(x = space)
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Peer Review
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Your stories are
Amazing
Amazing stories
Keep sharing from them
We need their wonder
That
Certain metaphors aside
And without exaggeration
Are real
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C L Couch
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Full Disk Earth, Apollo 17, 1972
Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash
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(x = space)
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Inventory
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So what shall we say,
Shall love have us
Or hate?
Shall we hate our neighbors
For their differences?
Straightforward questions
On a day when nothing new
Is under the sun
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But we can make it new,
Should we drain our scorn
Like pouring out
The rain barrel for
The change
Into nourishing places
That don’t need
To be so parched
Anymore
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We can grow
And nurture other things to grow
Until there’s verdure
In the sunshine
And the rain,
Everything growing in balance
For the change
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I write on an angry day
Because I have to alter it
I need my spirit
I should care for yours
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C L Couch
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Photo by Wolfgang Rottmann on Unsplash
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(x = space)
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Interpersonal Toxicity
(bad week, bad season)
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Toxic people
Make me toxic
But that’s not all there is
I can without doubt
Do it on my own
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I’m sorry, I’ve had
Bad encounters this week
With people who are
Poison,
And it’s so tempting
To turn poisonous as well
(there, turned)
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To deal with the pain
When what I really need
Is an antidote
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Thoughts?
Recipes?
There have been
Poison pens and poison rings
I don’t think
A tourist’s anodyne will help
Though there must be
Something
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I don’t mean chemicals
I think you know that
Though certain things must
Be released inside the blood
From time to time
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I suppose we have
Our healing substance, then;
But what I’m thinking is
The answer is communal
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That in love of each other
We’ll get better
And survive
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C L Couch
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“Poisoning of Queen Bona” by Jan Matejko.
By Jan Matejko – kpgd.pl, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=698448
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(x = space)
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Saint Francis and the Sultan
(a contemporary conversation)
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What is the truth of Jesus Christ?
Hmm. Well, the truth of Jesus Christ is that he is the child of God. He is human and God, in fact. He is one of three parts of God. Three parts, always one part. One entity. God the creator, Jesus the savior, the Holy Spirit the guide. One way Christians put it.
Jesus came into the world to save the world. To save humanity, for certain. Perhaps to save the rest of the world and all of creation. The fallen elements—and maybe everything has fallen.
How does Christ save the world?
I’m not sure. Faith is a mystery. But I believe that, as a person, Christ taught a gospel (some good news) of life in love while affirming a covenant between God and people made so that we might know each other and live with each other, eternally. Jesus performed miracles that emphasize his teachings and lend them some authority, though really I believe the main purpose of the miracles was, and is, for the benefit of those immediately in need.
As a human being, Jesus was perfect. His godly nature had something to do with that, I’m sure. At the last, he was too good for this world. He was accused by his people and people at large. He was accused of blasphemy and sedition. He was arrested and was executed. His body was entombed.
But he rose again to life. As God and human, he had the power to live this way. He offers that experience to us, because one day each of us will die. But we are invited to live again and forever. The means of this is grace for which we pay nothing because Christ through his experience has paid the cost for us.
Is belief in Christ the only way?
For me, yes. For Christians, yes. For others, I do not know. I don’t know enough about the insides of other traditions. And I cannot judge. God judges, and God will judge perfectly.
What about love?
God is a God of love. All the parts of God are love. In love, God created the universe, the Earth, and us. In love, Jesus came to Earth. In love, he lived, died, and was resurrected. We are called to have faith in love and to live in love as best we can and may.
Isn’t love weak?
Love is the strongest force there is. It ends anger and ends war. It starts and keeps families. We are literally fed best through a loving, working relationship with nature. We will explore this Earth better if we love the Earth and approach the Earth and cosmos with love. But we’ll need good machines. Love is practical that way as well.
They go inside to talk some more. The scribe was not permitted.
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C L Couch
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Sunset was falling as a man threaded his hook.
Photo by Samson Vowles on Unsplash
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(x = space)
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Discover the Abandoned Sites of Brooklyn
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Where you lived
Is an abandoned site in Brooklyn
I visited you once
Never knew your agenda
I think it changed
Between the invitation and arrival
The visit wasn’t fun
You didn’t talk
I didn’t listen
Then it was over
You wrote to ease your mind
I wrote back truth, as it turns out,
Never heard from you again
You moved on
With your plans
And, you know,
That was that
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C L Couch
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Untapped New York
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Photo by Mitchell Trotter on Unsplash
Amidst the usual family arguments when attempting to travel via subway, our trip to NYC would not be complete without them. Tuning it out, I managed to capture a neat view of the variety of moods in the city. The subway is an efficient and well-used mode of transport in the city, you’re never short of people to fill your frame.
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(x = space)
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The Tower Treasure
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I live on the second floor,
No great height
Up from me is Tower Hill,
A name from history
Since there is no tower
That I know of
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Wouldn’t it be romantic,
An adventure?
And for the Hardy Boys
And Nancy Drew,
Cherry Ames
And the Bobbsey Twins
(maybe somewhat
grown up
maybe)
Robbers hiding out
In said high place
With those who always
Want to find the ancient
Loot breaking in
From time to time
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So that now everyone
Wants jewels of differing
Centuries
And there are flashlights
There are yet-to-be passages
To find;
There are guns
Because good stories
Mention risks
There are old stairs
And so much dust
And colonies of cobwebs
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And in the nearly final act,
There is confrontation
Of all parties
With nearly everything
Discovered
Until the final trick
The heroes get to throw,
Distraction that gives
Time enough
For law enforcement
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Then all friends
Meet in peace
Have snacks
At the place in town
Where all the young ones
Meet
To read the story
Above the fold and farther in
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And we close the covers
(books and beds),
Pining for our treasures
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Never
The end
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C L Couch
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If you would like to read about a treasure in one’s own town (a novel, I’m afraid), there is for children (of all ages) The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn by John Bellairs. And many more such stories, I’m sure. Or you could write such a tale.
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(x = space)
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The Topic Is Admonishment
(Sunday morning sermon and discussion)
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Well, let’s see
God admonished Moses
And admonished worse the rest of
The Israelites
The donkey admonished Balaam
Elijah admonished Jezebel
Ananias and Sapphira were not given
Time to be admonished
But were killed for lack of generosity
And lying about it
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Admonishment seems to be
A touchy theme
How are we to do it
Without getting killed?
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Well, we are,
I guess,
To do it
Though I think it has to be
In an absolutely constructive
Fashion
In which we ask each other first
Who we are
And how we are
And why, in love, this is necessary
And then we go ahead
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Knowing we might lose
The relationship
And lose in other ways
Stones on the path
That God does not remove
Before we strike them
And now
We must do something
Even though
But knowing
That the path continues
On the other side
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C L Couch
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This is my response and some (little) summation of the sermon and groups talking about admonishment at Covenant Evangelical Presbyterian Church, West Lafayette, Indiana, on 25 July 2021.
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3 Colossians 16
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
(New International Version)
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1 Colossians 28
We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
(Berean Study Bible)
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Blurry Yellow Taxi Cab
Photo by Scott Umstattd on Unsplash
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(x = space)
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Red, Gold, and Green
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Friends are back,
And they will leave again
I come and go
As well
We are the
“Karma Chameleon”
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There is more space
Here, because good people
Took some
Things away
To have new homes and uses
Elsewhere
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Not all is well:
Headaches
Of all kinds
You know
I try to sleep
I try to write
x
But the sun is out
The humidity is broken for
A while
There is a-c and another fan;
There is food in
The fridge
And on some shelves
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Not exactly
Christmas in July
And, yes,
Christmas in July
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C L Couch
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“Karma Chameleon” by Culture Club
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Photo by Sonder Quest on Unsplash
Rockefeller Center, New York City, United States
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(x = space)
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Quiet Start
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I am quiet
And for a change
The building’s quiet
I have ordered food
Staples, that kind of thing
It should be arriving
In two hours
Or less
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It’s a breathing moment
When the sun is considering
Fully rising
Though it’s tussling
With some clouds
I like this time
I wish my coffeemaker
Wasn’t broken
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But I’ll take this
For a Friday morning
Pray for all the tragedies
By nature and by us
Do some plain old
Wishing, too,
As if I had an unironic genie
Who would simply give me
What I wish
Even world peace
Or something like that
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C L Couch
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Dandelions are everywhere in Finland in Spring!
Photo by Saad Chaudhry on Unsplash
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