

As a fictive response

To how he had

Changed

x

And maybe

A divine hope

In and

For the rest of us

To marshal all the parts

And

Once assembled

Find out what there is

By

The revulsive

And the hopeful

For ourselves

For faith

x

C L Couch

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After extensive studies of the Bible and the Holy Land, and well before he had completed the novel, Wallace became a believer in God and Christ.

Wikipedia (citing sources)

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Photo by Evan Brockett on Unsplash

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A Certain Psalm

(x = space)

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A Certain Psalm

x

Songs to God

Confess

Mourn

Celebrate

Some ask where the Lord

Even while addressing

The Lord

x

Which is the way of doubt

Spiced with pain

Salt and bitter herbs

For the wilderness

Inside

The heart a desert

Reason wandering

Where is God but here

But we must

Over hills

And under earth

Search as if

Not to find

Or find in a new way

That answers doubt for all

And always

On this side

Through what we know

Has been dark glass

x

Sing

With a single voice

Or ask an orchestra to play

By composing

All the parts

And a message from humanity

Over the ground

And to the sky

To say

If anything might bless the Lord

Then bless the Lord

If any offering

Might be good for many voices

And an intention

Of authenticity

Received

Then receive the large psalm

Attempting to be thunderous

From us

x

To recognize

To thank

To let everyone have voice

In song or silence

Whatever might senses allow

Or to participate

By turning pages

Or only

Dutifully

Showing up

x

Locusts are a host

The killer bees

We can be a host

Though our precedents

Are angels in the sky

Nonetheless a human host

To try

x

Presenting such a psalm to you

From many people

A human host

Before the court

Of the Lord

x

C L Couch

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recollecting themes and purposes of ancient psalms for the here and now

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Photo by Mateus Campos Felipe on Unsplash

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Lean

(x = space)

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Lean

(John 3:17)

x

Not to condemn

But to love

Because God would rather love

And does love

It is gravity

The universe is biased toward

That which keeps us together

And God is biased

In the same way

x

Everything is biased

Everything leans

The one who can be objective

Best

Who maybe sets objectivity

Aside for math

(maybe)

Has chosen to favor

The impulse of creation

And an agenda

Toward ourselves

x

God would rather save than condemn

Would rather love than judge

Who will judge

And do so with perfection

Also to pardon

With a possibility

Faith required

Faith in something freely offered

Grace

The sacrifice made by another

Who was God

Who is God

That in the mixture of flesh and the divine

Blood and spirit

Sin and innocence

Might conquer death

And offer conquered death

As proffered life

The chance to live in hope today with

As the song asserts

Bright hope for tomorrow

x

Perfection chooses

Love’s mitigation

Case dismissed

Open the gates

Or however admission

Might be managed

Into heaven

And for now

Into today

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C L Couch

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Photo by Steven Van Elk on Unsplash

Foggy Beach Walk

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1

Moment Clear

(x = space)

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Moment Clear

(to go with “The Moment,” “Moment Passed”)

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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

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C L Couch

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Photo by Randy ORourke on Unsplash

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Moment Passed

(x = space)

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Moment Passed

(goes with yesterday’s post, “The Moment”)

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There is such a thing

There ain’t

No such thing

x

If you had a chance

To meet with God

Then passed

And let the moment pass

So what

x

To find God

How many moments

Guessed at

In a waking day

How many moments

Made

x

Pick one of them

Turn

That’s all

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C L Couch

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Photo by Chyntia Juls on Unsplash

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2

The Moment

(x = space)

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The Moment

(the Christ encounter)

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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

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Photo by Will Paterson on Unsplash

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To the Rainmaker

(x = space)

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To the Rainmaker

x

Cloudy day

Rain has started

Drought conditions

Keep raining

Please

x

Grateful ground

With people on it

Also thanking you

xxxxxAs if a liturgy

For crying on us

If that’s what this is

x

If you are sad with us

And why not

We are inhospitable

Toward Earth

While it’s our home

In all the ages

And should we take measures

To prevent

To recoil

(as in rolling up again)

To keep everything alive

x

Will we remember

To apologize

While planting?

To express our thanks

We still have days

For growth

For food

And to get it right

x

To the sky

The stars

Whatever gods

Or greater compounds

Might set over us

Or under us

To serve

With greater might

Than we shall ever know

x

Curb our hubris

Stop us before

The final act

Shall ruin everything

xxxxxAnd someone

xxxxxSomething

xxxxxCome from outside

xxxxxTo claim

xxxxxWhat’s left

x

While it’s still ours

If ours

Help us

Gods

The sky

xxxxxWhomever

Get it right

With what’s left

To have an Earth

Before

We dare to seek another

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

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