Glory

(x = space)

x

x

Glory

x

It’s a Sunday feeling

For those who have a Sunday

To be speaking

And singing to the Lord

x

The pastor cites

The shortest psalm

As an invocation,

Which is an invitation

More so a directive

To be singing

x

Can you imagine David

Dancing first

Before the ark

When it was brought into

Jerusalem?

There was singing then

And all the instruments

We’ve heard about

That played

x

Today is Mission Sunday at this church

So there are connections to the world

x

Everyone’s invited

Everywhere

Not as a number

But as you,

You are invited

To meet Jesus

Through us

Not because we are messiahs

But because

We can quote him

Tell his story

Show you something of his love

For everyone

And the hope that the whole human world

Might be saved,

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Which is God’s wish

But not God’s will

For God has mitigated God

In favoring our will

And our decisions

Yes, it’s the reason why

The world is so flawed

And screws up so badly

x

That according to the story

Has made us

The silent planet in the universe

Burning other planets

With what happened in the garden

And then

Going quiet

While the planet’s fate is determined

Of itself

x

Then there will be noise

x

But here is David

In Jerusalem

And there is great noise

Locally

That celebrates

That helps to consecrate

The presence and the symbol

And our rendering of faith

In holy God

And in each other

As neighbors

And a nation

x

The world will not know you, Lord;

And nations will fall

x

We could wish it were not so,

And we do

x

But not everyone will be there

In the sky

The circle won’t be broken

But our hearts,

Well,

They are other matters

x

It’s a Sunday feeling

For those who have a Sunday

And take one

Or on another day

x

We have been ransomed

From kidnapping,

From the prisons

Huge or small—all intimate

When they should not

Have to be

x

The world violates our souls

And yet we believe

And from the ashes

Of all sins consumed

At last,

We shall rise

Who choose to rise

x

The glory of the Lord

In homely ways

Inside the heart

We do not understand

x

How something so

Cosmically grand

Can live in something

So small

As our souls,

One soul by one

x

Then there is the glory

That we read about

And then imagine:

The universe made straight

While also bending low,

We with that

And all the Earth

That knows at last

This is it,

The certainty of God

In blinding presence

That will not hurt our eyes

And the song of angels,

Unbinded song

That should destroy

But will not touch eardrums

Adversely

x

The glory of the Lord

Clearly

All there is,

Compelling

As to break our souls

Though it will not—in fact,

We’ll never had been

Better,

Freer,

Then to get

Our next assignments

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C L Couch

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Photo by Christian Cagni on Unsplash

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On the First Day

(x = space)

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On the First Day

x

Ash Wednesday

Let’s have ash

Upon our foreheads

Crosses that will smudge

And that’s all right

Throughout

The day into

The evening

For the season

x

We say it’s for remembrance

Of death

And our mortality

But our foreheads are warm

There’s temperature beneath

And all the little crosses

Bearing small,

Smudged,

And living

Testimony

Everywhere

x

Not bad for evangelism

Contraindicated for a show

Rather a story of

Black, loving humility

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C L Couch

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Photo by Taylor Flowe on Unsplash

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The Loneliness of God

(x = space)

x

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The Loneliness of God

x

God is not alone

For God is

In three parts

And always

One

And always three

x

Jesus in the flesh

Could leave

And left

For hillsides

Other isolated places

Divine agony

And privilege

For sorrow

Things to feel the first time

All alone

x

Divine surprise

Pain

And maybe

Astonishment

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C L Couch

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Photo by Alex Blăjan on Unsplash

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We Didn’t Know Who You Was

(x = space)

x

x

We Didn’t Know Who You Was

(Christmas Eve)

x

Let’s not slice it to death

This time

Let’s simply have observances

Let all the contradictions go

We know there’s folklore involved,

Which should fascinate

x

There was such darkness

At hand

Of one kind or another

Of the past, of

The present

Lack of awareness

Of the import of events;

Only to the players

Did things matter,

They in acts

No one to put it all together until Luke

And a little bit in Matthew and in John

x

Prophets old and new

We have to say

Knew and know some measure

Of the meaning

Of it all

They are extracted

And we read them, too

x

Such dulled and slow senses

Sometimes history goes that way

Sometimes it’s spiritual

The people walked in darkness

There might be other forces, too,

To keep us from the light

x

But it is there

The birth is there

Incarnation as a doctrine

Thought some of it at least

Might have been as any birth

A baby in the world

This one in a cave

And that’s unusual

And all around

The mystery

The strangeness

There was adventure in the sky

And from some people

Who in an iron empire

Chose to dedicate another lord,

Another life to follow

x

The child is God

But who knew that?

Mary and Joseph

Angels

And the magi knew something

While the shepherds were told something

As good news

This is the messiah!

Who really understood?

How could a baby save the world

Who is not Caesar

With family, tutors, strategists

Sheltered behind stone walls,

Armies out front

That keep the world

For them?

x

Well, other parts conspired

Into a birth, a life

That through faith

And later patchwork

Yielded doctrine

And a way

The people of the way

x

As on that night

(let’s call it a night)

There would be amazement

There would be awful things as well

But wonder now

And wonder later on

And with us, still

x

Praise God, for God is good

God is love

God is a spirit

Who wonders now

And offers light inside the darkness,

The kind of darkness that is not

Romantic but it

Stultifies and kills

x

Believe the child

Humbly, take the child in

To dwell with you

Maybe like a foundling, at the start,

Then as a teacher

And a savior

And a temple of salvation

In the city of God

(new heaven)

And on God’s free land

(new Earth)

Forever

x

Sweet, little Jesus child,

They made you be born in a manger;

Sweet, little holy child,

We didn’t know who you was.

x

Didn’t know you’d come to save us, Lord,

To take our sins away:

Our eyes was blind, we could not see;

We didn’t know who you was.

x

We didn’t know who you was

Maybe we should have

Maybe we can, now,

And into new ages

Love revealed

Prophecy fulfilled

The child grows up

We grow up

x

And for this night we way

Welcome to the world, child,

And everything that starts

Now

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C L Couch

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could be a choral or a choir reading

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“Sweet, Little Jesus Child” is a song of African American origin.  The precise source is unknown, and there are variants and variations.

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This is the third in a creative, liturgical series for Advent and Christmas.  The other two parts are the last two days’ posts.  I think I’ll work on something else now.

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Photo by Agung Raharja on Unsplash

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In Darkness

I’ve been having trouble with WordPress.  I can’t leave comments on your pages.  I get an “error” block that tells me to go back and when I do I still get the “error” block.  I don’t know if anyone has experienced this.  Maybe the problem is with my computer.  Frustrating!

This won’t fix the problem and doesn’t really address it; but if want to get in touch with me (especially while I’m not able to reach you via the blog), you may use my e-mail address, clcouch17055@gmail.com.

CLC

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(x = space)

x

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In Darkness

x

A child is born

Into this?

How cruel

Such cruelty

If God should call this down

A child of God

(a child?)

Then why not to cushions

In a palace

For a start?

Why not with special parents

In a prominent family?

Why not with

Advisors and with teachers

Frankly, generals

Standing,

Kneeling

By?

Why not with a well-known name

Conveying might

Mixed with celebrity?

x

Bethlehem?

There are two such places

You are inviting debate

And neither is a capital

An important place

For births

Unless by the mother stopped

By happenstance

On the way to Jerusalem

Or Rome

Somewhere we can argue is

The center of the world

Where we can triumph

(two drum beats)

Where are the triumphs?

x

Where are the angels

(bells)

Well, there are

The angels

We are frightened

They say

Don’t be afraid

(we are afraid)

Tidings,

Good news?

To our cynic selves we know

There is never good news

x

And who are the shepherds?

Smelly men

Who should be outside town

Yet they pass us by

With purpose

What?

Where?

x

Bethlehem, again

And we people of the world

Maybe we should follow

x

Or, you know,

We could wait for the news

When it’s official

The sky is dark again

With normal night

We have two years

And more,

Should something else

Happen

(two drum beats, bells)

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C L Couch

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A companion piece to yesterday’s.  Another one tomorrow—there you will have a trilogy of liturgy for Advent and Christmas Eve.  Or for some other reason.  Or for none.  Note this verse has sound effects.  They can be left out, I’m sure.

CLC

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Photo by Lasse Møller on Unsplash

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Hebrews 12

(x = space)

x

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Hebrews 12

x

it’s all right to run a race

it’s all right to win

it’s all right not to win,

which happens to most

in the experience

x

it’s all right to want a prize

running a race is hard

not to mention training

and practicing

your prize is in heaven

might not sound good enough

not satisfying

but it’s true

there is a prize for each of us

for all of us

by heaven

x

keep running

yes, with discipline

also with rest

and if possible

with joy,

Mister Liddell

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C L Couch

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(photo by) KarlGaff – own work, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=113379539

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Happy Birthday, Church

(x = space)

x

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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

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C L Couch

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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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Saint Francis and the Sultan

(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

Istanbul, Turkey

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