The Mix of Faith for Heaven

(x = space)

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The Mix of Faith for Heaven

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It is a mystery

And paradox

Thoughts

And feelings

Words for the hearts

Of millions

By each heart

Pierced

As a rule

x

Gospel for everyone

For one

For no one

‘Til engaging

We read

We hear

Interpret

(we’re allowed)

Good news about God

Having been

Set down

By people

In relationship

With God’s spirit

Making a kind

Of ersatz scribe

According to

The world’s

Expectations

x

Die to live

Love and take the hit

Joy in

Hard labor

Even for one’s enemies

The world wins

But does not really

Heaven after the end

And peace

Now

And forever

x

Though

In this life

Our flaws remain

And trip us up

And bring us down

And we

Are blamed

We blame ourselves

Though

Grace and mercy

Should attend,

Which is the holy law

But

Civilities

Must have their way

They often damn us

Excoriate

Our chances for changes

From

The first

After transgressions

x

Sigh,

Too many contradictions

Living near each other

In fact

Embracing

Over, under

Anywhere the breastplate says

For reassurance

x

A life of faith

Is hard

Easy

Soft

Rigid

Impossible

Demanded

Eternal

Fleshly

In each moment

Cells sloughed off

Like sin

Perhaps revealing

Virtue

In redemption

Should anyone on Earth

Have care

To notice

This

And those

While on Earth

Then disappear

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C L Couch

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Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

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first holy saturday

(x = space)

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first holy saturday

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1

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it seems there’s nothing

but a void

after which is fear

there could be doubt

but what is left

to believe in

first

x

the body’s cared for

there’s the irony of a guard

to keep things safe

while making sure

we don’t get in

to take him

x

so what is left

but us

and an enormous world

ready to quash us

and to take our air

our allotment of

anything

allowed

x

we have gone too far

they’ll say

but we have killed the head

and now the serpent

body dies

and we shall have it

or leave it

shriveling in the shadows

or bring it to the light

to finish

dessication

and metaphors aside

we mean you

and to have you

x

your paltry movement

and there are many crosses

provided by the Romans

and the Greeks

and Egyptians

before

x

you are done

we shall have you

you are annihilated

not even space on Earth

shall have you

x

we can delight

considering

a line of graves

underneath the field

that we buy

with the silver

Judas has returned

x

well

not well

and so we hide

small care for each other

we dare to send for food

and prepare it

without fire

to share it in the dark

x

these are holy hours

we try

to pay attention

x

some count the hours

most of us

cannot do

something so constructive

x

it is finished

last words

we heard them

so did they

we wait for

we don’t know what

we have forgotten all the miracles

and all of what was said

to go with them

x

we hide

and that’s the hell of it

as it seems

that hell has won

x

2

x

there is the edge

of a hole

through which we see

what we have been taken from

and shall we try

to return

a circle

an eye

we hurt

wait, an eye

who sees

we see

does God look at us

or Rome

or the Sanhedrin

x

how can God look

God died yesterday

we saw

we heard

and it is terrible

but there’s nothing more

even from the cross

were the words

that it is finished

x

we can’t even wait

we can count the hours

but there’s nothing there

there is grief

the rightness of it

rituals

for a while

x

but then there’s nothing left

we are ridiculed

then captured

captured and then ridiculed

when it’s safe

when we are bound

bound perhaps

to crosses of our own

x

why do we even have

this day

it is a holy day

so to say

holy hours

holy minutes

x

if yesterday

had been the day

if the cross beam was

a blooded lintel

then the deadly angel

missed

or misread

and took

the righteous

anyway

against the plan

x

but it’s not fair

to miscast angels

who are commanded

by a God

who let

if not arranged for

all of this

and now has disappeared

gone to Sheol

though how can God

wait for God

x

there are no answers

only rumors

that we cannot hear

the world has closed us off

in here

and we will not snipe

or bear false hope

or cheat

material truth

x

while we are waiting

worse than that

having nothing

to wait for

x

we mourn

we cannot look

or look

taste and see

we miss our God

we were friends of God

for a little while

x

we are lost

after our paroxysms

maybe we

catch our breath a little

and shall we go where

we proclaimed it long ago

that without God

there is nowhere

the nowhere of the Sadducees

maybe

x

but on to night

and after night

not daylight

but a void

judgment perhaps

but what could we have done

when we were told

what we were told

x

friendship for hours only

new love

and now

it’s as if creation

matter

molecules

might as well

have never happened

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C L Couch

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Photo by Filip Kominik on Unsplash

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Two Children

(x = space)

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Two Children

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Holy Thursday

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Maundy Thursday

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Good Thursday

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Nice Thursday for the church

If we leave off

The arrest in the garden,

Which sounds ingenuous

But the day

Liturgically

Is named for the supper only

And what happened there:

What was said,

Mainly

The command

x

And did they know

By the way

That supper was the

Last?

And looking back

Would the disciples

Want

To have called it

That?

Or did we need a name

And gave it

That one?

(names come after things,

I guess

for history

and liturgy

and calendars)

x

Here’s how it used to go:

We’d have a dinner

At the church

Downstairs

Then go upstairs

(from the social hall)

To the sanctuary above

And we’d have church,

Which is to say

A service

x

And there would be Communion

And we’d conclude the service

There

And it was nice

x

Sorry, it was nice

x

Jesus and his friends

For that what’s Maundy’s

All about,

A lazy term

For the Latin mandatum

Meaning command

For Jesus gave them orders

All the followers

That they should love

One another

x

That a few ages later

We should love each other

x

Good Friday

(good?)

Will

(for a fact)

Be awful,

And in between

The supper and the arrest

Admittedly

Is his time in the garden

Where disciples will betray him,

First two

And then the third

Follower

Who left the supper early

x

While Christ on his own

More than he wished

Asked of the cup

Not filled with wine from the meal

But of the bitterness

Of mortal destiny

Should pass by

As a deadly metaphor

For will

x

And then acceptance

And it’s really rather beautiful

As it is tragic

And then horrible

With an arrest

And all the dreadful

Words and acts

To follow

x

So we should keep the garden

Time

Somewhere in between

The meal

And arrest,

Maybe a kind of vigil thing

x

For the church meal before

And then Communion,

Well,

Was wonderful,

First roast beef

(typically and, yes, like the toe)

And then upstairs

Where we hardly ever

Had church for all of us

At night,

Waiting now

In fact

‘Til Christmas Eve—naturally,

A good association

x

And here’s Good Thursday,

Maundy Thursday when

We are told

By the child of God

To love each other

x

Though I’m thinking now

There are too many things

Too many good and bad things

To come together

Making sense

Out of a calendar

And faith

x

And yet

Bethlehem’s

Christmas child

And the child that is placed

Among them

x

And something about

Leadership

And children

x

And then

All children

Must and should grow up,

After all

x

So there

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CLC

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Matthew 18:2-4, Isaiah 11:6

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Photo by David Weber on Unsplash

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Alt

(x = space)

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Alt

x

Are tombs

Really whitewashed

x

Maybe in a desert place

To keep the heat off

For a while

I don’t know if white

Enhances

Gathering of cool

At night

x

With herbs for scent

And preservation

Added after death

To show devotion

x

I guess we could

Understand

What might have happened

Had the guards cooperated

And helped

The rolling of the stone away

Unless they laugh

At women

Then tell them to

Roll the rock aside

On their own

x

And having gained entrance

Beholding the wrapped body

x

They might need lamps

So that they may work with care

On Jesus

Three days’ dead

And in what state

What condition

In that desert place

And nation

Well

A colony

In an empire

x

And so how brave are they

The Marys

Maybe with friends

Followed by apostles

Also doubt

As it was

From their own

Who didn’t move

On hearing

x

But back (and on) to risk attention

And arrest

For being some of them

The followers

Of the insurrecting one

State-executed

x

And here they are

Near him

The last of him

In sight of soldiers

And maybe other agents

Who paid Judas

Who has disappeared

Now want to quash

All parts

And signs

Every extremity

Of the body

Of this body

Dead in flesh

x

And now the movement

(body in the region)

Gone

Entirely

Execution

Burial

Ridicule

What works

So wins

The devilish

And worldly

Agendas

x

C L Couch

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Matthew 23:26 and verses following

(plus the Passion narratives about coming to the tomb of Jesus, given in the four Christian Gospels)

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Photo by Foto Phanatic on Unsplash

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Processionals

(x = space)

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x

take away the confessional and informative emendations and there’s one poem here with endings like certain music selections

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Processionals

x

I think

Often of David

Of a picture

I have seen

Or made up

It’s when the ark

Is brought into

Jerusalem

And it’s a triumph

A kind of victory

x

And I think of David

Young

(and was he young)

Dancing

Before the ark

Not wearing much

But he’s king

And he arranged all this

And so

The instruments

Let play

And maybe favorites

Follow suit

x

I see light colors

As if this were a desert scene

Done as a picture

With pastels

You know

I think I figure the hair

On David

From the statue by

Michelangelo

x

Processions are important

He and they

Had to have one

Because the ark

Would have a home

Forever

Well

At least for generations

(I should

look this up

it might be before

Absalom)

But what do we know

Today is forever

And the

Ark is here

x

And Jesus came

Into Jerusalem

And a procession

Was needed

And so it was

Arranged

In humility

And somehow awesome

Awful majesty

x

C L Couch

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I worked on this scene before as a draft; I have in mind I didn’t finish it, and this time I did; but if the other work appeared and I forgot, then I apologize for the repetition—CLC

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and a bit more (for free)

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a coda

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David was a shepherd

He was a king

He was loved by God

As either

So are you

Loved by God

For either

Any

Way

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Photo by Alberico Bartoccini on Unsplash

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(and here’s the lesson should you need one

coda 2

that was D. S.

this is D. C.)

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Jesus came

Into Jerusalem

Like the ark

Meaning a triumph

Victory

For a home people

Battling

To keep a promise

x

And like the ark

Is lost

Defeat

And sacrifice

Through lack of faith

(bad kings—you may

look it up)

And so sacrilege

And a new needed

Promise

Follows

(read the prophets)

For restoration

Of the people

x

Turns out

It’s Israel

And all of us

Redeemed

Through this

Second coming

Triumph

Then sacrifice

This time as well

And

Cosmically speaking

Greater

All the world

And how far out

On the edge

x

With destruction

Turned to joy

With all our flaws intact

Until a final resurrection

That will keep

Us and the world

Intact

And better

And forever

x

Stone not only

Rolled away

But smashed

Here endeth

And look

And listen

Smell

And taste

And touch

This is the start

And we might think we do

But we don’t know

What’s next

x

The Givers

(x = space)

x

x

The Givers

x

I need to speak better

With the Lord

And of the Lord

And of a maker’s love

Of nature

And more so

The people

Living in all mysteries

x

People and mysteries

Of how to number them

In and if

Any propriety

How to count

And within the will acceptable

Of all of us

(three entities)

x

For us

Receivers of all words

Too much is un-understood

The glass is dark

The ideal

Is on the other side

As are the mysteries

Resolved

x

But there is the need

The compulsion

To move, anyway

While

We are here

Somehow to invest

In invisible interaction

That is real

In the sense we cannot count

Or measure

Yet bears salvation

x

A book of hours

Indicates

Yet cannot reveal

As much as, say,

Look or hear into the gentle candle

While we pray

x

Our rites are fine

Many are elegant

With an aim

Toward dignity

Mixed with an agenda of

Information

Clarity

Through what is revealed

Finally vague

And believed

(by me for one)

Vague evidence for faith

As manifested,

Which is to say

As is

x

More elegant

(as well)

Is the spirit

In the sky at night

With its own stillness

And its risks

The careful and the wild

Embodied

And presented

In unmoving blue

Maybe with high clouds

That haunt

Or in the storm

That

Threatens

Or attempts to ravage

When released

Land and sea

And us between

x

The hours we have

Altogether

Organized

Unkempt

The lives we have

With all the unsolved parts

Priests

Religious

(liturgy composers)

Poets

Room for unbelievers

All work

In both realms

Created

Sub-created

And must own

Not in harmony

But harmony

The music of the spheres

We say

With all the mysteries

Set down to solve

And leave or let

Untouched

Unsolved

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C L Couch

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Photo by Ali Choubin on Unsplash

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Sectarian or Secular

(x = space)

x

x

Sectarian or Secular

x

God

Be good to us

Today

x

Don’t give us mercy

Or distraction

Give us charges without directions

Save what we believe

x

And if without belief

Then with what good we know

Tempered by

Community

Check-and-balance ways

Human and humane

To get things done

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Rowan Simpson on Unsplash

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Devilry

(x = space)

x

x

Devilry

(the passing mischief)

x

I suppose the devil

Is after me

In a suburban way

After you, too,

I imagine

Maybe there’s a strategy

Maybe the strategy

Is chaos

Lack of plan

To ruin all the plans

x

Temptation, certainly

And also despair

A bright life

Too bright

To cover all the rest

The real pain

The real faith

To get us through

x

The real hope

That’s in the jar

After all the evils

Have escaped

That move around

Outside

And try to set up

House or shop

Church or

Place of work

Lanes of traffic

Bars

Or at the store

x

More so the aim

To find a place inside

To take our rest

And better

Resolutions

x

It’s not a grand

Or grandiose

Establishment,

A studio

With garish sets

Ringed

By biggish cameras

Managed

By phantoms

x

It might look like

The nicest place

We know

Only off in ways

We can identify

Should we be ready

And aware

If only of ourselves,

Our close-in loves

x

Deviation

Hell

The hell of it

Is that it is a trick

As all the stories say

The diabolical

Looks like everything

And is

Nothing

Maybe sound and fury

For a while

‘Til the ending

As the better stories

Say

x

Give in

Or not

It seems easy, I suppose

The wider path

The golden opportunities

The promise of

A winning ticket

While the other way

Purportedly

Is narrow

But certainly accessible

And it gets wider,

Wide enough

For two or more

x

Not to moralize

But moralize

One way is always easy

Joyless

But easy

The other way gets hard

But promises

The peace, we know,

That passes

Understanding

x

Though we always

Understand enough

For the

Irascibility

(and ability)

Of will

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash

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Reveals

(x = space)

x

x

Reveals

x

I don’t know

It is a mystery

How we get

To where we get

We understand

Our choices

Ponder choices

Made by others

All around us

And what might

We figure?

What might we understand

Of agendas

Or of consequences?

Well, we’re here

We have what we have

And don’t know

What we don’t know,

Which is maybe why

Monks

And mothers

Other readers

(all receivers)

Enjoy mystery

x

If God is unknown

Then we are fine

Not knowing

Seeking answers

Or allowing

Un-answering

To guide our days

In relishing instead

The partiality

Of things we hold

Let go

Or appreciate

Even with longing

From afar

x

We have

And do not have

We wonder because

There are wonders

Such a life

Of having

And un-having

Knowing and un-knowing

We bear

And carry with delight

In curiosity

Answering in part

All awareness

Or simply going out

Or staying in

All the time

Then rest

Then go again

x

C L Couch

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Photo by Brandon Style on Unsplash

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