beginnings
church seasons
Sunday after
Easter
it will be Easter now
Easter season
for a while
up to Pentecost
the appearance of the Holy Spirit
in
fire and languages
and often thought of
as
a birthdate
for the church
from
then on
there were martyrs
also miracles
and formations
and also
debates
fighting over Antioch
or Jerusalem
and whether or not
to let the Gentiles
in
there would be conversions
teaching
sometimes with warnings
and final prophecies
to warn us
yes
more so
to encourage us
and love us with
hope
there is discipline
and code
baptisms
dedications
confirmation
the faith
begins
for good or ill
for good and ill
the Christian church
belief is risk
it always
has
a countercultural
element
choose
to be comfortable
to wear a mask
to believe
and act
and take a chance
c l couch
originally, the poem was not in triplets; but as I looked at what was the last stanza (six lines), I realized that it could and maybe should be made two stanzas of three lines each; then I went back (up) to revise the rest accordingly; I had one line at the top, remaining; I added in what was the title and subtitle to make the first stanza of three lines, then added a new title; sometimes the form comes first; this time it was more or less last
photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash
(x = space)
x
x
A Simple Faith
x
A simple faith
That says
I love you
God
I know that you
Love me
x
Help me
To love the world
You made
The child you gave
To save it
Keep me
Not giving in
Except to you
In faith
x
Let goodness
Not be slight
Or slighted
Not by me
x
Help me to love
My family
And friends
And stranger I have yet
To meet
Or never shall
x
Pearls
And swine
Doves
And serpents
Not to cast with
Or to invoke
But to be reminded
Of my worth
x
You are God
Deserving all that
God is due
But I must take you
Day by day
It seems
To love you best
Your world
To my listening ear
And the people
Here
x
While we are here
‘Til there
x
C L Couch
x
x
“This Is My Father’s World” is cited and adapted
x
Photo by Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Happy Birthday, Church
x
The birthday of
The Christian church
Not the first day of Advent
In November of December,
Which is the birth
Of the Christian year
Itself
And from there the
Days of seasons
Counted,
Advertised through colors
x
Pentecost
That has a five in it
(to look at it)
For fity
And is a celebration
Out the Jewish culture
And tradition
(for Christians,
the parent culture and tradition)
But Christianized
Like Easter
Keeping the name
As well
x
I suppose the Christians
Own it mostly, now
x
Liturgically,
It is a day of fire
A day of wind, the kind
That carries fire
Destructive forces
Reined in by the Spirit
Even as the Spirit
Gives it, first
x
The church is born
From hiding
And from sorrow
That Christ has left
Two times
With promises,
That living in the keeping
Could be hopeful
But wears on followers
As well
x
Red helium balloons
Are not unusual
Or dances to resemble fire
(people
and balloons
can do that),
Movements
The like
We have not beheld
Since Palm Sunday
x
People could wave palms
Now;
They would match
The setting of
Pentecost events
In western Asia
x
There is the matter of
Languages:
The Spirit spoke to each
And more importantly
Those crowded
outside
(Why a crowd?
had a fire been reported? were
they for
the five-and-fifty festival?)
x
To each one (anyway)
The language of one’s own
Is what one heard,
A long list given
Of the nations, nationalities
Assembled
x
A confusion of clarity—what
Was said to each?
We could wonder—but
Peter rises
And in words clear enough
First excuses
The excuse of wine
(we herein are not drunk
it’s the morning,
after all)
And proceeds to talk of God
And of the child of God
And of the promised Spirit
For each one
(what we now call trinity)
Now for each one
Who asks
x
From this day,
The church grows
As any life might
After being born;
There will be a first debate
Too soon
Within itself
And first divisions
x
But there will be miracles
And the word does go around
Into many persons
By hearing
By conviction
By will for each
And water for baptism
x
Air for exhortation,
Land to carry missionaries
All around,
Ships that move as well
Upon the Middle Sea,
Which sometimes wreck
So that the persons there
Might hear of it
As well,
A word of God
x
A saving word
As any choose
To hear it often first
With ears
And always in
Another way
x
C L Couch
x
x
notes
5 June 2022
Acts of the Apostles, second chapter (though as with most things maybe read around)
“Easter” is not Jewish—though Easter often happens near Passover—but is Babylonian in origin.
“Pentecost” is for a Jewish celebration (Feast of Weeks, Shavuot).
Photo by Susan Wilkinson on Unsplash
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clcouch123 
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