plain or fancy
what did he
say
and this is so
the Bible says that Jesus loves us
when we’re weak
so
he is
strong
always weak
always
strong
everyone seems called to both
weak to
hear
strong to act
call weak gentle or easy
or
withholding
openness to listen
and
to heed what he should say
we have the story
and the help of spirit
and
of angels
strong to act while strong is faith
and
otherwise
to
take great care
for anger destroys
and
pride
as vanity shall fall
every time
with
consequences to learn
if not yet
experienced directly
and that is plain
I hope
for me to learn
for you to be loved by God
and Jesus and the
Spirit
loved by God and in that book
find it affirmed
and
by our instinct as we grow with God
by Jesus
and the Spirit
and by the Bible
and with each other
as
we’re faithful
and even when
we fall
the love’s not over
anymore than faith or hope
though love’s
the
quality and entity
the strength
the practicality
that
remains
the theologian was asked
and
responded
Jesus loves me
this
I know
for the Bible tells me so
may it go so simple
and
so strong
if not perfectly not yet
by us
c l couch
the song “Jesus Loves Me” was written by Anna Bartlett Warner, published in 1859 (the line breaks above were by me)
the theologian in question, at least so goes the story, is Martin Marty, asked to sum up his theology, responding with the beginning of the hymn
photo by Lauren Mitchell on Unsplash
I hope the other side of the shirts says “The Now”
on Easter Monday
day after Easter
Easter
Monday
and
must I give up the feeling
I understand doctrinally and for
and for an attractive metaphor
we
might
call ourselves the Easter people
meaning
more than attendance
on
the day
however that might go
and how deeply from the hear
and
do we look to the weather for comfort
and alliance
that Earth is on our side for
our
beliefs
except there was a flood
and much later
storms
on Galilee that had to be rebuked
and
stilled by one who was divine
and
human
too
we may live in Easter
now
the air of resurrection
which might be good for anyone
to breathe
c l couch
photo by Alessandro Guarino on Unsplash
Kfar Nahum National Park
“Sunset on the Sea of Galilee”
rosemary
on Easter
1
oh no
what shall I say
for it is Easter
and I don’t feel Easter
at all
I can think the stories
hear them
more
and hope that they are true
though there are images
so real
inside of me as I
so many stories
believe so many storytellers are
not wrong
and now
church is done
I am
alone
and silent as so many noises
that are inside
allow
and I’d wish for company
regardless
someone for chocolate
even
for ham
[please ungreen]
2
let Easter be a verb
I guess from a substance
a meaning
to the action
and
if I am alone and that’s a problem
for
how much to do
I could acknowledge there’s a presence
beside my own
to help
that
gave me my own
the spark
however done
and there is
faith
and love
from that source
that made
and is
still making making all
for
our collaboration in the Earth
and by the spirit
invested
in so many
things
not the source
but
sanctioned and even given us
for use
though with accountability
but back from cosmic
to just me
and am I just
that
means so many things and are they lost
in translation
idioms
truisms
first
and final meanings
in order to employ
to apply
who we are
and
what we’ve been given
though
at the moment
is
alone
and Easter resurrection
that does not happen every
year
for having happened once
and we’re the versions
ever since
not because we
save ourselves
we don’t
as
that was
you know
once provided
and so for this love
shall I love me
so shall
we love each other and each other
to keep it
healthy as
a change
thus and
so not
to have earned my loneliness
but stone rolled back
for me
too
and we’re
released
God imprisoned first
releases
us
so Easter with baskets and with paper grass
with rabbits who do not reproduce
by eggs
that are candy or
the real thing
if
striped
eccentrically
for me
let me have the silly ways
for
remembrance
and let’s have them now
in
the now
for delight
if
for forbearance
sometimes as other matters
problems
press
even the lonely state
and try to see the joy with inward
sight
as with outward longing
by
the interest and investment
realized
in
safe as well as expanding
fire
in each
from each spark
as
today
emblemizing real from the source
given
through sacrifice
as love for
you
for all
as we are served and toward our
service
c l couch
photo by Bernard Faure on Unsplash
teachables
learnables
a week from now is Maundy Thursday
I believe
antique name made from mandatum
meaning command
because they were not suggestions Jesus gave
at the Last Supper
but
orders
ours to obey
if we’re going to follow him
the savior with indwelling spirit and creating God
three
one
God all the time
who
John 3:17
sent Jesus here not
to condemn the world but that the world
by Jesus
would be saved
we might be saved
in present
tense
the price paid
made into grace that is free for us
not because the cost was weightless
in meaning but because
God
dying is what God may do
and then once
first
victorious
over death offer eternity to us
as by that grace we may
choose
to live
if after the irony of mortal death
which doesn’t change
sigh
so on Thursday
we had a dinner at the church each year
cooked and
served
by deacons
elders
many meal volunteers
what followed then
was a service of worship with
Communion
special ‘cause it was at night
and
I don’t know even the child of me
felt the community
gathering
first
in the hall and then the mullioned
beamed and genially beaming
room
c l couch
photo by Geda Žyvatkauskaitė on Unsplash
allowance
who is allowed
who gives
and
who may receive
what do we talk about
possession
salvation
and
who owns
salvation if anyone should own
God owns it
I
suppose
manages the process
certainly
provides all parts of God
needed
creates everything
places
us
then there’s a full beginning
affirming rest as
well
then somehow a serpent is allowed
if we intertwine the stories
then we know
of
the rebellion and the war in heaven
with casualties if not killed
yet fallen
then to
take it out on us
and
we fall as well
not
killed and yet spiritually
as good as gone until the parts of God
come
to the Earth
to teach
and offer to save
one part creates
the other comes and then
the other
the third part closer than ever
indwelling
in fact
by
invitation
strange invitation that both must offer
and accept
then
all things work together
that
are good
c l couch
Romans 8
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
(KJV)
photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash
there will be
there will be
no sorrowing there
Jesus
himself has gone before
to take a cross
to set it down
maybe horizontally to make
a bridge
between
God and us again
as
at Eden
he
for he and she
went through the valley
first
and shall come back
maybe
by angel agents representing
either way
we shall go through
and at the start
or
in the middle
or at the dale’s ending
we shall be told
we may
set our crosses down
no longer needed
since
there will be no longer
any
sorrowing there
c l couch
photograph by The Walters Art Museum of the ink-and-color work of Ishiwata Koitsu “Twilight at Imamiya Street, Choshi 1932” via Unsplash
terminus
it is finished
and
it wasn’t
but
to Jesus in that
time
it was
in that moment of unliving
it was done
and to be
plain
there was no more
and
who knows of surprise
from God in
having
or unhaving this
the finality
of death
not
to feel the body released
from iron and wood
to be
taken down and carried
who knows where
at first
though finally to stone
small space rolled shut as all of
space rolled
shut
in all systems everywhere
it might seem to
us
and to angels likely
and who knows
but
to God as well
even some knowing
might not
shut out the pain and then the nothingness
to have
in all the heavens
as with us on
Earth
we had our prophecies but forgot
or forgetting to believe
and
did it happen right away
the resolution
and
the glory
and was hell harrowed
right away
or did the sleep without sensation
go a while
so
it was death
complete
even more so than our own
though the moment did arrive
when
the stone and
the space inside the stone
were
not enough and there might have been fire
in release
and
so to heaven
and on Earth
so much a timeline
we don’t
know
though we believe
and who knows how difficult for God
who gave up being God
to
live and
die mortally
totally
by our count for three days
and then
c l couch
photograph by Lucrezia De Agrò on Unsplash
church gone
as in I went
to church today
was
driving
and
drove in because I know
the church is pretty
and probably
for something
more
saw cars pull and people going
inside
so I went in
as well
hoping I could
I don’t know
make my way by gestures
forgotten
words
half-remembered
but
worship
anyway
the church was lit as much by
morning light
I think
a stark shadow rendering
in silhouette
the gigantic cross of
Jesus
I listened to the homily
about the special
day
today
of guardian angels
of angels
everywhere
I’m sure
we gently waved to each other
maybe
a legacy of the pandemic
and we smiled
I did not take part in
the Eucharist feast
since
it was twenty years or more since
confession
(I
don’t
think I would have been caught
out)
we left
I left
got in the car
resuming my drive
more
or less
to nowhere
into a world that matters
where
and when
(yesterday)
my
niece is
sick with cancer
c l couch
photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
peregrine
another poem about breathing
breathe on me
breath
of God
that would be nice
I think Aslan breathed on people
and they were affirmed
to
exist and even have a calling
though maybe
existence
was enough
to know that God love me
for me
but
no
I should
do something
too
as I’ve wondered
and I’ve wandered
like the song
and like the song I wonder
while
wandering
why Jesus had to die
and
did he wonder
too
while he was wandering
well
we’re here
Jesus
Spirit and God
and me
without standing or power
a world to cheat
as well as to say hello
hello
maybe the start of cheating
and
what is my place
when it seems I have no place
I am God’s
I’m sure
though God be angry with
my performance so far
and
yet is love
Jesus and Spirit
too
to help
I want
to trust
I hope
c l couch
“Breathe on Me, Breath of God” and “I Wonder as I Wander” are hymns
photo by Brooke Balentine on Unsplash
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