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first holy saturday

(x = space)

x

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first holy saturday

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it seems there’s nothing

but a void

after which is fear

there could be doubt

but what is left

to believe in

first

x

the body’s cared for

there’s the irony of a guard

to keep things safe

while making sure

we don’t get in

to take him

x

so what is left

but us

and an enormous world

ready to quash us

and to take our air

our allotment of

anything

allowed

x

we have gone too far

they’ll say

but we have killed the head

and now the serpent

body dies

and we shall have it

or leave it

shriveling in the shadows

or bring it to the light

to finish

dessication

and metaphors aside

we mean you

and to have you

x

your paltry movement

and there are many crosses

provided by the Romans

and the Greeks

and Egyptians

before

x

you are done

we shall have you

you are annihilated

not even space on Earth

shall have you

x

we can delight

considering

a line of graves

underneath the field

that we buy

with the silver

Judas has returned

x

well

not well

and so we hide

small care for each other

we dare to send for food

and prepare it

without fire

to share it in the dark

x

these are holy hours

we try

to pay attention

x

some count the hours

most of us

cannot do

something so constructive

x

it is finished

last words

we heard them

so did they

we wait for

we don’t know what

we have forgotten all the miracles

and all of what was said

to go with them

x

we hide

and that’s the hell of it

as it seems

that hell has won

x

2

x

there is the edge

of a hole

through which we see

what we have been taken from

and shall we try

to return

a circle

an eye

we hurt

wait, an eye

who sees

we see

does God look at us

or Rome

or the Sanhedrin

x

how can God look

God died yesterday

we saw

we heard

and it is terrible

but there’s nothing more

even from the cross

were the words

that it is finished

x

we can’t even wait

we can count the hours

but there’s nothing there

there is grief

the rightness of it

rituals

for a while

x

but then there’s nothing left

we are ridiculed

then captured

captured and then ridiculed

when it’s safe

when we are bound

bound perhaps

to crosses of our own

x

why do we even have

this day

it is a holy day

so to say

holy hours

holy minutes

x

if yesterday

had been the day

if the cross beam was

a blooded lintel

then the deadly angel

missed

or misread

and took

the righteous

anyway

against the plan

x

but it’s not fair

to miscast angels

who are commanded

by a God

who let

if not arranged for

all of this

and now has disappeared

gone to Sheol

though how can God

wait for God

x

there are no answers

only rumors

that we cannot hear

the world has closed us off

in here

and we will not snipe

or bear false hope

or cheat

material truth

x

while we are waiting

worse than that

having nothing

to wait for

x

we mourn

we cannot look

or look

taste and see

we miss our God

we were friends of God

for a little while

x

we are lost

after our paroxysms

maybe we

catch our breath a little

and shall we go where

we proclaimed it long ago

that without God

there is nowhere

the nowhere of the Sadducees

maybe

x

but on to night

and after night

not daylight

but a void

judgment perhaps

but what could we have done

when we were told

what we were told

x

friendship for hours only

new love

and now

it’s as if creation

matter

molecules

might as well

have never happened

x

C L Couch

x

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Photo by Filip Kominik on Unsplash

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Two Children

(x = space)

x

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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

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Matthew 18:2-4, Isaiah 11:6

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Photo by David Weber on Unsplash

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Alt

(x = space)

x

x

Alt

x

Are tombs

Really whitewashed

x

Maybe in a desert place

To keep the heat off

For a while

I don’t know if white

Enhances

Gathering of cool

At night

x

With herbs for scent

And preservation

Added after death

To show devotion

x

I guess we could

Understand

What might have happened

Had the guards cooperated

And helped

The rolling of the stone away

Unless they laugh

At women

Then tell them to

Roll the rock aside

On their own

x

And having gained entrance

Beholding the wrapped body

x

They might need lamps

So that they may work with care

On Jesus

Three days’ dead

And in what state

What condition

In that desert place

And nation

Well

A colony

In an empire

x

And so how brave are they

The Marys

Maybe with friends

Followed by apostles

Also doubt

As it was

From their own

Who didn’t move

On hearing

x

But back (and on) to risk attention

And arrest

For being some of them

The followers

Of the insurrecting one

State-executed

x

And here they are

Near him

The last of him

In sight of soldiers

And maybe other agents

Who paid Judas

Who has disappeared

Now want to quash

All parts

And signs

Every extremity

Of the body

Of this body

Dead in flesh

x

And now the movement

(body in the region)

Gone

Entirely

Execution

Burial

Ridicule

What works

So wins

The devilish

And worldly

Agendas

x

C L Couch

x

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Matthew 23:26 and verses following

(plus the Passion narratives about coming to the tomb of Jesus, given in the four Christian Gospels)

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Photo by Foto Phanatic on Unsplash

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Processionals

(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

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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

1

one spiritual law

(x = space)

x

x

one spiritual law

x

God loves you

have faith

this is the only message

it’s enough

for anyone

at any time

x

we believe it

and for Jesus

we are saved for heaven

and have entered heaven’s realm

even now

x

like Marty’s distillation

of theology

“Jesus loves me, this I know;

for the Bible tells me so”

x

God bless and teach us

I think this is a promise

in creation

that both have happened

and will happen with

our participation

x

believe

even now

even here

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

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dispersed

(x = space)

x

x

dispersed

(from the beginning of the book of James)

x

we were together, Mom and Dad

(physical or meaningful)

now we are spread far

we can always say

the Romans did this

but there is our own

polemics

stranding us

separated

in a world driven by

its own prince

that drove Jesus

in the wilderness

from one arid part to another

x

I’m sorry we are no longer

together

though we have letters

we are the legacy of David, still

we are a people

and, as always,

we are family

I hope you are well where you are

I hope that work and food

come easily

I fear, because I know

such things are never certain

we came away with what we had

some maybe had accounts

and interests along the Mediterranean,

generally

x

we live today

and in the Messianic time

and must take hope in that

God will return

God also waits for us

like the shepherd by the

clear stream,

both to beckon

x

and God is with us, now

with love

x

with love,

this note from your child

we all are children now

again

x

c l couch

x

x

James is a brief letter in the Christian New Testament; the pastor preached on James this morning at Covenant Evangelical Presbyterian Church in West Lafayette, Indiana (USA)

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photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

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Christmas 1

(x = space)

x

x

Christmas 1

x

It’s Christmas day

What shall we say

But that the world

Is old and tired

And ornery

And peace taken

For an illusion

Some might enjoy

Invented

Only on the inside

Then a webinar

With fees

x

Here,

The sun is out

The temperature has climbed

Into two digits

There are icicles on the screen

Outside the casement

Of the window

Church is on line

Not only hundreds of miles away

But the consequence of heart disease

Is to stay

When the weather is extreme

Either way

And to deal with low energy

As in

It takes me forever

To do anything

x

And did Christ come today

Christ comes

Every day

x

And in a good way

I don’t care if

It was December 25

Or the ides of March

Something happened

The child of God was born

The child is also God

Was born

x

Is there meaning

In the other ways?

Of course,

There is

These seek the truth as well

And we should

Be

Should be

With them

x

Christmas is cultural

I’m at church

Hearing the songs

Hearing about the welcome

Of Ukrainians

Here

And I am glad

x

It isn’t peace on Earth

Only in

Such a small portion

Of the whole

x

And shall we say

Jesus was born?

I think we should

It’s history

x

Then in a supernal way

Maybe the spirit’s born again

In loving refugees

And loving refugees

Maybe there were times

When mortal Jesus

Felt outcast

Alone on Earth

As and why he walked away

From time to time,

Once

Prayed in the garden

x

You know,

We may take up

Exegesis

And

Evangelism

Later

And may I pause midstream

Like the saint to say

To the child Jesus

(I to you

and I a mortal child),

x

Merry Christmas

And for twelve days

That make

This varied

Still hopeful

Hopeful, still

Yes, brief

Season

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Robert Kalinagil on Unsplash

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O Sweet, Majestic Lord

(x = space)

x

x

O Sweet, Majestic Lord

x

O to invoke you

Oh to complain

Or sigh as if

I could rest

Upon your feet

Or lay my head

On your knee

It’s not worship

I know

But it would be amazing

To rest on God

This way

And feel the cloth

And flesh and bone

Beneath

Because the one of you

Who has these

Could come to me

This way

And I could sigh into my sorrow

And hope to

Sanctify my dreams

While you might

Accept my tears

Not as libation

But as something honest

Offered

Of myself

For a change

And for a change

Reverse the pietà

I want to rest on Jesus

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Boudewijn Huysmans on Unsplash

x

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distracted

(x = space)

x

x

distracted

x

in the concluding

of the service

we sang

in the hymn

behold his hands and side

and I stopped following

x

that’s hard

the hands and side were pierced

there was blood

out of its natural place

and it ran away

from the body,

stealing life

and we are to behold all this

x

it happens to others, too,

the bleeding

from a fall

from a blade

(the scalpel blade is good)

or from a bullet

or from shrapnel

or part of a car or truck

or other crash

and we can talk about

what missiles do

x

we release so much blood

and it becomes

the thief of life

x

what was Thomas thinking?

maybe he knew brutal living

and the dying

all too well

and didn’t mind the asking,

blood for proof

or the holes in hands

and mark of the spear

at least

x

was he chagrined?

he knew his master

and the following

restored

for everyone, as far as

Thomas might be concerned

and in euphoria

he might not have cared so much

about the scolding

because blessed are those who

don’t need such evidence

for proof

x

whatever

he was back

he was alive

the gruesome marks

the signs of blood,

blood now thwarted

in thievery

x

the marks he saw—and

did he touch as bid?—either way

concluded,

concluded

everything

x

c l couch

x

x

photo by Allef Vinicius on Unsplash

x

the story of Thomas doubting is in the twentieth chapter of John’s gospel in the Christian New Testament

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