If I Could Use All I Have to Give

Day Six


If I could use all I have to give
If I could give and it would carry through
If expectations would hold
So the effort would not be wasted

I get there and it dissolves
Fades away as if never begun
Pack up enthusiasm yet again
But I was so hoping
I really thought
It was supposed
No,
Not
This time

I am ready
I bring everything I have
Yes, I can see this time__it will be serious
The purpose is too important
We can accomplish so much
It will be great
I am ready
Will no one
No,
Really
What a shame
But, I thought
I thought

For Justice Rides the Morning

Day Five


For Justice Rides the Morning

It is okay, the day closes
You cannot be blamed for another's lie
For those who know you, those who matter
The truth remains and will not waver
Rest in this
Let the rumors fade within the quiet shadows
Hold firm through the coming blackness
For justice rides the morning

Surely A Time Will Come

Day Four


Surely A Time Will Come

Surely a time will come
When you will not veil your being
Behind themed and constructed costumes
Meant to hide your being

I try to find it in your song
In case you relent or inadvertently hide it there
It is not the orchestrated experience
But your melody I seek

You Can Give Us Money

Day Three


You Can Give Us Money

You can give us money
We have many things to do
You can give us money
There are many hungry here
You can give us money
They need clothes and shoes
You can give us money
The nets keep sickness away
Celebrate survivors
Scholarships will educate
Websites are expensive
Utility bills grow higher
Unemployment rises
You can give us money
We can reach more people
You can give us money
You can give us money


But


Who will speak with them
And hold their hands
Who will laugh with them
And celebrate achievements
Who will walk with them
And protect the neighborhoods
Who will pray with them
And miss their company

I Am Not the Sum of Myself

Day Two


I Am Not the Sum of Myself

I am not the sum of myself
But of this life

The frog-song
First of the season
Calling in the soft warm twilight

The trillium petals
Sweet in the sunlight
Breaking through winter leaf-mold

The bird wings
Blue as the post-storm sky
Dancing through tender branches

We are not the sum of ourselves
But of this life

Confessions, Expectations and Poetry

People write for many different reasons. I write because I love words and because they can sometimes capture and hold experiences long enough to allow me to linger over them.

I wait far too long to record what I have felt in the world through the course of days. I examine importance and angles and decide it is not publishable. So I do not write.

But these moments are of value.
So I begin
A poem each day.

I will record here each day a poem freshly written. They will not be polished nor masterfully crafted, and often may be no longer than a line.

Day One

I Remembered Today Was Your Birthday

I remembered today was your birthday
though it has been 7 years
and I have not felt your presence for many months

I knelt with the camera framing a young friend,
excited to be featured in the newspaper
motivated to participate in her sorority's fundraiser

She fingered a few wisps of hair in place, wetting her lips before
breaking into smile
Snap!
We laughed, we adjusted the plant nearby, we counted three
Snap! then again__"No, not that big," I said

"Wait. Let me start over . . . now . . . okay"
But her head fell to meet her hands, "My mom," she began tearing

"Today was my mom's birthday," I blurted, "but she's been gone
a long time"
"So has mine. She always told me, 'No fake smiles, now!'"

I lowered the camera, "I feel them both here together"

We decided to use the first shot

Later that morning we saw each other again
We hugged
"My mother's name was Evelyn"
I responded, "Mine was Carolyn"

I'm glad, Mom, you made a new friend for your birthday

One Little Word, "Come!"

”Peace will come on the wings of a promise. Hope will come like the morning's first call. Joy will come on the winds of the Spirit. Love will come. Veni, veni, Redemptor.”

From the song, "Advent Cry" in Joseph Martin’s THE WINTER ROSE

This post has been forming through the recent weeks of Advent, the time in the Christian calendar for celebrating the coming of Christ, a period of glancing backward to the Nativity and reaching forward to the New Heavens and New Earth.

E'en So Lord Jesus, Quickly Come

A Penrod Productions video posted on YouTube by gepenner.

It has been said Paul Manz, the composer of this piece, crafted the perfect blend of text and music. He created it in 1953 during his three-year-old son's serious illness. The words appear below, but I'd like to offer a link to a beautiful blog commentary by "Pastor Peters" who writes:

It is one of those wonderful intersections of music and words where neither is bigger than the other but both form a piece of what is larger than either -- the message understood in the mind with words but felt in the soul with the notes that speak the same message.

You can read it here (well worth it)



E’en so Lord Jesus Quickly Come

Peace be to you and grace from him
Who freed us from our sins.
Who loved us all and shed his blood
That we might saved be.

Sing Holy, Holy to our Lord
The Lord, Almighty God
Who was, and is, and is to come
Sing Holy, Holy Lord.

Rejoice in heaven, all ye that dwell therein,
Rejoice on earth, ye saints below.
For Christ is coming, is coming soon.
For Christ is coming soon.

E'en so Lord Jesus, quickly come,
And night shall be no more;
They need no light nor lamp nor sun
For Christ will be their all!

lyrics by Paul Manz


Two things worth noticing about the well-produced video (even if the clarity is imperfect). The music by the Kansas City Chorale from the album, Alleluia- An American Hymnal. The statue pictured (I've reproduced it below) from St. Sebastian Cemetery, Salzburg Austria that so perfectly depicts the condition of man in a world of darkness.







picture from visit-salzburg.net

If I were to choose a favorite prayer to God, it might be, “Come!”

Every time and every place across the world this prayer is prayed, there is hope. The word is not only a plea to the Lord, but is often used as the Lord’s invitation to His people.

I am reminded of the antiphons congregations spoke between verses of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" when I was a child. It's not done so much today, but it is beautiful because the combination describes Jesus. He is: Emmanuel, Wisdom, Adonai, Root of Jesse, Key of David, Dayspring, King of the Gentiles.

Which brings me to the "Root of Jesse." How, I wondered then, could the well known house-painter gentleman in our home church named, Jesse, have anything to do with the coming of Jesus? Of course years later it became clear the Jesse referred to was the father of David.

And notice the meanings of the following names:

Obed (father of Jesse) means servant, worshiper

Jesse (father of David) means God exists or God's gift

David means beloved

Jesus (its Aramaic and Hebrew origins) means Yahweh's salvation

Our plea during Advent is for the Servant Gift Beloved Savior, Jesus, to come to earth. But there is so much more to the little word, "come," as shown in the last chapter of Revelation, the very chapter whose words inspired the song above.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End . . . I am the Root and the Offspring of David” . . . And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life . . . “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!