Applaud the Portfolios

Applaud the Portfolios

(“He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” Luke 1:53)

Didn’t we hear it when the poverty crept into
our modern towers, our suburban powers were all
in a fix
because no one served mixed drinks anymore.

Didn’t we avoid the side effects, the stress-sweat
that followed dripped on the broken sidewalks
in a fix
over derelict cars never running well.

Didn’t we follow the lead of every person before us?
Didn’t we drive beyond the camps foreshadowed by
our taste for sharper images and victoria’s secrets
left us little time to add another 15 minutes to the rest
of our plans.

But the thunder will reverse our fortunes and favors,
tsunamis will wash the cliff-dwellers away,
no one will laugh at the hoarded destruction or
applaud the fatty portfolio’s disintegration.

Why do we wait? Why? Do we? Wait a few moments
longer
at the grocery aisle,
check out the daughters and sons who
walk and run in tennis shoes; then, single-file
inspect the soles abbreviated by time,
the uppers ripped from the pages of hand-me-down novels
and consider:

How long will it take for me, for Your name’s sake,
to see the tears we thought were the lament of the poor
are instead

The grief of the One who creates all to be fed by mercy,
no matter their wages, their mobile stages; but simply their
shared humanity. 

No Place to Hide

No Place to Hide

(“If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won’t be punished. The Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus and will set you free from sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2)

Don’t run away, there is no place to hide,
all is seen, width and full, around the corner,
behind the hedge, in the alley’s dark edges,
in former houses of worship and the present
urges to versions of life inked through long ago.

We are not invisible, but we are well-read,
we are slow to rise to the occasion, quick to
insist the other man pay within half a day
whom we have known nearly halfway home now.

Don’t lock the doors, do not return the mail,
Open the letter, receive the inquiry,
more can be added than what you fear
will be stolen.

When did you begin to fear the equality
that lets you see
the phobias you inherited
are worth less by the hour. Engender
a new thought, at least for you, and

Let it fill the dusty silences, the
shaky dalliances with semi-omnipotence.

Punishment is over, the sentence served,
every prisoner set free by the suffering of Another.
You can stop rehearsing your curved denunciations
of all you do not understand,
or
all you thought you knew by rote just yesterday.

Because, before all time, before a single crime,
the plan was set forth to dam the waters of condemnation,
and let slave and free, prisoner and jury know
(beyond all they had ever known)
that hiding never kept Adam from God’s
longing voice in the Garden.

Even One

Even One

(“Don’t be too quick to get angry because anger lives in the fool’s heart” Ecclesiastes 7:9)

You would never know when his lid would blow
spilling the scant particles of mind in rapid fashion.
He was my friend, a sort of pretending that doubles up the masks
of deception and self-preservation. One never knew the true man,
even the cracks in his character were darker than
the serrated edges around his eyes. I must apologize, Mr. Cohen,
this one time, these exact tracks never did let the light get in.)

I still ache. I am not well. I have not healed. I still shake when
no one is watching,
and my eyes swell at night while the tick-tocking pounds me awake.

There are plaques on my wall to illustrate my goodness, but now that,
10 years after the double-barrel burst from the double-masked man
I know fewer and fewer people, the radius of friends is smaller and smaller.
And, if I could have my way, I would crawl into the groundhogs’ burrow,
a solitary rodent hoping to use less breath than yesterday.

Do not be dismayed, do not attempt to heal or fix me;
some have, with the warmest intent but with results as silly
as dropping a dozen groundhogs into a hole in the ground:
and, with one short command: “Play!” and expect them to stand and dance
and ask you for more.

“It has been 10 years, son”, I hear them say. “10 years you’re still hung up on.”
And they are right, my mind, my plight, my guts sprung far too tight,
my brain ache, my shaking skin and the nighttime rest that will not
let me in…still exist. And, just for the record, since you wondered, since
you asked,
You are right, but here is my question for you:
“In those same 10 years, sir”, please hear me say, “10 years I have never heard from…

….even one.”

Dignity Unsatisfied

Dignity Unsatisfied

(“The one who gives to the poor will not lack, but whoever shuts his eyes to them will receive many curses.” Proverbs 28:27)

There was one adult I always respected,
and shared my adolescent poetry,
and played my untidy chords;
there was one I took every girlfriend to meet,
and played the Airplane’s newest release,
and shared my latest role upon the stage.

So you will be surprised that she, who I knew
cared for people like cats, and cats like people;
you my blink your eyes upon reading that,
at my daring hope

To somehow help the poor,

My mother would quote Jesus and say,
“We shall have the poor always among us”,
and feel she was satisfied my
pre-frontal cortex, not yet fully shaped,
would take that authoritative word as
an answer full-measure and complete.

(I never thought she
had justified)

I only thought she simplified the complicated,
and authorized ignorance among those who hated
the time it takes to too understand the coin-laundry of the less
against the dry-cleaning of the more.

Perhaps she was right; even now, I cannot find the
perfect way
to scribble a few lines of poetry that
(I had hoped)
would help or dignify the poor.

Full of Silence/and then some

Full of Silence/and then some

(“He is the Rock. His works are perfect. All his ways are right. He is faithful. He doesn’t do anything wrong. He is honest and fair.” Deuteronomy 32:4)

The moment was too full of silence,
abuzz with the smashing of atoms invisibly
making space for every thought unspoken. There was

No more to say.

The tears began with each telling,
the story repeated with different words and nuance,
inflection and outline, but the tears and the

Moment full of silence

Were always the same.

Our feet dragged going home. We have learned our
question well they days, “Are you ok?” I do not always
answer honestly, for it is her pain we mourn now

And not my own.

The world stands still with unexpected prognoses,
and the words blur after reading the emailed diagnosis
for the twelfth (feels like never). Don’t tell us

You’ll be strong,

We have not faced this before. And when it felt we could
breathe once more
the next blow came with threats and wind upon the sweetest
friend, the loveliest form and the most blameless frame ever
said yes to a man so far below her purity. She is light and
glows apropos. She is laughter itself, the out-loud giggle of
joy. Unmistakebly funny, she never defends her childlike
comedy.

So, I have to ask, O Rock upon which we’ve been shaken,
what heavenly economy has driven this silent storm her way?
She is more than mercy; she is grace itself; every sin, every act
of selfish compulsion, she erases with ease. I cannot dismiss the
harm I must have brought to her innocence; but she will not
remember what I am unable to forget.

Transfer her pain to me. Put it on my tab, let me repay
the streams of grace I have never deserved; the companion,
my dream-mate who only grows freer and freer over time.

Remember her graces, and from Your unfenced pastures of joy
bring her the nosegay of the wildest colors only Perfection
can supply.

Help Me Learn Your Ways

Help Me Learn Your Ways

“No wisdom, understanding, or advice can stand up against the Lord.” Proverbs 21:30

I suppose it goes without saying, but there is not one of us that wants to lose. We do not attend our children’s tee-ball games and hope they are trounced by the opposite team. Cheerleaders don’t spell out the opposing team’s name at the Homecoming Game. No one watches the Super Bowl hoping their beloved Seahawks go down in defeat. (Having lived in the Northwest for eight and a half years now, I am, by law, required to root for Seattle.)

Imagine Falling

Imagine Falling

(“Then Moses and the Levite religious leaders said to all Israel, ‘Be quiet and listen, O Israel! This day you have become the people of the Lord your God.’” Deuteronomy 27:9)

Imagine falling weightless in a slow spin into
a wide well that has no end;
bottomless and you find you have no more
need for air.

The silent liquid surrounds your every bend
and every wrinkle. Like a dream floating far above
the landscape below guided by the movement of the air,
your mass and the liquid’s are equal.

Imagine you fall without fear or reflex, bathed by
the warmth more solid than your usual air.
Each and every pore is filled, the entire scan of your skin;
more visible than air, your eyes do not burn. Every strand of hair
waves the slow tempo, the legato arc that, for this
imagined time
denies gravity’s demands, forgets calendar commands
while safely framed by beauty’s fantasy.

Imagine you stay much longer than you intended; an hour,
an evening, a day; and you recall the water (though it was not
water at all), now seemed like millions of molecules held together
by little more than a handshake. And the longer you stayed, the more
you sensed,
the liquid, the well, your skin were less foreign than you knew.

When we imagine that which is true, there is no other expectation
than that which we’ve known from the beginning. The Water
giving life and nourishing; the Joy stronger than death and
drenching our stubborn souls completely covered in Love.

Fulfilling our Duty

Fulfilling our Duty

“The master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know.” Matthew 24:50

This morning I stopped at Starbucks to get a latte and a croissant for breakfast. The server asked if I would like the croissant heated, and I said “Yes, but could you heat it just a bit less than normal?” Mine was a chocolate croissant, and I did not want the chocolate completely melted. She said she was happy to do that. She told one of her fellow workers that she would take care of the croissant because of the special heating instructions.

I found that a bit odd. I figured she would set the microwave for only 20 seconds rather than 25, for instance. Instead, they depend on a buzzer that goes off at the right time for each pastry. She had to keep her eye on the microwave and turn it off when she said it was the right time. My “special order” actually meant she had to do something out of the norm. But, she did it all with a cheery outlook and a smile.

For my order to be correct, she had to keep her eye on the microwave. Jesus has given every believer “special orders”. We could list a few of the obvious: to love God with all our being, to love our neighbors as much as ourselves, to share the Good News, to be faithful to attending worship, and so one. In Matthew 24, Jesus outlines one order that must take place or we might miss the opportunity to complete the others.

Jesus tells his disciples that He, the “Son of Man” will return and “will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (verse 31). He goes on to tell them that no one can predict when He will return, “neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (verse 36).

Let’s think about those two truths. 1. Jesus promises to return to earth sometime after His resurrection. He will gather His followers to Himself at that time. 2. Nobody but Father-God knows when that will happen. NOBODY!

I was manager of a clothing store called Pants for Less. When my afternoon employees came in to work, I often took my lunch break and then did errands for the store. I might make a bank deposit, pick up supplies, or even visit one of the other stores in the area to talk strategy with their manager. So I would tell my employee, “I’m headed out for a while. I’ll be gone anywhere from two to four hours. There is a list of things you can take care of around the store. Customers are first, of course. If you run out of things, find something that needs to be done.”

It made me happy and proud when I came back to the store and found that employee dusting bins, putting up a new display, pricing items, or any of a number of things that could be done. I would often compliment them on how good the store looked and how much it meant that I found them working when I returned.

But, those few times when I found my employee behind the counter reading a book or talking to a friend on the phone, I would be a bit discouraged. Not only were they not tending to the store, they hadn’t even finished the list I had given them.

Jesus told us to “be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” Can you imagine God’s joy when His people are in His house every Sunday without excuse? And, He is even more thrilled when we bring a neighbor to whom we have shown Jesus’ love. We have all been given “jobs” in the Body of Christ. And, in each individual church, we are called to fulfill certain duties.

One of the most discouraging things for a pastor is having to encourage people to be more faithful to attend church. But, the greatest discouragement is when many who miss that great time of worship are people who have known Jesus long enough to be teaching others themselves. We have been asked by Jesus; no, commanded, to take the Good News to the ends of the earth. How sad if, when He returned, He had to ask, “Why weren’t you at work for my kingdom?”

What would happen if we all, expecting Jesus to return at any time, said, “I am going to fulfill the duties Jesus has asked me to do?” The church needs revival. God’s people need a new awakening. We need, not just to be reminded to “go to church”, but to “be the church.” Who will stand up and take their place, the place Jesus has asked you to take? Imagine Jesus returning, seeing your local fellowship alive and abuzz with the Holy Spirit’s fire, with each member in their place; imagine Him saying, “Well done, even though I came at an unexpected hour, you were busy fulfilling My will!”