Hearing a New Commandment
Bread and wine
For body
Wind for spirit
Earth
For creation
These show the nature of
The Lord
In closest metaphors
Like mustard seeds
For faith
And there are other metaphors
For appreciation
And
For learning
But these are things we have
And may know
Easily
Even rather thoroughly
That any might believe in
What they represent
And so
Have faith
In the intimate way
The better things are and have
Been made
Bread
Wine
Wind
Earth
Learn
Believe
Love
Live
C L Couch
for Maundy Thursday
John 13:34-35 (and in Matthew 22)
Matthew 11:15, 13:9
Photo by Assad Tanoli on Unsplash
the holy Wednesday
nondescript
without the cred
of Maundy Thursday
or Good Friday
a hump day in their holy week
and what might happen
preparations for the supper
after
maybe they would ask Jesus
why he wept
before their triumph
in the city
or maybe he would try to explain
to them again
what temple would it
that would be destroyed
and for faith
what might happen in three days
(maybe the human part
anticipating
wasn’t so sure)
and would they heal
would they argue
with the righteous
and the legalists
would Jesus spend some time with his mother
of the other Marys
who would be the rocks
above the rock
after all
would not the crowds be following
for what would happen next
having entered
with the palms then
later
giving money-changers
(no one liked them
anyway)
what for
while in cool and shadowed places
lit by religious fire
there would be plans
from rhetoric
with money
and other reasons for betrayal
these could have been furthered
holy Wednesday
too
that here is gray
with spindly trees
reaching out
somewhere
against a rain
that feels fatalistic
even knowing
what’s to come
in ritual
remembrance
and triumph not of palms
or cloaks upon the ground
but of the spirit
and the flesh
in resurrection
and the offer of the same
to the same
for each of us
by Sunday
C L Couch
Photo by Eric Muhr on Unsplash
the holey week
so this is
Holy Week
except for holes
we have
in planning
certain days
but come by the church
we will be open
all the time
you may kneel in darkness
or in daylight
whatever is the atmosphere
for God and you
to chat
for God will not mind
your mood
or what you have to say
if need be
God will listen
though profanity
though maybe
keep that
‘twixt yourselves
and God will answer in
a away
that most likely
will not satisfy
though there are
instant precedents
they are
in stories
mostly
though
we’ll leave
without resolve
unrecommended
maybe unbelieving
in the silence
that was shared
for God
works in God’s timing
and waiting much
is called for
or not
or something else
kairos
and a gift
we don’t know
how to ask for
and receive
in time
more than we could
ever ask
and ain’t that something
this translucent
faith business
that ain’t a business
but a gift store
without prices
where everything’s available
though we have to wait
to have it chosen
for us
what we need
in time
and we could call it
holy time
in a
holy week
c l couch
photo by Josh Eckstein on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
Two Children
x
Holy Thursday
x
Maundy Thursday
x
Good Thursday
x
Nice Thursday for the church
If we leave off
The arrest in the garden,
Which sounds ingenuous
But the day
Liturgically
Is named for the supper only
And what happened there:
What was said,
Mainly
The command
x
And did they know
By the way
That supper was the
Last?
And looking back
Would the disciples
Want
To have called it
That?
Or did we need a name
And gave it
That one?
(names come after things,
I guess
for history
and liturgy
and calendars)
x
Here’s how it used to go:
We’d have a dinner
At the church
Downstairs
Then go upstairs
(from the social hall)
To the sanctuary above
And we’d have church,
Which is to say
A service
x
And there would be Communion
And we’d conclude the service
There
And it was nice
x
Sorry, it was nice
x
Jesus and his friends
For that what’s Maundy’s
All about,
A lazy term
For the Latin mandatum
Meaning command
For Jesus gave them orders
All the followers
That they should love
One another
x
That a few ages later
We should love each other
x
Good Friday
(good?)
Will
(for a fact)
Be awful,
And in between
The supper and the arrest
Admittedly
Is his time in the garden
Where disciples will betray him,
First two
And then the third
Follower
Who left the supper early
x
While Christ on his own
More than he wished
Asked of the cup
Not filled with wine from the meal
But of the bitterness
Of mortal destiny
Should pass by
As a deadly metaphor
For will
x
And then acceptance
And it’s really rather beautiful
As it is tragic
And then horrible
With an arrest
And all the dreadful
Words and acts
To follow
x
So we should keep the garden
Time
Somewhere in between
The meal
And arrest,
Maybe a kind of vigil thing
x
For the church meal before
And then Communion,
Well,
Was wonderful,
First roast beef
(typically and, yes, like the toe)
And then upstairs
Where we hardly ever
Had church for all of us
At night,
Waiting now
In fact
‘Til Christmas Eve—naturally,
A good association
x
And here’s Good Thursday,
Maundy Thursday when
We are told
By the child of God
To love each other
x
Though I’m thinking now
There are too many things
Too many good and bad things
To come together
Making sense
Out of a calendar
And faith
x
And yet
Bethlehem’s
Christmas child
And the child that is placed
Among them
x
And something about
Leadership
And children
x
And then
All children
Must and should grow up,
After all
x
So there
x
CLC
x
x
Matthew 18:2-4, Isaiah 11:6
x
Photo by David Weber on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Empirical
(about Judas)
x
1
x
And what does it mean
Thirty pieces?
Not forty
Or twelve
A different sort of bargain
And a bargaining
For life
x
If he was a zealot
Then perhaps
The money didn’t matter
He wanted him to act
To wreck the Romans
Maybe the Sanhedrin, too
And bring
The final age
Crashing into the world
Let Solomon return
And David
Deborah
And Gideon
A greater king than these
Embodiments
A greater prophet
x
And let Messiah rule
Certainly
It’s him
x
Or else
The money was just money
And nothing just
About it
A small fortune
For the cause
Or for himself
Catharsis
And investment
Because we’d had enough
Of this kind
Of leadership
Through love
And loving invitation
Harsh words
The cleansing of the temple
x
Not nearly enough
For the emperor
Of a new age
And all of us
Consuls, advisors
x
Take the money
Recompense
Look for a moment
To secure
What happens next
x
According to our will
According to my will
x
2
x
And was he put down?
What made him act this way?
Hurt?
Envy?
Unbelief?
Or maybe
He was the sharpest of them all
And knew the money was a catalyst
That at the moment
When we’re followers
And friends
He’d change everything
The guards of the Sanhedrin
The Roman soldiers
The region
The empire at last
And set a new one
That the prophets saw
But wouldn’t time
So we have to do it
Make the time
Make it when we say
Make it now
x
Now everything will change
Now finally we’ll have
What we want
Power
And justice
The way we want
x
Revolution
Recompense
We’ve only been fooling ourselves
Or waiting for a start
x
Well, here it is
We’re calling it
I’m calling it
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Milad Fakurian on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
take away the confessional and informative emendations and there’s one poem here with endings like certain music selections
x
Processionals
x
I think
Often of David
Of a picture
I have seen
Or made up
It’s when the ark
Is brought into
Jerusalem
And it’s a triumph
A kind of victory
x
And I think of David
Young
(and was he young)
Dancing
Before the ark
Not wearing much
But he’s king
And he arranged all this
And so
The instruments
Let play
And maybe favorites
Follow suit
x
I see light colors
As if this were a desert scene
Done as a picture
With pastels
You know
I think I figure the hair
On David
From the statue by
Michelangelo
x
Processions are important
He and they
Had to have one
Because the ark
Would have a home
Forever
Well
At least for generations
(I should
look this up
it might be before
Absalom)
But what do we know
Today is forever
And the
Ark is here
x
And Jesus came
Into Jerusalem
And a procession
Was needed
And so it was
Arranged
In humility
And somehow awesome
Awful majesty
x
C L Couch
x
x
I worked on this scene before as a draft; I have in mind I didn’t finish it, and this time I did; but if the other work appeared and I forgot, then I apologize for the repetition—CLC
x
and a bit more (for free)
x
a coda
x
David was a shepherd
He was a king
He was loved by God
As either
So are you
Loved by God
For either
Any
Way
x
Photo by Alberico Bartoccini on Unsplash
x
(and here’s the lesson should you need one
coda 2
that was D. S.
this is D. C.)
x
Jesus came
Into Jerusalem
Like the ark
Meaning a triumph
Victory
For a home people
Battling
To keep a promise
x
And like the ark
Is lost
Defeat
And sacrifice
Through lack of faith
(bad kings—you may
look it up)
And so sacrilege
And a new needed
Promise
Follows
(read the prophets)
For restoration
Of the people
x
Turns out
It’s Israel
And all of us
Redeemed
Through this
Second coming
Triumph
Then sacrifice
This time as well
And
Cosmically speaking
Greater
All the world
And how far out
On the edge
x
With destruction
Turned to joy
With all our flaws intact
Until a final resurrection
That will keep
Us and the world
Intact
And better
And forever
x
Stone not only
Rolled away
But smashed
Here endeth
And look
And listen
Smell
And taste
And touch
This is the start
And we might think we do
But we don’t know
What’s next
x
(x = space)
x
x
Vacant
(Holy Saturday)
x
A day for scurrying
Like mice in light
Look for food,
Hide, rest
Listening for the next
Sounds that are not yours
That might be coming for you
Or might give you away
Now add on human sadness
The living of a tragedy
Like Oedipus,
Antigone
No happy ending possible
The hero is gone
The extraordinary years are gone
There is nothing now
But flight from arrest,
Weeping as at Babylon
x
Practicing tradition
In the dark
Since the source was killed
In horror
Sleeps without sleeping
Leaving everyone
To scurry to avoid arrest
To somehow persist
With broken hearts
Hope so far off
To be recalled
Stories torn
Healing forgotten
x
We count this day
An in-between
They knew it only
As an empty,
Weeping nothing
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
The Bridge to Thursday
(Holy Week)
x
It is the middle of Holy Week
Who’s noticing
Who cares
Those huddled in churches
Mouthing with the pastor
Liturgies and litanies
All the holy words
And since it’s near enough
To Lent, there might be no
Communion,
Even practicing for Easter
x
Some of the fun churches
(there are those)
Will bless baskets on Saturday;
All sorts of folk with
All sorts of baskets
Containing elements for
Sunday dinner
Will be there
x
On the Friday before,
There will veneration
While on Thursday
An official working out
Of some kind
For the Last Supper
And the “maundy” part
Of Maundy Thursday
A command (mandatum)
To love one another,
Good reminder
For starting out the Triduum—
Or the rest
Of one’s
Of a church’s life
x
But today is Wednesday
Nothing to see here
Or hear or taste or touch
No smell of
Incense, either
Wednesday doesn’t rate
Another hump day
In the USA,
Anywhere else that arches
The week that way
x
Calm before the storm?
Hardly
There are storms, here and there
As happen
(one is brewing
outside the window),
There are the hungry
Who need big pieces of baked bread
And safe water
And more-real food
In order to sit up
Straight in church
For the coming days
x
Feed the children
Feed each other
This would make a Wednesday, a
Holy Wednesday in a holy week
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by yvo bergers on Unsplash
x
Good Saturday
It wasn’t good for us
Maybe not for God
Maybe God was weeping, too,
Though could not be hiding
Part of God was buried, though
Unless the strategy to
Harrow hell is more than
A medieval story
But first followers have no hope
Today
Jesus is gone, buried quickly
Inside a sabbath regulation,
A guard set to keep anyone from
Trying anything
But disciples are not ghouls
The body did not matter, anymore
Except that there were those
Who though the body
Should be spiced,
A practical and spiritual
Measure
Hopeless people might not
Have cared
Jesus was gone, the movement failed
Neither the zealots nor the
Gentler ones could have their way
From him
No that there wasn’t drama:
Judas took his money, then
Destroyed his own part
In everything
Maybe there were those who had
If in a maudlin way
Celebrated political victory
Death of the teacher
Who had rabble-roused
And inconvenienced leadership
If only in the heart
Herod who lived
Might be pleased
He could set up the cross next to
The platter also soaked in blood
A museum to the worldly-
Minded
And, to those who know,
An emptiness of soul
Who were the followers?
Where were they?
It seemed they fled
No one among them moved
Except some women and
A young man
Nothing threatening there
The Earth hides quietly today
Maybe the sun will bathe
The hilltop of Golgotha
Maybe rain will do even more
To cleanse
The people who are left
They have no faith
No hope
They have forgotten anything about
What could happen next
They are tired, frightened, aware of
Their parts as outcasts and outlaws
Only a few hold on to strings of prophecy
Maybe remembering the life, the
Healings, the lessons from their teacher
But he is bodily gone
This is the dreaded day in-between
Only they don’t know
There is another side
C L Couch
Photo by Jordan Christian on Unsplash
Beartooth Highway, United States
Holey Week 7
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