rich
(not Buddy though the music’s cool)
if I can’t
know God’s will
though I ask
then
maybe it’s not that I should give up
asking but
that I should change the asking
its parameters
per se
to know that God is there and hearing
and speaking as God might
in large and infinitesimal ways
and
I don’t get it
Well
I don’t
and can ask pardon for my not being attuned
but still wanting to serve
like Merton’s famous prayer
I guess
about not know direction but hoping
that a willingness to travel by approval
might
bring approval
even pleasure
from the Lord who
then
might speak if Thomas and I and all
who aren’t in synch
might go
not recklessly
since
we have our codes and liturgies
for attending and asking
best we can
formally
and then to stay in dialogue
the spirit of it
anyway
to say
like Tevye
maybe
that and to indicate at first
that it’s okay to talk
to ask
to guess and to complain
even to posit
being wealthy people
though wealth is relative by kind
and
degree and following
and maybe
wealth is having daughters and a village
on the edge
and
rich to have our lives in love and faith
you know
by God
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Thomas Merton’s well-known prayer begins: “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe the desire to please You does in fact please You. . . .”
Buddy Rich was a famous, fantastic drummer.
photo by Vitalii Khodzinskyi on Unsplash
To Serve with Love
(and what more)
I am very tired
Lord
And what do you have for me
Anyway
To try
And in the promises
Accomplish
Until the will is to move
Something else
Along
And there is a part
To play in
That
And with unknown others to complete
And so
Let my service for you
By
Your will
Maybe have
In part
Divine surprise
And if I suss well
Be
Satisfied
With the enormous will
I do
Or will not know
If in
A cloud
Of unknowing
C L Couch
Photo by Daoudi Aissa on Unsplash
(The Cloud of Knowing is a medieval text of Christian mysticism.)
a study in ambition
(working on it)
a study
in ambition
because I think it is
a one-by-one thing
and not a group
thing
except by change
now and then
the space race
a national ambition
and was it
I was a child
I don’t recall contributing
except with attitude
and I was
child
someone spent a bunch of money
making things
sacrificing
lives
so we could
go to the moon
and I was there
before the television
for the launch
then on the day
to see
the landing
then the steps
and would say
that was great
and was it
even then
as
I wondered
about people starving
wherever
trick-or-treating
for UNICEF
and all
the smaller things
good for the economy
the space race
microwaves
ballpoint pens
tin foil
(well
aluminum)
okay
and now it’s easier to see
that vanity
is pushing us
back to the moon
and higher
on to Mars
wanting
to respect that
and then wondering
again
about the starving people
and maybe we won’t have
any safe water
or a safe Earth
with no space on the moon
or Mars
for all of us
I do think
Pangloss is wrong
and that it’s good when we
consider things
together
but the dreams must be owned
and we must have them
one by one
and study us
each one
learning
growing
getting
each thing owned
by one
and then we can think about
negotiation
and a kind
of communion
maybe
if we
simply had a planet
whole
each one satisfied
to live
and to consider
as it is
we will go
we will do anything
beyond the one
for money
for politics to win
for
another one
claiming to be a party
let alone a nation
or a national
ambition
ambition is good
not the way
that fictively we say
that greed
is good
because it’s not
but in the way
that use of us
by one
by one
and then we’ll see
is good
that energy is good
and its
expenditure
even a joy
sometimes
that use is good
and better when
compelled by good
dreams
virtues
and such
but that what is Earth
is finite
and each one
in our systems
and so there’s saving
even caution
to employ
so feed us
end our thirst
let each one work
and also
dream
envision something real
for a dream
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energy is eternal delight (William Blake)
who also wrote of embracing contradictions
photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
Sometimes a Celestial View Required
Sometimes it’s as simple
As it’s wonderful
Lord made us
And Lord loves us
It might not seem that way
In hospitals
Especially in cancer wards
Burn wards
Terminal compartments
But there
Is love
It’s in these places
In the prayers
And in the spirits
That are struggling all
Around
Where angels
Set themselves as well
To listen
Watch
And weep
On assignment
Forsaken
Never
By the ones
Remaining
(and that’s most
of them)
On our side
A war in heaven
Wars on Earth
Extant
Allowed
By a God who loves so much
To keep us on our own
Even though there could be
Cosmic automation
And so there are
The sides
The wings of war that
Transitory fly
Sinless disease
Conditions
Damage
And those fighting all around
For health
Finally
For all the foes
Of war
Of what we cause each other
And
Disease
By what happens
For a reason
Or by anyway
Keep going at it
Kid
Keep going for the healing
And all you
With the kid
In the battle
All the battles
On
After
The battlefields
Stay with
Us
Keep us going toward
All the health available
On this
Side
You know
And
Yes
Perfectly
The other
C L Couch
Photo by Bernd 📷 Dittrich on Unsplash
we know they’re there
Gospel according to for good or ill ourselves
a summer’s day
what is there for us
now
it is too hot
the rain too helter-skelter
flood or famine
for the ground
the seeds
the shoots
the corn that reaches
in both ways
we are
uncomfortable
the heat
too much
the night whose only solace
is the dark
but not cool temperatures
that are not
happening
hottest on record
set the year before
the year
before
and thank goodness
there’s no climate change
and that it has
(thereby)
nothing to do with us
we’ll keep
burning things
beyond what is
suitable
for Earth
sending ersatz smoke into the sky
and the chemical equivalents
dump in water
chemicals aren’t evil
as we know
they have no moral value
as we know
we do this on our own
discover poison
then we use it
to make products
to make money
for the products
and the jobs
that making all the poison
does provide
we need the jobs
we know this
we could
do something else
I mean both
searchers and
providers
we could
do something else
for Earth
and on our way to other worlds
we could launch
in all directions
a fleet of possibilities
against the poison
in favor or
the sanctity of everything
organic
and how about
ourselves
bless the Earth
and pray for it
we humans can
and ask the help of heaven
should that be
our wont
and bless each other
too
as far as humans may
without the sponsorship
indeed the surrogacy
from the Lord
who blesses first
and blest
and should bless or curse
our efforts
as they are
and
(Quijote)
as they should be
it isn’t hard
and it’s hard
goodness
we know it’s hard
to change a world
and severer
in a subatomic way
to change ourselves
the knights are out
(they’re Artemis
and Ares)
while corsairs with full sails
assail the edge of us
while we are sieged
from monsters in the hall
that came
from deeper parts
the deepest parts
of us
yet deeper still
there are solutions
like a treasure
to unearth
and bring to the Earth
starting with the skin
of us
and all our will beneath
new will
(if we will)
not
to recall the knights
but let them quest beyond
to share
their discoveries
there
while we hobbit-heroes
have our work
to do
and bless the work
in turn
O Earth
and Earth’s lord
that has been waiting for us
blessing only in small ways
while waiting for
the rise
of each of us
our families
and the world of us
quietly
yet firmly to say
we know at last
whose house this is
and whom
to serve
which is
the layers of creation
so serve the core
the mantle
and the surface
all the water
all the land
all the creeping
and the soaring things
that we may use
(with water
land
and air)
with apology
(both kinds)
in order to explain
excuse
and also
to define
and thrive
the Earth
is not one
and doesn’t have to be
so many parts
to allow
expressed
yet from the outside
(and the inside
on occasion)
see compressed
as of a jewel
in and of
the cosmos
joining with other lights
both
light and dark
that make the sky
and give us all we need
to dance
beneath
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photo by Man from Forest on Unsplash
Birch Grove on a Summer Day
If Silent Providence
And where is God
In this
And God is here
Loving
Showing how to love
If yes
Annoyingly
Invisibly
Except it’s God
And we should respect
The way of God
Being
You know
God
The maker
Ruler
Loving
Loving
Perfectly as both
With all the power
And regarding
(perfectly)
The will
Inside of us
Allow
Into the world
Regardless of effect
Though there be consequences
You know
Real consequences
(if sometimes
as
metaphors
like
monsters on old maps)
A situation
Then
Call for
Unseenness
Un-hearingness
From God
Except for evidence
With sometimes
The approvable
Prophet
With a prophecy
That
Un-affirms
Nothing from the Lord
But steadies love
And
Words it for
The current age
C L Couch
Photo by James Chan on Unsplash
The Invitation
God is love
And if you wish to live with love
Then you could know the source
And be encouraged
Helped
In this life
To the next
And if you wish to live with hate
Then you could get to know the source
Of that
The nothingness
To have
In this life
And the next
That’s pretty much
The way of it
Love or
Its absence
Choosing one
Or the other
The rest is ignorance or luck
And it’s likely as you read
You will have neither
For your own
Lesson and
Salvation
C L Couch
Photo by Richard Gatley on Unsplash
Meaning Esau Have I Scorned
(a Bible study)
Jacob was
Preferenced
To set the course of Israel
To become a people
Who shall live
The same
With an identity
Moses having gotten the name
Of God
Or as close as we shall get
(being I am that I am
not unlike Popeye
in our time)
To have a name
And also laws
Carved in organic stone
For living people
And these
Are not as hazy
As a name that needs no name
The laws are clear
And shall become
A code
A compass
And a litmus
Who readings shall prove
Judgment
In favor or against
This people
And
In fact
Jacob shall become
Israel in name
And in that amazing purpose
Claiming certain tribes
Marked from the children
And eventually
A homeland
For the twelve
With all conviction
And the foibles
That this people carry
While God must bear with them
And so
With all of us
Called Israel
Or something else
But now this matter about
Jacob loved
And Esau
Even hated
We know that Esau was the older
And so
Should inherit
The identity
And naming
Of the family
Should be in charge
Of all things
Of Esau’s own
And the family that shall grow
And the nation that shall
Grow from the family
And it seems
That Jacob was called
Already having
All the mother’s favoritism
And so t
Plot
Works tricks
Sarah with Jacob
To set
And own
Israel
At last
And tricks they are
To use a situation
In which
Esau says
Out of exigence
Yes
My younger brother
You may have the birthright
And inheritance
And then to fool the father
To fool Isaac
With tricks of wool tied to an arm
So that Joseph would be taken
For Esau
And so
As we say
Seal the deal
And in an eon later
The Apostle Paul
Confirm
That not only was a providence
At work
To found then nation
But that the founder
Was
In truth
Loved by God
While the official candidate
Was hated
My
What had Esau done
And I think
The answer might be
Nothing
Paul asked for the assignment
And got it
To kill the followers of Christ
The ones who in Antioch
Were for the first
Time
Called Christian
And yet
Paul came to be a founder of that
Church in Antioch
And several other cities
In the region
Going north and east
And west
From Jerusalem
And finally ending his evangelistic travels
Inside Rome
Itself
Peter was brash
(we shouldn’t be surprised
if he pushed Andrew
around)
And he consistently said
That wrong thing to Jesus
Showing a rhetorical
Tendency
To go too far
He also maimed
A guard
When Jesus was arrested
And for the all the wrong things
He said
He did
That showed mismanagement
Among other things
He was called by Christ
To be the church’s rock
Once the movement
As it were
Solidified
Peter would become the first leader
Of the church
First pope
First “papa”
So to say
The first in charge
In the days when
Such groups
Can go under
Often do
And Moses
Well
We know
That he had grown
Inside a lie
Through childhood
That should have ruined him
And nearly did
Upon disclosure
And Moses
Murdered an Egyptian
And rather than face justice
Chose to flee
Seeking to live away
From the court of Pharaoh
Also maybe
God
For all the years he might have
Remaining
In Midian
As it
Turned out
But
No
This murderer
And coward
Who on top of these
Offered excuses
To the Lord
Why it could not be he
To free the people
And to lead them
Though that is
Through many chapters
Precisely
What transpired
So shall we say that
Jacob got in
And Esau was out
Because God favors paradox
Maybe mischief
Like an association with the raven
Or the spider
Which he made
After all
The creatures as well as mischief
Or is there
Something else
A reason for one sibling
Technically
The wrong one
To be raised
While the right one
Was put down
Sigh
So much deception
By the way
Especially
Even over generations
To get the broad
Extraordinary story
Going
Adam and Eve
And the blame over
Who did what
Between the people
And the serpent
And the casting
Out
(or down)
Regardless
Then the Nephilim
Who were not supposed to exist
By order of
The Lord
But through rebellion
Of some sort
(the kind that angels cause
as well as we
might foment)
Well
Happened
Anyway
With Abraham
The futures of two nations
Were at stake
And so at risk
Through the faithlessness
Of those who heard the prophecy
About numberless
Family
And
Specifically
A child
Sarah laughed
We know
And sent a servant to become
Pregnant by Abraham
And so secure
The lineage
As if the word of God
And God through angels
Could not
Be enough
And there was
Ishmael
And then there was Isaac
And the younger Isaac
Had to be favored
Over Ishmael
Who out of lack of mercy
And of jealousy
Was
Cast out
To die somewhere
With the mother Hagar
And they did not
For God
In fact
Is higher
Than the mischief
God said
To Israel
The nation
You don’t want a king
Who will take your youth
And crops
And wealth
Inside the palace
To feed decision-makers
Also idlers
As always happens
And to people up an army
That means
The young ones that are taken
Might die
More so than if
They stayed at home
Or rose to fight
As volunteers
With will
You don’t want a king
And Israel said
Yes
We do
And God said fine
And what a pair were set
To rule
Saul
And then David
Before the long prosperity
And peace
With Solomon
The first two realms
Indeed possessed
Strength
And beauty
Also corruption
Broken faith
And politics
Without perspective for the
Welfare of the nation
More paradox
More
Mischief
I don’t think so
I think
Rather it was
More than Esau being negated
Was that Jacob
Was uplifted
Like serving on a search committee
And we find ourselves
Talking down some candidates
When the job is to
Cite the reasons why
We should hire
The one
We think well
Should be hired
Which is to say
Jacob was favored
Maybe not because
In life
Esau was not
But in the naming and the keeping
Of the people of the Lord
Despite officialness
Jacob
Was the one
And that might be all
To be the one
For good or ill
Like Moses
Or like Miriam
Like Abrahaham and Sarah
Like Peter
And like Paul
Somewhere within these
And without
Inside the region
And the age
Certain ones are needed
And God shall have that happen
Though our will
Be predominant
More so
Is the widest will
And way
Of God
Don’t like the limitations
On our discretion
And
I think
Our pride
Well
That is understandable
Since the choice for faith
Is paramount
And determines
Afterlife salvation
On our part
Because God’s part
Is done
And is reliable
Unchanging
The love and judgment brought
To bear
On people of the Earth
Past and present
But
Things are
You know
The way things are
And we must hold the limitations
Of the worldly way
On us
While God is unlimited
To own perfection
To impose a will
Unfaulty
And unfailing
The timelines
And the composition
Might seem strange to us
Though we are not celestial
Yet
And there is enough
To manage
Through our foibles
And the things that seem like foibles
From the Lord
But are
As Narnia might say
Deep magic
With rules that came before the rules
The foundation of commandments
And of all experience
To come
And then light and dark
Were made
To overcome
Not chaos
But the void
Rather than nothingness
We have so many things
And we are loved
And there is
Indeed celestial
A hope
That goes with love and judgment
That the world
Through that part
And that person of God
Be saved
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coda
One might say
Well
Esau himself was brash
He threw away
Birthright
And inheritance
To satiate
An immediate need
Which we could argue
Was not a need
So much
As we might have needs
At all
But
I don’t know
How should Esau
Be called to task
So to say
On this
Moses was not hooked
For murder
Or for cowardice
Or even for the several excuses
He gave to God
Very God
In order to bow out
Of his assignment
I think
Rather
We have to say
There is the will of God
And it is positive
So that we do better
Than excoriating Esau
Lifting Jacob
As the one
Even with foibles
That could complement
Those of the other
Matriarchs
And patriarchs
Genesis 25:19-34, the story of Jacob and Esau in the Bible
Matthew 5:44, the injunction to love our enemies
Romans 9:13-15, the part in Romans about loving Jacob and hating Esau
This poem could become the substance of a Bible Study or even a sermon, if one doesn’t mind reading poetry for a sermon (I’ve done that).
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
By Design
And
Yes
The wars go on
And nature matches us
For blood
If not intent
While nature
Is indifferent
But our
Destruction’s will
And
You know
That’s it
It’s will
And will you not
C L Couch
Photo by Carl Kho on Unsplash
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