Only the Breath

Only the Breath

(“This is what the Lord God says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will live.” Ezekiel 37:5)

Nightmares grab me by the throat,
turning ghosts from the past into
terrors and muggings and threats,
waking with the sweats and pushing away
the hands around neck that once said
they were only trying to do the Lord’s bidding.

But only the breath of God-- haruach Elohim--can turn these
dusty bones to life. Where were you, people of the spirit,
when my breath was fading so fast? Where were you,
oh people of faith,
when the wind swept me to the desert alone?

There are no demons or idols or tiny gods with big hands;
but they did their best for you.
There is no haunting in this house; but only a mind
scarred by failure and padlocks that keep the
prosecutors penned in within it.

You asked me questions; I answered confidentially.
You asked me questions in front of the penitentiary.
You revealed my sources, cut out my entrails,
and laid them on the table for the holy gathering to divine.
I would not make music for over a year.

But only the grace of God—hesed Elohim­­—can upgrade
images to stars. Where were you, people of mercy and love,
when my body was wasting so swift. Where were you,
with my faith in decline,
when my body felt only the loneliness of dry and desert bones?

Still the Spirit speaks, no matter the voice of man,
Still Ruach utters, no matter human game plans,
Still the heart is whole, though divided time over time,
Still faith can live again, despite the remains of the day.

Every midnight I wake screaming, throwing pillows across the room,
will be another day of dealing (my pain is post-traumatic) with the tomb
that I thought was sealed
and yet enwombed
my embryo unharmed
until born (do we know its meaning) again
bone upon bone,
flesh upon flesh,
with only breath,
in Spirit known.

Beyond the Years

Beyond the Years

("But let us give thanks to God! He gives us the victory because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done." 1 Corinthians 15:57)

Do not march on in anger,
no need to parade in fear,
the triumphant procession extends beyond the years
that have held you down below
the sod of so many opinions.

Awake now, meet the day;
alive now, come and play in the sun
and join the immortal one who has opened every tomb,
emptied every grave,
and leads you, oh reluctant warrior,
in celebration you may not see, but fills the
reflections of the waters,
echoes from the planets to galaxies,
small talk in tiny cafes,
suspects of doubt along with
trumpets of faith.

The rich man's cave where he lay
is void of its treasure. There was no holding down
the apex of creation. Laugh at monster death,
cry at dying's destruction, but live, for life
is the gift, hidden in the earthy darkness and now
ablaze in the light of day.

These pain, these pains,
these bones that creak with age.
These pains, these names
that seem to upstage our hope,
our glory, our truest story while we
wait with poverty at our feet and
loss knocking at the door.

That day, that day,
mere hours away from the cruelest pain.
That day, lambs play
with lions and entertain babies
who we kept away from snakes in the garden
for fear.

Though this day may squeeze the breath from your believing,
though tomorrow a storm may rage unpredicted,
though politicians deceive, mega-seat theaters play
the movies we payed dearly to believe, and even though
the pins and needles sting like adder's poison

the reason to hope still stands like the world wiped clean
once it did all it could do to mute the song of all creation;
the life breaks through like high-speed videography
cracking the sidewalks in moments,
revealing the life that existed far before the
concrete of time.

Skeletons and CPR

“Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the wind. Prophesy, human, and say to the wind, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Wind, come from the four winds, and breathe on these people who were killed so they can come back to life.’”  So I prophesied as the Lord commanded me. And the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a very large army.” Ezekiel 37:9, 10

I served a number of years as chaplain for our local Emergency Services. Every person on the crew was a volunteer and often was called out in the middle of the night to assist a crisis. From an elderly woman who stumbled down her stairs to a teenage girl with third degree burns over 70 percent of her body, these men and women showed themselves heroes time and time again. It was a privilege to serve them in their own hours of spiritual need.