Ready to Announce

Ready to Announce

(“We had the courage through God to speak God’s good news in spite of a lot of opposition.” 1 Thessalonians 2:2b)

From the moment I opened my eyes the only
conversation I wanted was the one about grace.
And wider than I imagined, deeper that some friends
unknew, I awoke to speak more coherently than I ever had.
There is a lot to say that embarrasses me now, so many
stories halfway through their happy ending.

Threatened with hell, the sensitive hearts cry like God
would soon send them to the fire, to the everlasting flames,
to the torture of ages over a simple lifetime of missteps.

Threatening hell, the whitewashed tombs harden up
and put a Halloween mask on Jesus to scare the aching
hearts into catacombs of shame. No one showed them the
Father’s smile.

Peacemakers belong as children of God, but big-hair
and butt-hurt purveyors of steel grip doctrine don’t
waste a minute to imprecate anyone they think has
eyes too wide open. They see anxiety as evidence of
demons in crying eyes. They yell that depression
belongs to the devil and a dozen more people hit
the floor begging for some sort of change.

What if we woke and sat next to the dejected,
What if we took the hands of the anxious and,
without a word invited them into our space.

This is what opened my eyes. This is what made me see.
People needed more than fiery proclamations. How
can we reflect the father when all our affectations
pain him angry and ready to smite with wrathful fury.

Woke, I see the wrinkles from constant agonizing prayer
that pled to take every misstep away.

Nothing will keep me from being the Good Story
no matter how many take me as the original heretic.
I am ready to announce the world-wrapped hug
that God calls us to embrace. People, your doctrines
may be strangling you. Christ meant for you to
be free.

That is Where I Hear

That is Where I Hear

(“God showed his faithful love to me in front of the king…The Lord my God was with me, and that gave me courage.” Ezra 7:28)

Even though the brain waves crash upon my skull
like an endless buzz saw,
and the air is heavier than an anvil upon my head,
I have no other hope, no better word than
the softest whisper speaking from beneath the pain,
“I am with you, and I will be with you again.”

Even though the songs no longer come from my hands,
and the words, my love, my still life, explain less and less
between the lonesome stretches of writing.
I have no poetry than the simple rhymes of
childlike times. My mind is full of mystified
tangles, sentences dangling from the corners of my mouth.

Yet, I still read the unchanging motion, the words spoken
that are rooted at the base of every grunt or elocution.
“I have said, and will said it again; never will I leave you,
and never forsake you.”

And yet, nearing the end of my mission, when, from the first
the seeds grew rapidly, the message ignited wildfires of love;
at this final appointment, the last post of my journey

I fail. Though the soil is rich and watered well, the seed
does not germinate, the crop is dwindling and
I watch from a brittle chair awarded me once for
Outstanding Support, while the tears dry before they
hit the floor. My trajectory, though cruelly gravity-bound,
always rose between days of relative ease.

My books are old and tattered. Perhaps my words are as well.
Expectations shattered, percentages shrinking, while I keep thinking
the old seed should produce the same crop of my earlier mission.

And that is where I hear

Such a sad, sad silence. 

Do You Know Him?

(“Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him: ‘Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.’ And he broke down and wept.” Mark 14:72)

It is far too easy to read of Peter’s three denials of even knowing Jesus and assume we would not be so easily swayed. After all, haven’t we already faced the scowl of fellow workers when we do not follow their excesses out of reverence for Christ? Haven’t we felt our tongue grow thick when asked about our faith, and though we stumble through our answer, we would take no thought of actually saying, “Jesus? Never heard of him!”

Be Strong

“Be strong and courageous. Don’t tremble! Don’t be afraid of them! The Lord your God is the one who is going with you. He won’t abandon you or leave you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

Fear is one of the strongest emotions we face. It comes in many forms; nervousness, timidity, procrastination, shyness, intimidation and even aggressiveness. Most of the things we regret in life are due to letting fear talk us out of taking a difficult step forward. We may fear we are unqualified for a job and never pursue it. Fearing rejection, we are bashful, and perhaps miss out on relationships with interesting people.

Firm in the Faith

“Be careful. Hold firmly to your faith. Have courage and be strong.” 1 Corinthians 16:13

It would be easy to read a verse like this and launch into a diatribe on the evils of today’s society and write about how much better it was “back then”; whenever “back then” was. What we miss is that Paul wrote these words before the first century was over. It is a great mistake to read them as if they are written in reaction to some sort of ungodly time we currently live in.

God Will Repay

“Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he committed toward his father in murdering his seventy brothers.” Judges 9:56

Abimelech was an unsavory character who decided to take the throne by killing all but one of his 70 brothers. He wades through rivers of blood to accomplish his desire for power. The lone surviving brother Jotham, tries to warn the people that supporting Abimelech is a bad idea, but the people ignore him. They make him king and Abimelech reigns for three years.