(x = space)
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First Comes Love
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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
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C L Couch
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x
4 God saw that the light was good, . . .
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Photo by Meriç Dağlı on Unsplash
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(x = space)
x
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Dance Again
x
What shall I do today?
Well,
There are things
How is your day
So far?
I hope it’s good
You should have a good day
And another
They should string along
Like lights above the porch
Because
There’s a party
An accumulation
Friends
Good food, good things to drunk
When we’re a little tired
We’ll sit
Under the lights
Under a combing of the stars
Pushed closer
Just for us
Your day should promise
All of this
And more, of course
i don’t know exactly what
Is on your list
Or if that matters
Gifts are free
And you should have this day
Like a gift
The cost of grace
Yes, spiritually
Maybe a bit in style
Good things for free
Good day
Good day
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash
[photographer’s story] Whilst I was taking this picture opposite Saint Paul’s in London, a few people stopped to ask if I was a paparazzi and if I was taking a picture of someone famous. This made me chuckle!
[maybe we could all meet there]
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(x = space)
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Secular Benediction
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It’s Friday
And you should have a good day
You deserve it
Yes, because you are
And because
You make it
For yourself
And if circumstance allow
For you and someone else
Or others
x
You do
You are
And so this Friday is for you
In all suburban glory
The pub afterward
Or coffee klatch
Or whatever fun and healthy thing
(there are these)
At hand
Or with a small investment
In play
And for the forty hours
Ahead
x
And if you don’t have a weekend
Maybe Monday and Tuesday
Shall be yours
There should be laws
Why, there are
x
x
C L Couch
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Photo by Bob Chisholm on Unsplash
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(x = space)
x
x
Precocity
x
God
Help us
Every
One
Even
The bad people
Don’t help them
To be bad
Help them to be good
Instead
You know,
Like in
The Christmas story
Amen
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C L Couch
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x
Photo by Andreas Dress on Unsplash
x
snow squalls today
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(x = space)
x
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Second Book of Genesis
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God kept saying
That it’s good
Creation’s good
Each day of it
x
To be there
Hear the names
Have God speak into our minds
In pre-fall grace
With understanding
There is delight
And faith
In all this
Without they’re being named
Only the day and night
All the animals
Us
And then a time of rest
x
If we had been there
If we could have touched their hands
And drawn them back
From the tree
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Pray for All the Bad People
x
Too often
I don’t like the world
So much
Too much of it is ugly
And dissembling
And there are brutal people
Who would take everything
From everyone else
If they could,
Who would like to hear
What I have just said
About them
x
But I have a moment
Now
The breeze is on me
There is sunshine
Blue inside green trees
Thinking about
The change to autumn
Things don’t have to be so bad
Not everywhere
With everyone
I know there are people
So much better
Than myself
Who would have prayed
For me
And for my attitude
x
I can’t collapse
Into a ball
Of self-decided evil
I am not all bad
Or all good
Neither are you
We’re a mixture and we try
There are some who won’t,
I guess
Who see the quantities
As hollow and would prefer
A blank space from which
To self-determine
x
Choice is good
I choose to lean toward good
I hope you do
Though I will not decide for you
And must respect your humanity
As I struggle to respect
My own
x
They are not
Two sides of a coin
This is not the plain
Of Manichee
Though I think there might be
A garden or such place
In which we may decide
What is what
Who is who
With peace inside
While time waits without
x
Choose what you will
There is precedence
I will pray
As you can
As you will
You will pray
x
C L Couch
x
x
1 Real
Photo by Eduardo Soares on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
believe when things are bad
x
it’s a naïve message,
I suppose
I thought about it during
Bible study,
which was
about assurance
x
an assurance
that things will go bad
even as
a season entered,
x
but God is there
and we should be as well
(we should
show up)
x
believing is a practice
a practice of
a presence,
Brother Lawrence
might say
in church,
the pastor showed
a picture of
Where’s Waldo?
and I thought
we were
supposed to wonder
where God is
in that;
x
but I understand that
God is there,
all over
x
and the question is,
Where are we?
x
good agnostication
sharp skepticism
I hope
that we have more
x
along with
our petitions in the
practice
of the season
x
c l couch
x
x
Psalm 121, a psalm of assurance
x
Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God
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Rainy Water
Photo by sanjiv nayak on Unsplash x
x
(x = space)
x
x
Antiphon
x
I hope it’s
A good day
You might be at dawn or
Well into tomorrow,
However the sun
And moon
Are moving
One place or another
On the world
x
Our count of day
Is relative,
While the actual
Ebb and flow
Of tides and
Of day and night
Move in
Real relationship
Without
Our measure—that’s
The way it is
x
And it is good
As I’m hoping for
Your day
To be
Or, in the uncounting
Time of Genesis,
Become
x
C L Couch
x
x
Groume – Le Cadran de Dalí, uploaded by Paris 17, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23114485
Cadran solaire de Salvador Dalí sur la façade d’un immeuble de la rue Saint-Jacques, réalisé pour des amis qui y habitaient.
(sundial by Dali)
x
(x = space)
x
x
Night Is Gracious
x
I can’t think of what
I deserve
Because I deserve nothing
Too well I understand
(with Protestants)
The wages of sin,
Not
Because I’m criminal but
Because I’m sinful,
Maybe in the way
Of all who’ve sinned and so
Deserve extinction
x
But sinful state and actions
Might be
A prelude unto grace—and so
Some say there must
Be evil on the way,
And I wonder
x
They don’t really go by halves,
And shadows are not evil
Evil isn’t natural
Though insistent
And when we think
The evil life is
Shadow life—they don’t combine,
Not really
Decide what you will
x
Let evil sublimate for now
But shadows can delight
At night
Or teaching about night
In day
x
In daylight we’ll have Parousia,
I suppose
Thought at night perhaps
We’ll celebrate,
Then rest
The rest we should have had
In Eden,
Now a rest
For all to merge
To bathe of goodness,
Leaving all distinct
Forever
x
Each one a player and a part
(not the player without
an upstart part,
as Jaques laments
an irony of stasis)
In everything revealed
By light, by shade
All shades of existence
x
Under the sun
(evil abrogated)
While always under stars
Belonging to night,
Where we also
Always
All belong
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Tom Barrett on Unsplash
Wisconsin State Fair Park Exposition Center, West Allis, United States
Taken from the Sky Lift at the WI State Fair, August 2017
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clcouch123 
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