Indiana Bible Study

(x = space)

x

x

Indiana Bible Study

(a neophyte in pandemic time)

x

I was an interloper

Not really

I had been invited

But I knew no one else

x

It was a discussion

Of Saint Paul’s mission

To a group

In a letter to

Another group

See, I was late

x

This was on Zoom

And I cannot work it out

Sometimes I was

A black square

Sometimes an image

That was true

(I brushed my hair,

beforehand)

Sometimes I got to write

I was never heard,

Which probably

Was just as well

x

I was welcomed

(thank you)

And got to hear

(thank you)

The stories of others

Shared as insight

And later prayer requests

x

My friend and I

Talked afterward

(over the phone, which

I can manage)

With a promise to

Rehearse the technology

x

But here was a group

To join

That has a life beyond

This meeting

‘Til the next one

And I was invited,

Which is evangelism

In itself

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Fré Sonneveld on Unsplash

Power Line Grids

x

Signing Late Winter

(x = space)

x

x

Signing Late Winter

x

The sky is blue

As an observer,

A romantic,

Or a child might say

At last

And with a sigh:

It’s been white

Or gray for a while

x

A lithe tree branch

Dances against the window

I can’t hear it for

The distance,

Though I’m sure there’s

Scraping

x

Asking to come in

Or better yet

Inviting me

For company

To go out

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by dorota dylka on Unsplash

Blossom

x

Invitation from Earth and Sky

(x = space)

x

x

Invitation from Earth and Sky

x

Briefly then,

There are good things

On the earth

And inside sky

And inside far below

We can ask for

Closeness to good things,

And we should:

x

For good warmth

From the sky,

Good feeling in our bodies,

Good reason for

Decision-making

x

The substance of the

Asking might be

Prayer of a kind of

Cosmic negotiating

For agnostics

x

Either way

Or with simpler hope,

We can let goodness

Have its way

With core and crust

And breathy atmosphere

x

Inhale, exhale—

Walk to stretch things out

x

Extend our fingers,

Reach out with our palms,

And turn our wrists

x

The cosmos will

Appreciate our reaching out

So and more so

Would the mortals

And the ineffable

x

Let all mortal flesh keep silent

And in fear and trembling stand

x

Each year there is an advent

And most days,

Our response invited

x

Our planet awaits

As does everything beyond

The sky that our shiny satellites

Detect, now draw from

For extraterrestrial

(extra-lunar)

Samples

x

The maker awaits

Here and there as well,

Inviting us inside

Community, one by one

And altogether

To believe

x

C L Couch

x

x

Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

Strong wind, frost and rays of sunlight created this wonderful pattern on my windshield.

x

“Let All Mortal Flesh” is an old hymn out of the Christian tradition.

A newer hymn, “Earth and All Stars,” also comes to mind.

x

Ordinary Invitation

Ordinary Invitation

 

A pale day

Painted in yellow

Talking to the trees and sky

Green and blue in perfect tones

Framed through the window

Because the house is old,

Tall and wide

In this moment, there is fortune

Lucky to be here

You’re invited—look at that,

You’re here

 

C L Couch

 

 

Photo by yns plt on Unsplash

Çatalca, Turkey

 

Friday and Saturday Children

Friday and Saturday Children

 

Writing in a cube

 

Whose walls are

Translucent

I can make out movement

Maybe I make a noise

You can see enough

To know someone is in here

 

We’re claustrophobic, so

We can’t stay at this long

How about

We take down the walls

No one sees through, really

Works through, anyway

 

Maybe we could re-make them into floors

Or doors, the kind that come in

Halves so that there’s a shelf

To lean on

While we converse about

The new day

 

Invitations follow

 

C L Couch

 

 

Image by Wolfgang Eckert from Pixabay

 

Call Me

Call Me

 

Anytime, we may

Open our eyes

To see that God is watching us

Not so much to judge us

As to love us

Judgment comes, but love

Abounds

Grace like that in dancers’

Movements

 

God has seen it all

And despite that

Despite all of that

There is love here

And everywhere

Love that will wait outside

Until invited in

 

C L Couch

 

 

Photo by Flemming Fuchs on Unsplash

 

Second-Storey Moor

Second-Storey Moor

On a misty-morning
Winter January day,
I look out the window

All I see is fog and
Lack of definition
Except for one tree
Of bare branches

Reaching black into
My windowed sky

I didn’t expect the
Art and science of
This: skillful, narrow
Firm and slender
Branches reaching

With a clarity that
Startles a black vision
Against smoky
Pervasive mist

Grey behind each
Branch, rendering
All else vague

What is familiar
Now is mystery
And invitation