Salvation Chair
Really
Now
And should the Spirit
Come to call
After the dancing
For the sky
After all the lights released
Half
A world on
That’s felt
One’s own half of the world
After ingesting
All petitions
In all the other continents
Even on the
Needful
Melting fields
To the south
And north
Between the poles
It stops
To dwell a while
In my
Clay house
And maybe find a room
For me
In a truly quiet hour
While I give all the rest over
To
Possession
And renewal
At the same time with
All other crises
And the stretched-out needs
So
Casually asked
Sometimes
Please
Sit
Have something
While I work out with you
How to have
My own
On both sides of enigma
That is
Mystery
Of faith
That is
Saved
When given over
C L Couch
Anne Bradstreet, a prominent Puritan poet, employed the “clay house” metaphor in her work. In her poem “As Weary Pilgrim,” she reflects on the impermanence of the physical body and the longing for spiritual rest. Here are some lines from that poem:
A pilgrim I, on earth, perplext
wth sinns wth cares and sorrows vext
By age and paines brought to decay
and my Clay house mouldring away
Oh how I long to be at rest
and soare on high among the blest.
https://www.poetry.com/poem/3075/as-weary-pilgrim,-now-at-rest
(the note before the excerpt by Copilot)
Photo by Asim Hamid on Unsplash
Epiphaneity
Epiphany
Twelfth Night
Also
Orthodox Christmas
Yet in the west
We have the
Magi
Visiting
The child
With the mother
And adoptive father
And since
Liturgy
Respects only its
Chronology
We might mainly note
Today
The baptism
By
The cousin John
Of the child now grown
Now
Authorized by the
Spirit
As a dove
Then the child
Grown
Journeys into
Wilderness
C L Couch
Le Jourdain au site du Baptême, en Jordanie.
By Jean Housen - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11820699
(x = space)
x
x
in a glorious church
x
look at you
Jesus
on such an ornate cross
we don’t truck
with indignity
or even
execution
you’re still alive
up there
though as you die
you die for us
x
rude cross
more like it
wooden beams
thick branches
off the trees
of the Earth
we say the nails were iron
ongoing execution business
for a smith
with earthly metals
coal to burn
or pieces of wood
cut off
shaved off
something like the matter
of a cross
x
c l couch
x
x
Photo by Michael Newcomb on Unsplash
x
I don’t mean to be a spoilsport about faith and faith art; I do think spiritual simplicity might be important
x
Since we built the church, there were pewter candlesticks upon the altar; Francis Nurse made them, y’know, and a sweeter hand never touched the metal. But Parris came, and for twenty weeks he preached nothin’ but golden candlesticks until he had them. I labor the earth from dawn of day to blink of night, and I tell you true, when I look to heaven and see my money glaring at his elbows – it hurt my prayer, sir, it hurt my prayer. I think, sometimes, the man dreams cathedrals, not clapboard meetin’ houses.
John Proctor
The Crucible
Act 2
x
(x = space)
x
x
Invitationing
x
It is a gray day
Perfect for
The Spirit to come in
x
A visit by a fire
With the Fire
An easy day
Made glorious
Through interaction
With the presence
Of the Lord
x
Hosted by
The human heart
Watched over
By the human mind
x
The visit lasts forever
Or it may
It depends upon the labor
Of the Spirit
And our own
To relent
To the exchange
Timeless
Over time
x
C L Couch
x
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
Te Deum
x
I pray to God
And Jesus
Rarely directly to
The Holy Spirit
Sorry, Spirit
Though it seems
I’m talking with you
All the time
As an indication
A reality
Of indwelling
x
You are the nearest
The closest part
Of God
In fact, in me
While I know
It’s three in one
But for all I know
It might be
That you are the part of God
Who is the most patient
Part
(indwelling)
And who somehow
Loves me best
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Savvas Kalimeris on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Nicene Intention
(universal method)
x
God is God
And God becomes
Human
And as God and
Human
May serve as the
Mediator
Both in between
And on both sides
A sacrificing
(needn’t be done)
Remarkable
Negotiating strategy
To be in the middle
Also moving
Through each side
x
It’s real
It’s blood-won
It involves an intimate
Awareness of
Divinity and
The temporal through sin
And loving everyone
Inside everyone
Bring to bear
Reconciliation to the table
All parties
With a nod
That meant
I died for this
For you
For everyone
And everything
On sides
And at this table
One way or another
Now
x
Call it an altar
Or a cairn
A memorial
A space
That existed with all spaces
Before Sarah
Before Abraham
Before Buddha
Or Mohammed
(bless the name
and bless all names
approved)
And we have much to do
Then and now
Though now
For the mortal side
Is fair
x
Earth shall be fair
As a result of this
Mortal and divine
Working out
What is good
What is victory
What shall be the means
To believe in
And proceed from there
Toward Earth and us
In paradise
In time
Now
Then tomorrow
Breaking time
In fact
So that we have primal
And evermore
Perfection
With all wonders
Wonderful things to do
Each moment
That bears
And shall express
Forever
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Halfway Home
x
The sacrifice
Of your shed blood
He said
On our behalf
In prayer
His words the surrogates
A shadow
Of the death itself
x
Horribly
A bleeding body
Shed of its spirit
At the last
A life too pure
A sacrifice
For us
x
Yet there it was
In expiation
Half redemption
For our sins
x
The weight of everything
That hates
Crushing his body down
Pushing out his spirit
On to Hades
Or Valhalla
To Gehenna
Or to Sheol
As it’s understood
To name it
x
Half the promise
The brutal
Ugly
Barbarous part
Complete
And it is over
He said it was finished
Maybe it is
x
C L Couch
x
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
Impoverished
x
I am a Christian
(and you’ll pardon me
if I don’t mind
that you are not)
And so I believe
That Jesus saves
And the Holy Spirit indwells
x
As God creates
And so we have
The three in one
And one always in three
x
And should I be offended
Or should you
And I think neither
x
God is
And if you don’t think so
Then
You don’t think so
Though statistically
Most on Earth
Believe
In something
Someone
Greater than oneself
Who is at work
In the world
Or for some
Is standing by
x
Jesus is offensive
He excoriates
Both Jew and Gentile
He also is all love
And empties himself of godhood
On a cross
To die
The first
Last
Great sacrifice
For sin
x
And that offended evil
I am sure
And the devil wailed
While certainty in hell
Was harrowed
By the Lord
And Lord
Who came alive again
And lives for us
Offended
Or easier about
Salvation
x
So we’ve time and chance
To care about
Our part in things
I’m thinking
Keeping promises
To families
To Earth
To what is true
What is giving
What is loving
x
Some find love offensive
In the cost
Of nothing worldly to have
Or to keep
Or it isn’t love
That like grace
There are no dispensers
With requirements
Except the Lord
Who says
Love God
And each other
Do both
x
And if that’s a requirement
Well
Take it up
With the one who made you
x
There
I have offended
But I empty myself to say
I love you
And when I do so
I have done it
And maybe say it
Well
x
Love God
And believe
Believe in Earth
Not quite so solid
Through truly
Given
Believe in us
That we have a chance
That we have a choice
That might please hell
Or make a heaven
In the middle
x
Believe well
And do better
Keep nothing that relinquishing
Would make love
Wholly stronger
And viable
In an occupied world
x
Until revelation
Make it real
And in the meantime
Learning
Living
What shadows
(taught by Plato
and what others more respectable)
Reveal
x
C L Couch
x
x
Speaking finally of Narnia and Earth, the professor said, It’s all in Plato.
Except it isn’t.
x
good thoughts courtesy of the ALC at Covenant Evangelical Presbyterian Church of West Lafayette, Indiana—anything that offends, maybe insults, is from me
x
Photo by Callum Hill on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
the devil
(you say)
x
the tempter
the corrupter
the ruiner of things
resist
no thanks
go away
we’ll bring in professionals
xxxxxif we have to
diaspora
we’re spread apart
you like us this way
we don’t believe in
xxxxxtogether
should we understand
that we are three in one
because God is
(that is the pattern)
we can stand alone
xxxxxJesus
xxxxxJohn
xxxxxElijah
xxxxxMoses
xxxxxeach and all did that
goodness, we know that well
but to be together
find gentle,
overwhelming power in that
we don’t know that
not anymore
not since the last time
and the time to come
and meantime?
we are together all the time
we only need to turn
to find each other
share the tiny glory
in that
the tiny victories
that add up
or they don’t
breathe in
breathe out
let life happen
as it’s supposed to happen
our alone times
our together state
the glory of the Lord
shine through
all shapes and sizes
everything and everyone
inside creation
not the devil
that gave up all right
to enter realms instead
of nothingness
x
x
elements
x
matter merges
xxxxxspiritual and fleshly
xxxxxmaterial
xxxxxgrain and grapes
xxxxxtogether
xxxxxeach part
xxxxxand together
xxxxxchanged
xxxxxinto finer things
xxxxxcloser to purpose
xxxxxcloser to creation
xxxxxand creation
xxxxxand what is finer than
xxxxxa smidgeon more intentional?
xxxxxall the wonder
xxxxxsimple and refined
xxxxxis here
xxxxxmade from the start
xxxxxmade full
xxxxxby God
xxxxxJesus
xxxxxand the Spirit
xxxxxwho are here
xxxxxwhose substance
xxxxxwhose presence
xxxxxis in here
xxxxxand is in you
x
x
notes
x
I’m sorry, while drafting I couldn’t think of women in the Bible who stood or prayed or fled to be alone; now I think that Mary could have been by herself when encountered by the angel and in her response to the announcement and the will of God; Judith might have prayed on her own, away, as well; and Esther might have planned the salvation of Israel in the same way
x
Photo by Mark Duffel on Unsplash
x
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