the speculation
that God is love
and somehow that is wise
a God
to have
that world will make fun of and
withhold promotion
for the sake
of itself
against the virtue
yet
the way to live
when necessary
to profess
alone to make a job of it
or
finding friends
and so
inside the world
to hear God
and
fashion love
like sculpture or an E-I report
to credit God in all
however
large
or
small or seeming odd to credit
and through any jeer
or
other barrier
to hold fast and better yet
assail
the world with love
knowing the gates of hell
at first and by the last
shall not
prevail against it
rather by
Amor vincit omnia
to live
and wait as in to anticipate and
also
true and imperfectly
to serve
c l couch
photo by Alexander Kaufmann on Unsplash
not safe but good
sigh
what’s to keep expression of anything
from ranting in
frustration
even to sound virtuous
and
winsome
as dark forces look attractive
by temptation
as
a strategy for falling
for knocking down by fear or envy
or both
as it is
and yet there is good in the world
not
that it’s good but there are pockets
there are corners
there is
here and there with some
and could be
more
to let out hounds who yap for joy of running
farther out
and
further on
really
there is
love
that nature in the smaller ways
has taught
and is the marker and
the guide
could seem like that signpost up
ahead
or
not a twilight zone so much
rather the lamppost into
Narnia
c l couch
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a trying prayer
and maybe for a Friday before Saturday or any day before another day or for the day
God
I am so through and through
as
if my nuclei
are crying for more
rest
in a way that is child-
insistent
and it is frustrating that there’s nothing to
rest into
for the body and closed eyes for
a while
so let me sleep and awake again
with
more to look forward to
that affects the how
then
there’s what we might work for or have
provided
from I think
a net of sharing
as
the better way we are connected
with respect
by
listening and encouraging
what
is needed by way of what’s missing
and so arranging
on and for
the Earth
as
well as anywhere we go
so
God provides and so
we have
the model for each other
please
amen
c l couch
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incumbent
pray
‘cause prayer is good
not because
it’s perfect
but
typically it’s good for us
we think more of the world
in an asking way
so
have perspective
and
we care
though
pray for enemies as well
at
least we may
God will approve
c l couch
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Monday morning
everyone needs easier
a half an hour
and I haven’t really
said
anything
but what would you like to hear
on a Monday morning from
this culture
to
your part in it
or within other lines
I’d like to talk of God and imagine a Monday
morning church
clean
from Sunday
shining surfaces not having to be bright
but
burnished from use
and now
the building takes a breath and welcomes
truly interested
to work
a clean church
from
being mostly empty and a day off
for the pastor
a chance for visitors to enter
and
to breathe
and to wish good Sunday for the Spirit there
and then and now
a restful
presence
as if the sabbath were on this day instead
when
we might pause or at least
work
with less intrusion
if intrusion is the way
but
everyone needs easier
hours
you know
like the Genesis example
a good
day of
taking in the quiet noise
then
all return
outside
n.b.
and could be Sunday in the temple
for the same
or
in the mosque the time before the next
call
to prayer
bless the cleaners
c l couch
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vicissitude
Luke 22:44-46
if I were tired from sorrow only
that
is exhausting
and stillness took over my body to
sleep
and I slept
and then I were scolded
after the supper
after
being called friend the first
time and
having been asked specifically for
companionship
awake
and praying with
the Lord
and wouldn’t I be exhausted
too
and so could lose my way through praying
and it is night
and it gets late
and
yes
it’s Jesus
and it’s also human me
and if Jesus said to wait and pray
would I not have been invested
with
the energy and other wherewithal to join
and
maybe I had received
and still
slept
anyway
so there’s not excuse
but an excuse
and
I’m made of willing spirit and unwilling
flesh
and how to feel when Jesus tells
me I
have
failed
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44 And in His anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.
45 When Jesus rose from prayer and returned to the disciples, He found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” He asked. “Get up and pray so that you will not enter into temptation.”
Luke 22
Berean Study Bible
photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash
up hill and
well
I wasn’t sure
you’d really like to know
or I
and
so let go the pedals
that I might
on the hill
the downward side
coast a while and like the trite crossing
I could
look
yes
at you and around
and listen
c l couch
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the process of the psalm
how did the psalmist write
I wonder
how was the work composed
what
was the process
if
in paper and with pen
or quill or frayed papyrus
were there amanuenses
who
waited for each word
or
was the draft done mentally
and with the harp
at hand to test the measures and then
to set down
and
then all gone over many times
before the purpose
of subtitles
realized
by singers in or near the temple or at
the shrine before there was
a temple
serving
as the composition served
and
served through generations of us
in this age
and
we have the paper
anyway and some give music for an art
for
what’s on there for conveyance
and
we can replicate the act
when all
the people gathere or
for one
depending on the intimacy referenced
and yet it’s all
there
for use
I suppose
if sometimes there is an I or a you or a we implied
and underlying
sometimes to say
the Earth itself should sing
to praise
provision and the might
that is
implied
or saved until a parting of the sea of
food fall from heaven
should
be needed
and did we think of these or simply fear
our need
and then the exigence addressed
though miracle
of
power
and
yes
we could say of timing
that we need what we need
when
needed
though we don’t command the schedule anymore
than the agenda
of what
God can do
or
when
so sing to the Lord or
read it off the page
our
expressions and intentions
as we might own
what
is given there and over centuries
and to you
to me
to us
and now
c l couch
Psalm 96
1 Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord, praise . . .
[NIV]
photo by Joël Vogt on Unsplash
those three doctrinal things
what is for everyone today
hope
except by those who will not hope
not believe or have
enough
it seems not
toward wanting more
yet
wanting
more
faith
to believe in us
and in the world enough
if only inimically and
so
the spirit more with heaven as an element
maybe an application until
the spirit
obvious everywhere
and like the poles
should
peace prevail
then go to love
and what
shall
love be if not reliable like seasons
except
to be founding and producing
all the time
what does better
and
reliably
so we might rely and not
have to create our loves
and re-create
all
the time
but depend
and so have a fullness
in
independence
hope has wings
then
while faith has raiment
so
love has
the halo for sanctity
and
could be worldly important
though it’s also ordinary
and to
elevate the
ordinary
so that
even
if the land is occupied
we must hold the love and
so resist
even repel
siege
holders
until the enemy goes back to a phantom place
to plan some
more
while we keep to
and live of our own
until
the world change and we have
with everyone
if
not equally
but all
the time
in
love
c l couch
1 Corinthians 13:13 (World English Bible)
“These three things will remain for ever. They are faith, hope, and love. And love is the greatest of them.”
[yeah, I wrote about hope first]
Enemy-occupied territory--that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.
C.S. Lewis
Mere Christianity
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