an invoking
o youth
attend
for time is brief
and you will be surprised sometime
at the passing of the years
attend
because you should keep learning
and applying
principles to causes
that are good
that are healthy
and that serve
attend
to love
of yourself
though especially to others
to those you know
of course
and sometimes to the stranger
given it is a time of tissued trust
and you thicker
senses and responsibilities
attend
to share what’s good
to keep
to give
to hold something in reserve
in case the war goes on
with greed
even with evil
(other evils)
o youth
attend
and live
please live
c l couch
photo by Rebecca Peterson-Hall on Unsplash
Candles in October
(my paraphrase)
Relegation
O God
Which is an invocation
We’re asking
You
Here and now
And are we aware
Of what we’re asking
No
Liturgically
Demanding
In
Your showing up
You’re God
And if so
The maker
And the real mover
Of
Well
Reality
All-knowing
So we say
And all powerful
Though
It’s easier
Secular
To believe invisible
And far away
That clockmaker
Having
Made and maybe
Set the clock
So long ago
Then left us to
Construct our own
Devices
Maybe
In our skill
Or lack thereof
To negotiate
Someday
To melt that primal clock
As
A Dali-like
Face-making
That is
Poured over parts
Of a parched Earth
But really
As we do things
(except
for invocation)
We could use you
Far away
And so keep our
Maybe fearing you
Also
Distant
And untested
In fact
Also
With cheek
Keeping your name
Inside our word-hoards
Available
For cursing
Or for sex
(is it
to bless the sex)
So
Such is irony
Such are
The ironies
And this is
Such
Strange wondering
As if to place you in a box
Maybe officially
To relegate you there
Until we need you
For
A ceremony
For
A clean and distanced blessing
Now and then
To complement in
Name
(whatever name)
Whatever ritual
We’ve made
Or
Somehow adapted from
The beginning
Words
So whom
Do we invoke
Just now
Whom do we ask
To call
And through our calling
Bring you here
In everything you are
And then
Even
To sing
To benedict
You
Away
Very God
Or distant God
Preeminent
Out of the way
Again
Then maybe
For an hour
Of the clock
Next
Time
Or maybe less
Then dare
We say
Amen
C L Couch
Photo by Visual Karsa on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
We Need You and Sometimes We Can’t
x
Help us to love you,
O Lord,
Though
You may live without us
x
Still, we can exist
Together
In a bond that is
Extraordinary:
Of energy, of will,
Of love without agenda,
All around
x
It’s hard to love invisibly
With thoughts and feelings
We can’t see
And then
Your presence, Lord
x
With things unseen
And unevidenced
In other ways,
Our senses confounded
For lack of usefulness
The kind employed in what we do
In anything—and
How may we
Sense you?
x
There is stigmata for a few
And apparitions;
There are those
Who hear your words
In air
Or those emblazoned
Understood
Upon the heart
x
We want to know;
We get frustrated
Then we worry
For offense
(offending God does not seem smart)
Or we give up
Ignore
And in internal ways
We walk away
x
But you are there
We should believe
And within parameters
Of material and abstract
Hope for more
x
That on this side
We may have in measures
That will have to do
For life
And faith
And all the things we have to do
To make things better
One by one
And altogether
x
Tolerance
And patience
Peace
And feeding
Giving water
Giving hope for more
In all the needs of life
(material and abstract)
x
Help us, Lord,
Or let us help ourselves
And the others;
Be with us
And invisibly
Leave us to choose
In respect
Of how we’re made
And otherwise arranged
Our will
That we often apply well
Even without
Preternatural accoutrements
Composing a few rituals
For service
Pledging how to live
On our own
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Milad Fakurian on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
The Given
x
God
Give us this day
One second and the next
The seconds stop
And a new timeline opens
Uncountable
Forever
Light and gold and glass
Given
Owned by no one
And forever
Salvation earned through grace
Which means not at all
Choice and belief
That sometimes overthrow
The tyranny of microscopes
Chained generations
Lines broken by agendas
Made circles
Joined to other shapes
For fantastic exploration
Of heaven’s heavens
Amen
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Genessa Panainte on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
They Seek Him There
x
O God, our help
In ages past
Our hope for years to come
x
And what do we need today
But to know you are near
Some miracles would not go
Amiss, I must confess
(unless they do)
For a week of flood and fire
End or start to war
A sickness that has taken many lives
Corruption from the fruit of Eden
For the way we ate
For the way we live
For the way we want to live
On this side or that
x
C L Couch
x
x
title borrowed respectfully from The Scarlet Pimpernel
x
by Lawn Weeds – Scarlet Pimpernel, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85377914
Scarlet Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis) is a summer annual plant and a member of the primrose family. As its name suggest[s,] it has bright red/orange flowers, which only open when the sun shines.
x
Call to Worship, Invocation
Good morning
It is good we’re here
To worship God
A day that God has made
And placed us in
And we are here
Not all of us
Not all of us within us
Our better hearts or minds
But it is a hard time, you know
You know
There is illness
That has taken us
That we’ve fended off
By sheltering,
Those who can
There are fires across the nation
We’ve been burned
Assaulted, robbed
Hurt in inside places
Where the wounding is
Harder to bear
Everything
And how we’re here is mixed
Some met in the distanced room
More with a technical
Connection
How shall we worship you today,
Across imagined wires
Or separations where we sit
When we are, in fact,
So many parts?
God understands
Our attitudes,
Who better
Who better to forgive
And with perfection
God takes us, one by one
Now altogether
In our twos and threes
Or larger groups,
Unified by unreason
Since we cannot shake each other’s
Hands, which is hard for
The Presbyterians to order
Welcome us,
Our presence into you
This time
And always, when it’s harder
In the challenges come after
We worship you
And if we don’t know how,
Write us notes in the sky
Or scratch a gospel in the ground
Or help us with what we have
We’ll try to do our best
Finding humility to face you
A cessation of agendas
We’ll speak
But, O Lord, righteous Lord
And all perfection,
Help us listen
Selah
Amen
C L Couch
Photo by Daniele Levis Pelusi on Unsplash
clcouch123 
Recent Comments