The Life
(own question marks, as you will)
So who is Jesus
The son of God
There
That was easy
But really
A child
Like you and me
With parents
And upbringing
The awkwardness of being
Adolescent
The quaking feelings
Of first love
The breaking heart
After
Learning
Schooling
Listening to authority
Tussling with it
Giving in
Though not all the way
Learning the work of this father
Deciding
It is not for him
And then diverging
No longer like us
Perhaps
Except in a search for freedom
And to get it right
With God
With everyone who matters
And to be disappointed
To give in
Or to wander off
Or in his case
Do both
Now he is divergent
God and human
Will and way
Thirty years to grow
Three to live
Then famously
What happens next
Then quietly
For the sake of souls
The living and the dead
Those there
There here
What happens
After that
It all seems quieted
Padded somehow
To hear the story
And to picture it
With or without
Pictures
We know
We’ll think them up
Regardless
But the actions
After death
After three days
Were they amazing
And is that
A silly question
Tangential circles
And did they start
In hell
Where Christ declared
I am risen
So are you
If you want
To be
Come with me
And hell was harrowed
Cleared
Horrified the demons
Hosting nothing
Like their agenda’s
Nothingness
And now on Earth
Where we live
Who live
Was it an angel
Or a gardener
Or Jesus himself
Who was a help
At the empty
Tomb
And were the spices
Cherished
Thank you
Mary
He could have said
They smell wonderful
Even though
There is no need
An empty tomb
Except for a shroud
Perhaps
Guards absent
Or emptied of
Responsibility
Death became reality
Instead of faith
With him
Or her
Or anyone to believe in
While we live
Forgetfully
Until someone has died
And we have responsibilities
To our families
To our minds
To our emotions
And wrestle
Losing
With mortality
But here it is
An empty tomb
Do we believe again
In one whose faith
We had
And then surrendered
And there it is
A ghost
And we don’t believe
In ghosts
And it speaks
Becomes a person
Different
And the same
For God can manage
Paradox
It is me
I am here
I was death
And now
I am life
And while they cower
Reasonably
In Jerusalem
Witnesses appear
To say
Jesus is back
I mean
Jesus lives
The temple to be torn down
In three days
Then raised again
A miracle
Is Jesus
And the miracle is not of stone
But soul
And it is that
Of Jesus
And
Reasonably
They do not believe
‘Til the Christ appears
Offers up wounds
As evidence
Jesus is there
In spirit
And in flesh
Yes
We believe
Jesus is there
Jesus is here
In spirit
We’ll remember
Jesus
In that way
No
No
Jesus is here
Don’t you understand
Really here
We could take meals with him
I believe
And I believe
Please
My friends
Believe
And after all belief
Had turned to Herod
And to Caesar
While we were calculating
How to live
With earthly lords
Again
This is what we’re told
This is what
She tells us
And those
Who were with here
What shall we do
What shall we do
Prepare to surrender
All again
To rise above the fear
We feel
For reason of our hiding
That we decided
Could be waiting
Until we’re
Forgotten
To come out again
Into the daylight
Of suspicion
And arrest
And execution
Like the cousin John
And what fortune like that
Might await the rest of us
We were about
To disband
All our community
Return to what jobs we had
What houses
Might accept us
And now you say
He’s here
Believe again
Yes
Yes
I do
Yes
You do
But all lines come together
For Jesus here
Who will believe
And will we believe
Maybe with a meal
We take together
We shall know him
As we knew him
He shall be our friend
As he had told us
All of us are friends
But also rabbi
And as some of us had said
Out loud
Even before him
Our Messiah
The one who saves
Both Israel
And the world
For the sake of Gentiles
He received
Jesus is here
How can we doubt
And where is Thomas
He should be here
Later on
He will
He and she
And everyone
Shall be here
At the point
Where lines and circles meet
The nexus
The zenith and the nadir
Whatever names you have
For what
You believe in
All directions
Meeting points
And places
Jesus
Is there
Jesus is here
And will stay
Once we decide
Once we all
Have decided
C L Couch
I am Christian, and I don’t mind if you are not. I like the other faiths. They fascinate, and I like to learn about them. And, more importantly, I respect them. I respect you. But sometimes I must be who I am and even for the sake of those who believe as I believe. Or I believe because they do. And God calls. And I respond. So here is something out of our beliefs, our faith, our code. It is creatively expressed, and I hope there is some accuracy to it. But it is poetic because poetry has strength of thought and feeling--and strength of imagination with the words at least. I offer this to you, what you will. Thank you.
CLC
Photo by Jacob Amson on Unsplash
The Sea of Galilee
(that also goes by other names)
I’ve heard it preached:
a storm on Galilee
that must be something else
to see,
to hear,
to feel,
to smell,
to taste.
To wonder about
disciples
living fear
about the squall,
waking Jesus
for salvation,
Don’t you care?
Yes,
I care
that you are saved
(to paraphrase).
And then
Christ
commands the storm
on the water,
in the sky,
maybe at the shore
to be quiet.
And it’s quiet
over Galilee.
C L Couch
the preacher preached this morning about this sea, though anything I say above is of my own accord, especially anything doctrinally incorrect
Photo by Sylvain Brison on Unsplash
Sea of Galilee
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
having been incarnated
x
oh
God
we say
you’re born
you’ve slipped inside
the pacing
of the world
flesh cells
adapting
to our measure
to our growth
and our decay
three score and ten
how does it
feel
x
I guess you knew
what this was
and is the human part
surprised
by mortal beats
the skipping
of the heart
outside
the rhythm
as we say
of the spheres
x
and are you well
will you
catch cold
or get mumps
have influenza
as our children must
from time to time
it seems
x
and you
will endure
(you must)
though it won’t be
so comfortable
with chicken pox
x
and then
grown-up
to feel
all that we feel
and think inside the vacuum
the shell
of thoughts
inhabiting the skull
and not much further on
nothing like
the mindset
you must know
inside eternity
and Godhead
x
and there are feelings
in the chest
desire
for the nation
yes
and only
for your own
because you are
humanly
entitled
x
yet what shall you have
when your body
it turns out
is for a cause
even
perhaps part of a plan
to cheat mortality
like the stratagems
of Pharisees
or statues of
self-styled kings
or emperors
x
Rome and Judea
and there is Parthia
and Britain
way-off China
and there’s India
and there are first people
everywhere
who belong
where they have moved
and stopped
and finally
no place to move
with what they have
for moving
x
all the people
of the Earth
post-Alexander
and never having known
Alexandrian expansion
or Roman roads
connecting
a known world
x
yet
are you here
for these
everywhere
which means
you might be here for us
here and now
x
I suppose
the other two
of you
will out
while you alone
are limited
while you must live here
with only us
for easy company
and reaching out
like us
often alone
sometimes in groups
though only through the shell
as we must beseech
mortally
unto the Lord
with questions
asking of a will
we do not understand
yet we believe
is there
x
how frustrating to be human
welcome here
we wish you well
we really do
because should we encounter you
there are stories
about something special
from you
something even
we don’t know
rescuing
about you
even in the flesh
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by BoliviaInteligente on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Exiled
x
Oh
God
Shall we have
A good season
Together
The year has started
And now
Another season
x
Intentions
Overlap
You come into the world
And you are here
The Earth tilts
And always
Has
Far as we know
x
Turns
Like a top
A toy to such as you
Though you
Are not a giant god
That way
x
You play
But not with us as
Playthings
Upon the Earth
An unrolled
Plastic battlefield
x
We toy each other
Which is
An eldritch lesson
We came up with
On our own
x
Objectify
‘Til someone doesn’t matter
Like Cain
Like everyone in western Asia
Like anyone who’s different
Over here
x
We need a season
Need the time
But shall we be reborn
With remembrance
Of a real birth
To save the nations
Ransom
Captive Israel
Then all the rest
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Jorge Fernández Salas on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
A Gift from Western Asia to the World
(on the day of Saint Nicholas)
x
God
It’s dark
The light is coming
Like Immanuel
Who’s here
And always coming
To the call of the season
Advent
After all
x
Like the advent of the airplane
Or hybrid roses
Bred intentionally
Everywhere
x
For good or ill
We co-invent new things
And yet in a dark street
Like my own
With one light for company
You came into
The world
Seemingly deserted
Certainly bereft
Of a savior
Who would match divinity
With barbarism
To save us
All barbarians
x
Who knew nothing
Of an inner life
With you
Except by accident
Of prophets
And some other heroes
So that we knew of virtue
And your name
Beyond your name
But in a real way
To have such things
Well
We were lost
x
And in that town
Razed and rebuilt
So many times
Under one light
You came
Nicene
Human and
Divine
To bridge the damnable gap
That we had built
Through consequence
Of sin for will
And simply keeping
Only
To our side
x
To bring us over
Come to us first
As at the first
There was creation
And now
Reconciliation
For the one-sided
Who remain
Lost that way
x
And shall you give by grace
To every generation
Hope in each one born
Offered many times
In each one’s
Life
To appreciate what’s on the other side
Of you
And us
To model the walking over
Four ourselves
And for our children
x
And shall we call this grace
Of something else
It is the same
The offer of salvation
Through bridge-building
In the flesh
Of your child
The child that’s you
And us
Somehow
x
The advent
And the miracle
On arrival
x
Such wonder
Such bliss
A reality
In the making
That the world needs
And typically doesn’t know
Until we meet you
And teach us
All about the bridge
Live on both sides
At last
And then offering
By will
To take us to the middle
And we both
Also with steps of our own
Pass to the other side
x
All of which to say
Merry Christmas
Maybe we’ll see you
In this room
At this place
On Earth
And everywhere
And at the bridge
The most
Extraordinary gift
You are
For us
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Darya Tryfanava on Unsplash
x
(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
What It Means This Time
x
Pilate asked
We may infer
He didn’t mean it
That the Romans
Took the truth
As they found it
As they made it
x
The modern person
Secular
Asking on occasion
Not waiting for an answer
Except the answer
As we need it for
Moment by moment
Justification
x
Then to wash our hands
As if
That made a difference
For the truth
As we need it now
And pushed into a new form
As we need it
Later
x
Behold your person
Who is your monarch
I have tortured
Beyond the law
And now the law
Is done
With this one
x
Say this is enough
I want other things
To do
And now you thread
Insinuations
Through the crowd
They murmur
And then roar out for Barabbas
x
Do you even know
Who that is
x
Well
I will release them
To you
Wash my hands again
Let go Barabbas
And then Christ
To indicate
Your will with them
One to roam
One to execute
With others for
Barbaric companionship
On crosses
x
What is in it
Water
There is salt
For exorcism
My excuse
Or it might as well
Be tears
For bitter clarity
Of what is real power
When they have it
When you
Have it
x
C L Couch
x
x
John 19:5
x
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
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
clcouch123 
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