my friend’s surgery was “good” (friend’s word); now he’s recovering, the recovery being complex and uncomfortable
thank you for prayers and good thoughts; any such that could be offered or given toward recovery would be really appreciated—Christopher
2 poems that deal in prayer
what we ask
I sin
and God is with me
loving me
though not approving
I don’t think
I ask the psalmist’s ask
and will receive
not
because I’m David
or a prophet or
a choirmaster for the court
but because
I ask
and God is love
(say from Psalm 51)
in prayer
and
do we get what we ask
gee
I don’t know
though if I had to guess I’d
say
the answer’s yes
yes
we do
all
right
unless we ask for evil
or we make evil
sinful good
and so deceive ourselves and then
beseech
but
you know
God’s rather smart
having
invented smart
and though God’s old
there’s nothing feeble to typify
as
sometimes we stay keen
all the way through
and God
stay keen forever
having
invented keen
as well and also I believe that God
is
yes
old
but also as young
as young as now
so about asking
and
what we ask for tends to be good
which might
surprise
and so
we’ll get that
we will get
the good
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photo by Luise and Nic on Unsplash
I wrote this probably too hastily yet for verse I hope it is acceptable (receivable). If you have prayers and/or good thoughts to offer, I’d like to ask them for my friend who’s having his eye operated on today. Thank you so much.
heal my friend
Monday
my friend has an operation in
a few hours
it’s on an eye
and so
will not be easy or simple
at all
as in a week or so I’ll have a procedure
that is simple replacement of
an implanted device
been
gone through
once by me
and so many times through the people with whom
I consult
his operation’s hard as
well as complex
many stages to go through
and
then an uneasy time of recovery after
all goes well
that is
the hope
of course
if all were an eye
you know
and thankfully it’s not
we’re
not
but that is metaphor for Christian duty
while his
the actual need
for sight
God help him
keep him
guide the hands that serve him
and
frankly
like asking for my niece because I don’t your will
precisely
so please heal her
please heal my friend
in
part out of
plain direct
praying
shall we ask for what’s clear and toned by
careful notes and leave
the gray notes
out
gathered by the single one who with angels
serving
knows rightly
how to play
well
everything
every song for every purpose
under
heaven
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1 Corinthians 12:17
“If all were an an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?”
photo by Murray Campbell on Unsplash
afternoon after church
it’s a gray Sunday
though white
is trying to break through
sun
to clouds
and
is it presence
seeming
God breaking through
reminding us of
incarnation
Immanuel
God
with us all the time
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photo by NASA on Unsplash
Hello, World [from NASA!] This nighttime picture of Earth was taken on April 2, 2026, by an Artemis II crew member aiming a camera through a window of the Orion spacecraft. The image was captured after Orion completed its translunar injection burn, the critical maneuver that sent the spacecraft on its path toward the Moon and back.
plain or fancy
what did he
say
and this is so
the Bible says that Jesus loves us
when we’re weak
so
he is
strong
always weak
always
strong
everyone seems called to both
weak to
hear
strong to act
call weak gentle or easy
or
withholding
openness to listen
and
to heed what he should say
we have the story
and the help of spirit
and
of angels
strong to act while strong is faith
and
otherwise
to
take great care
for anger destroys
and
pride
as vanity shall fall
every time
with
consequences to learn
if not yet
experienced directly
and that is plain
I hope
for me to learn
for you to be loved by God
and Jesus and the
Spirit
loved by God and in that book
find it affirmed
and
by our instinct as we grow with God
by Jesus
and the Spirit
and by the Bible
and with each other
as
we’re faithful
and even when
we fall
the love’s not over
anymore than faith or hope
though love’s
the
quality and entity
the strength
the practicality
that
remains
the theologian was asked
and
responded
Jesus loves me
this
I know
for the Bible tells me so
may it go so simple
and
so strong
if not perfectly not yet
by us
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the song “Jesus Loves Me” was written by Anna Bartlett Warner, published in 1859 (the line breaks above were by me)
the theologian in question, at least so goes the story, is Martin Marty, asked to sum up his theology, responding with the beginning of the hymn
photo by Lauren Mitchell on Unsplash
I hope the other side of the shirts says “The Now”
knowing how to live
O God
on a sunny day
I could wish I were
in
Bible study
I know
some would say I don’t know how
to live
much less how to prize a sunny day
but
I don’t know
clean room
a group of us
we
act clean
the words of Scripture clearly on the page
and we hear and we
discuss
kind interaction and somehow
authentic for
our
loves
and for our growth
for the beauty of the Earth
glory
in the skies
we will see through the window
sorry
there should be a window
and
feel after when we take part
in the outside world
God had
made
and about which we have the story
with
a gospel
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(“For the Beauty of the Earth” is the hymn cited and to which alluded; the author of the hymn is Folliott Sandford Pierpoint)
Earth Day
photo by Dima Serafin on Unsplash
“A Bee in Snowdrops”
on Easter Monday
day after Easter
Easter
Monday
and
must I give up the feeling
I understand doctrinally and for
and for an attractive metaphor
we
might
call ourselves the Easter people
meaning
more than attendance
on
the day
however that might go
and how deeply from the hear
and
do we look to the weather for comfort
and alliance
that Earth is on our side for
our
beliefs
except there was a flood
and much later
storms
on Galilee that had to be rebuked
and
stilled by one who was divine
and
human
too
we may live in Easter
now
the air of resurrection
which might be good for anyone
to breathe
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photo by Alessandro Guarino on Unsplash
Kfar Nahum National Park
“Sunset on the Sea of Galilee”
rosemary
on Easter
1
oh no
what shall I say
for it is Easter
and I don’t feel Easter
at all
I can think the stories
hear them
more
and hope that they are true
though there are images
so real
inside of me as I
so many stories
believe so many storytellers are
not wrong
and now
church is done
I am
alone
and silent as so many noises
that are inside
allow
and I’d wish for company
regardless
someone for chocolate
even
for ham
[please ungreen]
2
let Easter be a verb
I guess from a substance
a meaning
to the action
and
if I am alone and that’s a problem
for
how much to do
I could acknowledge there’s a presence
beside my own
to help
that
gave me my own
the spark
however done
and there is
faith
and love
from that source
that made
and is
still making making all
for
our collaboration in the Earth
and by the spirit
invested
in so many
things
not the source
but
sanctioned and even given us
for use
though with accountability
but back from cosmic
to just me
and am I just
that
means so many things and are they lost
in translation
idioms
truisms
first
and final meanings
in order to employ
to apply
who we are
and
what we’ve been given
though
at the moment
is
alone
and Easter resurrection
that does not happen every
year
for having happened once
and we’re the versions
ever since
not because we
save ourselves
we don’t
as
that was
you know
once provided
and so for this love
shall I love me
so shall
we love each other and each other
to keep it
healthy as
a change
thus and
so not
to have earned my loneliness
but stone rolled back
for me
too
and we’re
released
God imprisoned first
releases
us
so Easter with baskets and with paper grass
with rabbits who do not reproduce
by eggs
that are candy or
the real thing
if
striped
eccentrically
for me
let me have the silly ways
for
remembrance
and let’s have them now
in
the now
for delight
if
for forbearance
sometimes as other matters
problems
press
even the lonely state
and try to see the joy with inward
sight
as with outward longing
by
the interest and investment
realized
in
safe as well as expanding
fire
in each
from each spark
as
today
emblemizing real from the source
given
through sacrifice
as love for
you
for all
as we are served and toward our
service
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photo by Bernard Faure on Unsplash
the one
funny how we take the names
without
the origins
Christmas
Easter
today for Maundy Thursday
and then there are days whose words we know
outside
and could wonder why they’re used in here
thinking of what’s good
in
Good Friday
Maundy is the shortening of the word
that means command
not given
as
suggestion or option
though our wills must be involved
to have our ornery way
if nothing else
will and ego
some
days to think we could do without these
submit to good before the start
and use the spirit of our drive
only
in accordance
with the virtues of creation
no
falling needing or
have happened
Perelandra
while the directives were not hard
or even
new
but given by God’s child
all grown up
to people
all grown up
that you
that I
that we love each other
and
by the way
we’ve given a new rank with God
to be called friends
now
and know our faith in God this way
as a relationship with feeling
as in mind
and spirit
the mandatum
the command
mandate
to
love
and to remember we are friends
before events that follow
that are awful
not
the prayer but bleeding perspiration
intimate and earnest
lack of interest to take up the hard parts
of the world
to bear
and for which to sacrifice
one
of these
anyway
the one of us to save
the rest
beyond the human part
to God
and model perfectly what we might do in life
to
take on imperfection
as well as pardon
to try
to love that way
one savior
whom
and with so much
simple and profound
to follow
love one another
you are
my friends
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photo by Piotr Łaskawski on Unsplash
the green blade riseth
a hymn to merge the natures
divine and human
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photo by Aniket Bhattacharya on Unsplash
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