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Peace Talk

(x = space)

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Peace Talk

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What does God demand?

We say humility

In walking

That sounds good

We could let go our weapons

And the meanness

On our faces

And go our way

Not as if

Everyone’s our friend

But that the world

And the world’s God

Anticipates

Agendas,

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Don’t make a face

That gets you beat

Or killed

And with a face

That says that, should we meet,

It might go all right

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The thing is

And I guess you know

This is a rule

First for the strong

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C L Couch

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Micah 6:8

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Photo by Timothy Barlin on Unsplash

(nice face)

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Law of Love

(x = space)

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Law of Love

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What does

God want of us?

Through the prophets,

We are told

To walk humbly

With an arch concern for

Justice,

More generally

To repent

And turn toward God,

The people

And the nation

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Through Moses

We are given

Laws from God

On Sinai,

Starting with

The ten laws that

We know,

Most of which

Tell us what not

To do

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God speaks

Through angels

And sometimes

Maybe

God speaks through us

In smaller ways,

Perhaps

One to another

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The measure,

The pendulum

That swings with ease

When set with

Accord

Should be love

That might be difficult

And hard

And sacrificial

But moves with equanimity

Respecting all

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Sometimes in silence

Bearing nonetheless

The message

Of the prophets

Of the angels

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All enact

The law of love

(James would say

the law

of freedom)

And thus

Are closing in

On what God wants

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C L Couch

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12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

James 2 (Christian New Testament, New International Version)

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The Old Bell

Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash

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North and South

(x = space)

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North and South

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As we believe

In omnipresence,

We may say

That God is in the rock

Though God is not

The rock

Unless a metaphor

Is needed

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Soul-breathed things

Such as ourselves

Can know that God

Is in us

Not that God is us

The closeness is a marvel,

All the same

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The nearness of God

That some might find

Unnerving

(and it is awesome)

Is correcting as a compass

(metaphor)

Toward the journey home

As in a day

As in a life

As in forever

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C L Couch

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Compass

Photo by Sunil Ray on Unsplash

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Evening Hours

(x = space)

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Evening Hours

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Tonight, somewhere

Vespers will be sung

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Then maybe at midnight,

Those keeping vigil

In a circle

In a loft

Will utter prayers at midnight

For the sake of the new day

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That this midnight

Will mean Monday

Though it could be

Any day,

Any set of twenty-four

Dedicated hours

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All our sundials

All our watches

All our singing

As God wills

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C L Couch

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Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash

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Beneath Us

(x = space)

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Beneath Us

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If God looks down

Then God should look up

Through the ground

Through all the loose dirt

In the garden

Through mountaintops

Or valleys,

Through all the fractured

Places we have made

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God looks up through

Everything

We’re planting

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C L Couch

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A mother teaching her child how to plant a tree.

#greenlegacyethiopia #pmgreenlegacychallenge

Photo by Eyoel Kahssay on Unsplash

@eyoel_kahssay_photographer

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Without Further Ado

(x = space)

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Without Further Ado

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I’d like to say something

About God

Not because God needs me to

God is a spirit

God is love

These are not original things

To say

God is a lion,

The lion of Judah

Also nothing new

Though rather wondrous

God is mine

And also God is waiting

Though I think

We tend to think

That it’s the other way around

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That we wait for God

And once God arrives,

We wait on God

Sometimes the waiting

Either kind

Is cheery

Sometimes it’s not

We wait for God to relieve us

Either of comfort or

Responsibility

We wait for answers

To a local hell

That breaks our spirits

As the ground

Might break

Near a volcano

Or as a sinkhole

(we have sinkholes where

I live)

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Then to have God appear

To speak

Or touch on our hearts

But we will not serve

(that kind of waiting)

Because things have been too awful,

Thank you very much

How about

You serve me for a while,

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Which will happen

God will serve

God serves,

In fact,

To have made everything

To arrange for energy

In nature

To bring light and dark

Rain and sun

Snow in winter

Water steaming off leaves

In summer

(or all the time in tropics)

Maybe there is nothing more

God will want to do

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And yet I think

God is not only creator

But newly-creating

And creative

Explain the platypus

Or bird-of-paradise

Or human will

With the lack of it

Everywhere else

In nature

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God is many things,

Which might mean

Always new

Nearby a platypus

In grace

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C L Couch

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John 4:24, 1 John 4:3, Revelation 5:5

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Istanbul sky from September 2005.

Photo by Hulki Okan Tabak on Unsplash

Istanbul Sky, Istanbul, Turkey

Published on June 6, 2019

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Devotionism

(x = space)

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Devotionism

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I talk with God

God talks back

Sometimes through

The trees,

As happened last night

When I went out

Encountering a roar

From a single tree

Near the garage,

A tree that always

Reaches

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With the wind,

Maybe someone

From someone

Wanting to take notice

Of the night

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C L Couch

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Photo by Florian Hesse on Unsplash

Vegårshei, Norway

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Ancient Chores

(x = space)

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Ancient Chores

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I imagine

Standing vigil

Is no fun

To be a soldier

On the wall

Even with peers

And a fire

In a brazier

Now and then

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Maybe we

Call out the hours,

Which could keep

Us alert

In counting time

And I guess

The fires should be

Shielded away

From away

So that we might

Look out upon the field

To suss what

Might be stirring

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But then

Comes the dawn

We are there

For the arrival,

Change in shift

Maybe change in orders

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And is this

Holy, set apart

For godly purposes?

Does God arrive

In the dawn,

Apollo in a chariot

As our neighbor

Greeks might say?

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Well, I should

Head back to

The space in which

I live

When I’m at home

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This duty’s

Not so bad

Even as I wonder

Where is God

If in the sun

Or the chill wind

That blows

As if

Another wind

Had never

Crossed the yard

Before

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C L Couch

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Photo by Alex Plesovskich on Unsplash

Marrakesh, Morocco

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Papa

(x = space)

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Papa

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I’ve said this before

Because Hemingway once said

Once a dishonest thing is written,

Nothing honest can be written

Again

But Hemingway might have known

Nothing about repentance,

Which might explain

Why tries at reconciliation

Failed

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He liked Spain so much

I’m sure he met some priests;

Maybe they were trout-fishing, too

Or he might have talked of God

With someone else

Who knew

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C L Couch

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Photo by Alejandro Piñero Amerio on Unsplash

Río Miño, Galicia, Spain

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