The Remarkable
Advent ends
Because
Something has arrived
Something we can say is wonderful
As we understand the scope of
Things
The stakes
As it were
For what is coming
Is for everyone
Despite denominations
Or
Traditions
Or
Not holding with any
To belong
Because the great belonging comes
From this
An arrival meant
To rescue
Not in the worldly sense of any action
Previous
Any victory
Of ours
But in its own humility
Though
With modesty
Restraint
To teach
It’s the remarkable arriving
For our world that
Is
So loved that
This singular
Salvific process
If
Echoed throughout everything
With enough to talk
To share
Shall begin
C L Couch
Photo by Sergey Turkin on Unsplash
Mister Lennon Speaks
(and is wisdom)
Love is all you need
Though I suppose
A budget helps
While on Earth
There are the bills
While there are bills
And the next generation
To support
Later engage
And then the war of worlds
Because the world
Will not have peace with us
And then it’s over
We move on
Leaving to them
What’s left
And all there is
And it is great for life and love
C L Couch
Photo by Behnam Norouzi on Unsplash
Where We Live
(on 1 November)
Diwali
Illuminating light
Victorious
Over
Obfuscating darkness
All Saints
The living church that
Loves
And serves
In the here and now
The days
Are the same this year
And
I’m not sure how
But they should
Share
In that
There should be respect
All around
For what celebrates
The good
Even the godly
In our codes
Our
Healthy notions of winning
How about
Through service
And through love
Approaches
With respect
Then
Decisions
Considering human
Mutuality
Regarding wonderful
Uniquenesses
And then
Where we go
From here
C L Couch
Photo by Devang Punia on Unsplash
we are informed by all these lights
love is practical
love is practical
it does the dishes
love is practical
it listens and then
knows
what’s really going on
love is practical
it is fair at home
and
in the marketplace
love is practical
it pays the bills
and when it can’t
says so
and tries to repair
love is practical
with it
we shall have peace in the world
with a willingness
to come to the table
drink
eat
negotiate
try to see that everyone
everywhere
may do the same
love is practical
it will save Earth
it will save
you and me
c l couch
photo by Nina Mercado on Unsplash
Unlikely Sabbath
(a kind of call to worship)
We
Understand
Misunderstand
(together)
The sabbath
As a time to go to church
To pray
Officially
For things we might remember
Afterward
Then be free of all of it
For food
For games
For preparing all the real time
To follow
The next day
Or
Instantly
As we might be driven
Driving
That is
Ourselves
But is the sabbath more than services
And really
Was it ever
Well
Ancient reminders
I suppose
The priests to the people
Saying
Or as if to say
By the tent
Then by the temple
In here is the
Holy of holies
Don’t forget it
Don’t forget
Our dedication
So
What is the sabbath
We might
Wonder
Being first
A seventh day
Created
A day for God to rest
And so
A model for
Ourselves
Modeled after God
After all
And so
First week
Completed
And so
Laid out for us
Six days of creating
Then a day
This day
To keep it holy
As in set apart
For
A spiritual reason
Like the fruits of
Field and vine
Set apart
For spiritual
Remembrance
And
I don’t know what
To say
Anymore
Except that it was
Said
Thank goodness not by me
To remember
As in have
The sabbath
It’s a discipline
To rest
An invitation
To play well
To remember
The source
Of love
And everything
That’s good
C L Couch
Photo by Sai De Silva on Unsplash
2 poems about the will of God
Last Will and Testament
My will
Then yours
I mess things up
Then turn to you
It’s a formula
I guess
Like knowing what I want Scripture to say
Then going to it
Shaking the Magic 8-Ball
Many times
Until it says
What I want it
To say
Doesn’t make much of a God of you
Which is a really stupid way
To think and act
Before a God
But you withhold
It seems
Act in return
With anger that is intimate
And telling
In that way
Though sometimes in the actual storm
That no one saw coming
As a penalty
And sign
Remembering at Last
I’m tired
I want
To write some
More
Without a thing to say
Meaning I want
To write
And have nothing
To say
That God is good
And loves you so much
That God is true
In being real
And being faithful
Perfectly
For you
Well
Out of nothing
That is a great deal
And the great deal about the Lord
Is simply to believe
And that is all
Something called grace
Free and easy
(always free
sometimes not easy)
Does the rest
And we shall meet
Where love has made a place for us
Just outside of Eden
With the angel
This time
Setting down the sword
Letting the fire go
To let us in
C L Couch
Photo by andrew solok on Unsplash
Artist Colony
Do I have
Anything
To share with you
Today
I could
And should remind you
God is love
And also
By the way
That God is true
As nothing else is true
In fact
Is the model
For the truth and
Trueness
That we try
And truth builds justice
Out of reason
And humility
The better things
That we have going
Not being
God
But being made
And image-like
(dark glass
you know)
We are models
With gifts
And what shall we give
Out of our giftedness
Our making
Now we make
And our
Giving matters
So much to
Each other
And also
More than we think on it
To God
So make
Co-make
And give
Even as the world
And circumstance allow
For God is love
And we are love
In this
We are the best we are
On the best Earth there is
Care
And health
And contribution
Shall keep us in
Our giving
And receiving
To take
Care
Be healthy
Let others help
(remember crafting tables)
Be love
While giving love
And
Who knows
Truth and justice might
Will out
In love
C L Couch
Photo by Tom Parsons on Unsplash
A photo that speaks for itself.
[photographer’s caption]
At first, I thought this was Washington, D.C. But it isn’t. But I suppose it could be anywhere, with or without an impressive building in the background.
[my caption]
London, United Kingdom
Unseeing
(for those who nearer wait and might get scared about it)
One of the invisible
Left
It seems
To deal with mortality
Alone
For who can understand
How close we are
And who is interested
To know
By being near
To hear
About it all
I believe
Help my unbelief
This prayer
Should be for children
But we own it for
Ourselves
With or without
Temerity
What really happens next
And why must we
Transition to it
With more
Than
An easy walking there
Why does it
Or might it
Hurt so much
Why is it so hard
Here
To come back
From being hurt in
Any way
Is it compensation
For younger
Sinful
Times
It is a kind of preparation
Rehearsing for the final hurt
When we let go
When time
As such
Lets go of us
And will it hurt
And will we sleep
And wake
To walk
Or will we fly
From where we are
And on landing
Will we have
Such a good time
There
So much we do not know
And maybe we aren’t
Listening
Or maybe we discount
What there is to
Hear
In the rush that drowns out everything
Spiritually
to apprehend
As in
What we may buy to own
What we may have
Or believe to have
And I’m sorry for those
Who do not go so far this
Side of things
Who must leave
Early
In our count of things
Without allowances for time
In satisfaction
But in
Something uncounted
Like
Explosions
Leave too soon
Sorry I don’t take you now
While I’m afraid
Trying to make a circle
Of attention
Out of one
And only one
Who feels
Has lost
The other points
To bend the line
To join only
With
A math of one
But could
Relent
In hope
To see
To sense
To know
To say
I am a part of this
Of many points
And
Part of this
And part of them
With me
The points
That is
Be people
Not of politics
(below)
But of a new
And brilliant circle
As we might sing
Of the unbroken kind
And so I could
And should
Join in
And let the others
All the others
Go with me
Any age
Any time
Or nearly any situation
If I might be
Allowed
Or anyone
To advocate
To join as
Us
With us
Who have
As all
(of all
of all of us)
Come from
And thus can and may
Go
To love
A circled
And
Forever kind
Of love
C L Couch
Mark 9
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
God Love You like a Lizard
God love you like
A lizard
You know the
Small
The salamander kind
Green or red or brown
But made
Just right for all impulses so
To thrive
To move with halting grace
Through life
To dine upon whatever
Then to sleep among
Warm rocks and sheltering leaves
When its world
Is all right
Around it
Yes
Love and the
Lord
Like the eagle
Too
With expansive and majestic
Wings
And the beak that promises
To tear many things
Asunder
(yes
my dear
like lizard's flesh)
But don’t forget the lizard
(in its primacy)
With all its wonder
Small
Green
Or red or brown
Unassuming
Fit
With nature
And the cosmos
In its
Tiny
Tiny
Role
Inside creation
And via its (tiny) role
Above
C L Couch
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