(x = space)
x
x
amen, amen, amen, amen, amen
(you can sing it)
x
there were good hymns
in church
and a couple that were sleepy
the sermon was terrific
for being true and in style easy
as if we could believe
afterward
and live it through the new week that
all this was meant to serve
amen
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by channel 82 on unsplash
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(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,
x
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
x
C L Couch
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x
Photo by Christian Cagni on Unsplash
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(x = space)
x
x
Christmas 1
x
It’s Christmas day
What shall we say
But that the world
Is old and tired
And ornery
And peace taken
For an illusion
Some might enjoy
Invented
Only on the inside
Then a webinar
With fees
x
Here,
The sun is out
The temperature has climbed
Into two digits
There are icicles on the screen
Outside the casement
Of the window
Church is on line
Not only hundreds of miles away
But the consequence of heart disease
Is to stay
When the weather is extreme
Either way
And to deal with low energy
As in
It takes me forever
To do anything
x
And did Christ come today
Christ comes
Every day
x
And in a good way
I don’t care if
It was December 25
Or the ides of March
Something happened
The child of God was born
The child is also God
Was born
x
Is there meaning
In the other ways?
Of course,
There is
These seek the truth as well
And we should
Be
Should be
With them
x
Christmas is cultural
I’m at church
Hearing the songs
Hearing about the welcome
Of Ukrainians
Here
And I am glad
x
It isn’t peace on Earth
Only in
Such a small portion
Of the whole
x
And shall we say
Jesus was born?
I think we should
It’s history
x
Then in a supernal way
Maybe the spirit’s born again
In loving refugees
And loving refugees
Maybe there were times
When mortal Jesus
Felt outcast
Alone on Earth
As and why he walked away
From time to time,
Once
Prayed in the garden
x
You know,
We may take up
Exegesis
And
Evangelism
Later
And may I pause midstream
Like the saint to say
To the child Jesus
(I to you
and I a mortal child),
x
Merry Christmas
And for twelve days
That make
This varied
Still hopeful
Hopeful, still
Yes, brief
Season
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by Robert Kalinagil on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
Quiet Victory
x
There is yellow sunlight
On things this morning
Or is it gold
Or is it wishful thinking?
Church is going on
I’m trying to listen
The advantage and the irony
Of virtual
If I’m distracted
If I distract myself
It sticks
(the distraction)
x
(Saint) Paul is confessional
I think that’s good
I was thinking yesterday
Of (Saint) Peter
And his qualities to lead
That are pretty awful
He leads anyway
Jesus said so
Called him foundational
To a new movement,
A new church
x
We are flawed
And at our best
We do not deny our flaws
Because that is honest
Because vanity
And ego
Won’t win anything
The battle
Or the day
Or the age
Or the world
Or the cosmos
Better to be the silent planet
As Lewis has created
Until we speak in power
Due to love
And lead the battle
And the world
And the age
In love
x
C L Couch
x
x
Solar Eclipse
Photo by Obed Hernández on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
transept
x
and what presses in from outside
the church
the light of day
human noise
the natural world
the word of God
that says open the doors
and let me in
let those come too
under my arms
my coat or cloak or umbrella
those who are also
under my care
Ignorance and Want
and many others
ignorant of allegory
needing shelter and recognition
these are people
these are my creation too
let us in
then let us out
bearing what you may provide
what you have here
for their good
and mine
x
c l couch
x
x
x
(x = space)
x
x
We Prayed Today
x
“Today is a privilege” she said she’d
Embroider on a pillow
And on the other side, “I’m still
Breathing”
Because for all the despondence,
The despair we take to prayer
In our group,
There is beauty and joy
And so much to love
In fact, it’s what we love that turns
That often
Leads us to prayer
Compels us
We pray for the good things, too,
Wanting the goodness
We pray over cherishing the messed-up
World we have
And the messed-up lives we care for
And our own
We say amen
Knowing it’s never
The end
And we say thank you
With intention
We mean it
We are grateful
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by KARTIK GADA 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
x
(x = space)
x
x
Fish and Bread for Breakfast
x
And he does
Jesus loves you
Grumpy we might be
Though post-resurrection letdown
A haze of liturgy
Formal words that don’t match up
With Easter
But here we are
Since the book is ours
Invited to have breakfast with Jesus
Fish and bread
Common enough fare
Or not
The English
And others I’m sure
Have kippers
That is herring
England is an island nation
Israel is by the sea
And by an inland sea
We’re having breakfast
And hearing about metaphoric sheep
From a shepherd who knows the work
Perfectly
And is calling us to do it
What
How can we take from perfection
Well, we can’t
But we’re all here
It’s what and whom we have
We can dine with Jesus
That is the Christian church experience
But then we have to be out there
Out here
x
A message from white men
We need to hear from everyone
We need to hear the story
From the lips
And other parts
The parts that move,
That dance,
That look and try to look with love
On a good day
While struggling on another
This can’t be a message of perfection
It has to be real
And what do we know of perfect
That is real?
x
And we are loved, anyway
And we must love
And it’s the best thing going, anyway
x
C L Couch
x
(church with preaching on John 21)
x
x
Photo by Andrew Valdivia on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
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On the First Day
x
It’s Sunday
The day Al Roker
Announces in
An echo chamber
I’m not sure why
Maybe his mother
Told him to
Maybe because
It’s game day
I’ll have church
In a little while
Service and Sunday
School in a virtual
(and, yes,
hopefully virtuous)
Way
And the day will continue
We’re expecting snow
In the afternoon,
Over night into
Monday morning,
Which could make
The commute
A mess
x
C L Couch
x
x
Photo by alexey turenkov on Unsplash
Published 1h ago
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