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A Memory of Church

A Memory of Church

The family of God
That is the church

I have a memory:
A small church building
On the edge of town
Maybe on the way
To the next place
Or into the countryside
Or simply on the
Outskirts; and in this
Church, there was
A very pleasant man
The pastor with whom
I had enjoyed an
Ecumenical Bible
Study in the town

I liked that man, and
I liked that church
He and it were simple
(In the best way we
Use that word), set
Apart—the way I
Think the universal
Church should be;

And isn’t—we want
To be in the center of
Town, where everything
Fashionably important
Takes place

We want to be in
And will accommodate
Much about ourselves
So we can be there

7

Psalm 28, a song when I feel haunted

Psalm 28
a song when I feel haunted

I need, Lord, your love

Who doesn’t need the love of
God?

And yet I fear

I fear the ghosts that haunt me
From the past into the present

How do you proceed in this

How do you love?

How might I know peace this
Day from all the days wrought
In iron pain, now fully steel-
Dimensional?

You are here, I know

You can bear sinuous demon’s
Presence away, even into
Annihilation

Yet I feel possessed, perhaps in
Lack of faith:

Past wrongs, mine and theirs, that
Aberrate the life that you first
Shaped

Maybe this is why, in life, the (first)
Psalmists say, Make straight your
Way

For the line of majesty arriving as
The lord of care

Travels truly—with economy and
All divine electricity—on the line

Made edged and replete when we
Ally in your design

6

Recessional

Recessional

We leave the church, and
Were we ever there?

Passing through television
Channels, lighting briefly on
Local access showing state
Legislators quite literally
Working on the plumbing
(Plumbing contractors) in the
Commonwealth (which is
Pennsylvania)

This is what we do: in government,
We fix the plumbing

In church, we fix the pipes as
Well—yes, the organ has pipes
(If there’s one)—but I think you
Know what I mean, for you’re

Wise enough to on occasion
(Split infinitive, I know) to worship
God or wrestle with the concept—
And in some togetherness we
Wonder through sensorial
Experience: sound, sight, touch,
And taste (and, when there’s incense,
Smell), and what happens?

We leave, readier

Unless we’ve done all we could
To avoid changing from the experience

In which case, the processional
Might challenge us

When we go next time

2

Ruah

Ruah

I have a Hebrew
Book; it is
Beautiful

I don’t know Hebrew
(I, feeling like a fool,
Confess)
A few words translated,
Transliterated

Such as ruah
The wind,

The breath
Out of which
Our God
Creates

As I say,
Beautiful

3

Meanings

(from a photo-prompt of cows; photo by Annie Spratt)

 

Meanings
(nebby is evidently a Pittsburgh expression,
a compressing of neighborly and nosey)

definition of a cow: trying to be a horse
of a dog: doesn’t understand the diplomacy of cats
of a cat: one who perceives dogs as pointless

definition of a child: not a miniature adult
of a parent: nervous the length of child-life
a soldier: serving with all there is

definition of democracy: each one matters
of an earth: that without which we do not live
of God: maker; providentially nebby

3

31 January 2016 (in the global north)

31 January 2016
(in the global north)

I still wake up with jittery feelings. The sun is bright. The snow is melting down. Maybe I need it gone. But is that the boundary of my fear? I sit and look outside to see the beauty. I am inspired to come back and write a verse of two. Still, fear jumps inside me. At least it doesn’t leap. I’ll feel better, once I write a bit. Drink a hot drink, maybe take a pill or two pills. I know that on a good day my heart still operates in an iffy way. I know that what happened here was momentous. It’s momentous, still, outside. As in ancient Arabian architecture, I cherish space and righter light. Not simply looking out into amorphous glare. Rather the view of a virtuously bright and blue-skied world above with earth of desert browns beneath. Through arches made of genius and of grace, numbering the stars within each stone’s embrace.

I dream this is all easier, if not delightful, in a desert paradisal scene. Where arid becomes beautiful and free air moves through all, spirits borne and carried along. Maybe heaven’s healing wind will pause and wave upon me there, and I will feel and know something of the serene aspect of God.

Too much romance and earthly-bound, I know. But I need this. My fear frankly needs it, as does my hope and peace.

0

Claustrophobe

Claustrophobe

Am I trapped on
the second floor?
My town for now
has the greater
accumulation,

And I realize this
is maybe too much.
I look out:

all I see are shapes
of indistinction;
I can’t even see
that well for
vapor pushing
up against my
window, making
visual barriers
in condensation.

The storm is Jonas;
that’s fine. If you
can escape the
hunt of God by

living for days in
a great fish—before
being retrieved by
hunter’s hand (let’s
say)—then I not
hunted by the
divine with the
exception to be
loved,

then I can weather
this—well, you
know–weather.

4

Psalm 22, a song about God calling

Psalm 22
a song about God calling

Did you ask me something,
Lord—and did I not hear?
How do I know it’s you
Speaking (when no one
Else is in the room) and
Not the voice of another

Or simply my invention?—I
Hope I apprehend when
You might speak, especially
When you have something
To tell me to do

You would not ask of me
Destructive or demented
Activity. Then, Lord, and
Anytime, let me do
What you request, even
When I might (guaranteed)
Hear imperfectly from you.

7

Muslim Tribulation

(drafted before an officer was shot
many times in Philadelphia, the
shooter claiming the cause was Islam)

 

Muslim Tribulation

We live to follow God,
to know the will of God
and continuously prepare
our lives so that we might
follow that sacred purpose
and intent.

There are religious
destroyers everywhere
in every tradition. But those of
us in unreasoned extremes—
these are sadly, specially alight
in the world just now.

We want peace. We believe
most do.

We want to be neighbors and
to welcome those into our
homes. But our hospitality is
challenged now of its
authenticity.

Do you want to be defined by
The remnant cause of woe?
Certainly, you don’t.
And neither do we.

We want our lives of faith
to delight our friends and
all those near us. Please
remember this.

We want to think
and believe
the best as well.

0

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