Impromptu Earth

(x = space)

x

x

Impromptu Earth

x

What is needed

For the timing, Lord?

Order or chaos

Either has its charms

The opposite of order

Is nihilo

x

Creation can be wild,

Order can go crazy,

Chaos the odd anchor

Keeps us safe

x

Is it a magic thing

Or science?

These and more

Are real

x

We need chaos

God allows:

Sarah laughing

When a pregnancy announced,

Leaving fire

Or clouds to show the way,

Accepting

Ravens bringing bread

So the prophet lives

To challenge bastions

x

Responding

To the r.s.v.p.,

Jesus cooking fish

At the shore

x

I know the void

You know

We call it chaos

In translation

Maybe there are biases

x

Maybe like weekly money

We children benefit

From allowances

x

From contraries

That complement

Our sure things and

Our mysteries

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C L Couch

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Photo by Nikolay Hristov on Unsplash

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Pilotless Wheel

(x = space)

x

x

Pilotless Wheel

x

God is great

Traditions affirm

Many of them

Most of the living world

And the world before

x

God is good

A source of mercy

Even for

Those who do not know

Those who deny

Given space and time

Mercy in these

x

But, God, what kind of

Rotten world governed?

There is beauty

There are delightful moments

There is too much injustice

Too much lack of protection

Too much destruction

In the name

For the cause

Of politics and profit

x

You are in charge

We are

It is a war itself

Of wills

We think that you arranged this

We believe

x

In this alliance is

The cause of misery

Of evil

The stakes are high

They must be

This is real

Everything must matter

Assignments

Consequences

The religious call them covenants

And so they are

x

Sometimes the wheel is left alone

Sometimes there’s a grab for it

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C L Couch

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Photo by Maximilian Weisbecker on Unsplash

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Something to Talk About

(x = space)

x

x

Something to Talk About

x

If I pray to you

and boldly ask for something,

what then?

Will I get it

or a consolation prize?

Will the words,

the urgency

even get acknowledged?

How would I know?

How do you?

I’m willing to take

spiritual direction:

is there something

in that? a way, a technique

for understanding,

for confidence,

for divine allowance for

our requests?

x

Do I pray again?

Are repeats

allowed?

I hope so, ‘cause

The human predilection

is to keep going,

keep after

what we’re after

until there’s resolution,

either victory

or some other

satisfaction,

which doesn’t have to mean

we get our way.

x

C L Couch

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White-Tailed Doe and Her Fawn

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Published on July 31, 2022

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Eligibility Requirements

(x = space)

x

x

Eligibility Requirements

James 1:22-27

x

What does the Lord

Ask of us?

Many things, I think

That Noah build an ark

That Abraham sacrifice

His son upon an altar

Made for animals

x

That Rahab should save

The spies of Israel

In Canaan

That Mary should conceive

Without her affianced

And then give birth

x

That Cain should confess

That sinners should confess

That we should be

Doers and not hearers only

Of the word

x

That we should seek justice

And do justice

That we should love God

And each other

Be generous with enemies

With material and with prayer

x

I’d like to say it’s easy

As salvation is

Through grace

And belief

But frankly it’s the start

Of a grown-up life of faith

In which there should be joy

And humor, too,

And if there isn’t

Then we have been told

In someone’s catechism

Something wrong

x

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James is a brief, epistolary work in the Christian New Testament.

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Photo by Taras Chernus on Unsplash

“I am from Ukraine, there is a war going on in my country now. Your help is more important than ever.”

x

the blast of war

(x = space)

x

x

the blast of war

x

God

grant not my will

but yours

yours and mind when

we’re allied

but if it’s you or me

better to be you

and yours

I know

I’ll be there, too

that sometimes frustrates

when I want something

all my own

and maybe

you would not agree

all the way

better for your will be done

and mine left out

you’ll remember me

and several billion

while caretaking

all who are asleep

a world that’s cracking

you will let it crack

split into pieces

that we insist upon

who says

my will be done?

yours will keep the planet

and humanity

behold what

our will has done

and save us

by your modest will

gentle

or ferocious

x

the quiet desert

and the storm at sea

are yours

watch over these

and the tame or wild places

of the mind

the heart

and spirit

we should ally

keep us from all tyrannies

with a will

for freedom

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c l couch

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photo by jonathan bowers on unsplash

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And, But, Or, Nor, For, Yet, So

(x = space)

x

x

And, But, Or, Nor, For, Yet, So

x

What do I do

When God is gone?

A question I don’t have to ask

Because it doesn’t happen

God doesn’t go away

I do

I go away when I want

To think of someone else

Of something that I want

That I shouldn’t have

When I need

Or presume to need

Enough to bump out God

From my awareness,

Which qualifies the need

As something else

x

This is straightforward:

I choose to have God in my life

Closer to me, anyway

Since God is there

Creating

Maintaining

Weeping or laughing at

What we do

Preparing for Parousia

Yet

Cherishing each moment

The now we have

We linear beings

Meaning for us

It’s a saving moment

To a saving moment

x

God is close

God is inherent

In electrons

And cellular nuclei

God will become more obvious

As we wish

As we choose

As we ask it so

(the asking’s prayer)

The devil has many ways

To snare us away

It is agenda

Of the kind that pushes will

And understanding

Inside a frame that illustrate

An attitude

Against people and the

Environment

The Earth we stand or glide

Or rest upon

All of which, the devil says,

Is unimportant

When favoring

Profit

Unhuman strategies

(inhumane)

That only matter as

Winning so that the rest

Are losers

x

Who is lost?

The burden’s hard

The burden’s easy

It’s paradox

Of faith

Of belief in God who’s only known

Through evidence unseen

Who wins a case through this?

x

Such contradictions

Such opposites

The world we love must be eschewed

If we would live, there is first

The inevitability of dying

Sheesh

No thank you

Or thank you

Our will to embrace

To choose

To live in love

With the good in everything

With faith

And hard belief that has gentle edges

In what we show each other

(as in manifest)

In what we sense

And how we deal

With everyone

With everything

By which and in which

A spirit accompanies

For good

For upbuilding

For faith

And, yes, for love

x

We live in hope

That God is there

That God is there when we return

Or when we turn around

In attitude

Repentance

Sorry and a new embrace

Of faith

Gove love this Earth

And the extraordinary creatures

That you’ve made

That is each of us

Not that we are perfect

Or perfectly anything

But in everyone

And everything

The three remain close by

The three remain close by

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C L Couch

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By Finoskov – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=109525350

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benedictus

(x = space)

x

x

benedictus

x

we could be pleased

with what we had

and sad for what is missed

we could love what there is

let go the hate for

what was taken

who took it

we could love with a love

not pure, because there’s always

imperfection

we could correct and sigh

sigh and correct over faults

x

we could love

because alternatives shall drive us

into places where

no one really wants to go

or stay

more so, we could come home

to the dwelling of our hearts

and smarter thoughts

inside the land that God more fully made

that shall remain

when the rest

the doubt, the pain, even scorn

shall fall away

while love remain

x

c l couch

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hoto by savvas kalimeris on unsplash

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Please Pass the Pray

(x = space)

x

x

Please Pass the Pray

x

Welcome home the victims

Heal the victims here

x

Quick prayer for those who died

And those who are wounded

And still here

x

Something in the house

Or in the car

Aloud or silently

It counts

The most basic ask of intercession

x

Like asking God

Be with whoever’s involved

In that emergency

Who are these people?

Someone knows

x

What is needed by way of comfort

Or of sutures

Or of passage?

Someone knows

We don’t know

Maybe we don’t have to

x

Prayer is involvement

Even anonymous

That works

We may not know the outcomes

That is faith

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Mikhail Volkov on Unsplash

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Photo by YANGHONG YU on Unsplash

x

armageddon morning

(x = space)

x

x

armageddon morning

x

all earthly alliances

whose treaties are for war

in violation

with a claim

to win the world

x

God will fight us

weeping

with the rain

no doubt of victory,

would rather gather us

on a field

for celebration

will take the victory

if we shall give it

insisting we are right

in no other way

x

dawn after

final skirmishes at night

surrendered remnants will

be healed

and taken home

surprising what was won

in defeat

who was the foe

we battered in the dark

who struck

who struck

we have forgotten

or will forget

with a will

x

the place is clean

Earth an altar

all other altars served

without knowing

the template

last sacrifices needed

and these weren’t

x

we will come home

quiet first

names

and wounds

the celebration shall come

later when renewed

x

when we awake forever

a universe

to get to know

and new assignments

x

there is a party

only for an age or so

inside new heaven

over new Earth

x

c l couch

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photo by Dan Senior on Unsplash

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