radiant light (John 1:1-18 & Hebrews 1:1-4)

before light

was.

You burned with all

radiance

in perfect Life.

with

your Abba & the Most Holy Spirit.

Love.

so big it burst out

Light.

before light

was.

speaking

light was no big task

for the Radiant One.

except...

for Your Plan to

make

a people.

in Your Image.

made.

from dust

that had yet to

appear.

knowing

our rebellion.

how we would crush Your

Image

in us...

how deeply we would

grieve Your great

heart.

still

You made us.

from dust

that had yet to

appear.

but Light speaking out light

planned

to love over

the broken Image.

to mercify Your Self so

completely

that your heart

would sing

JOY.

with every one of us

who

could stand it.

one day.

coming soon.

unstoppable Love

unstoppable Life

unstoppable JOY.

forever.

shining grace

she said
she saw a light
as her husband-friend
was dying.

our dear friend was
gifted
by You, Lord,
with a sight she sorely
needed.

then when her husband-friend
left
her to come to You...
she said
she saw him.
whole.
standing.
holding someone's hand.
she did not know
whose hand
it was.

was it Yours,
Lord?

the day after (Luke 24)

do we have it
backwards,
Lord?

we make a big deal about going
into easter celebration
remembering,
like You told us to:
Your body
broken...
Your blood poured
out...
all of this...for us!

but
on that first easter sunday...
was the REAL deal
what came next?

sunday afternoon, monday,
tuesday?

on sunday...
the women came looking to
bury You
in decency...Your
mom among them still
not believing that You
could be gone...

the formerly-demonized-mary
wept
so without hope
that You came to her
and
called her by name.

we apostles did not
believe
the women's tales of angelic
assurances of You
ALIVE...
just as you had said
so cryptically
so many times in our hearing.

or maybe You weren't being
mysterious
after all?!?

peter & john ran to
see what happened...
they returned still uncertain.

we were confused...
You were ALIVE...
NOTHING would EVER be the
same
as before.

YOU...
the I AM God of Israel
had come among us
living
and dying so like us...
loving
so UNLIKE us...and
now LIVING again.

never to die.

what does a person do
with that?

He is risen

He is risen.

the first person to say
those words
spoke to grief stricken women
who came to give you
what any mother would want for
her dead child…
a decent burial.

but there was no
body
to treat…
there were no
guards
of which to ask permission…

it was as if
You had never died…
but
you DID die…
awfully
in public
for all to see
with
so much blood
at the end

they made a public end of
Your life…
another celebration of power
over grace…
or so we thought.

yet
in Your dying
it was as if no one else
existed
other than You and Your Abba…
we thought You
delirious
david’s terrifying psalm
written
from captivity was on Your
lips…
then You called your mother
and john
giving them a life together…
an elder son
to care for her needs…
and a new mother for john
(so young)
to love and respect.

then You were done.

or so we thought.

You had only begun to
fight…
to change the cosmos.

we did not know
Who You were
or
what You were about.

so we grieved
without hope.

until You spelled it out
for us.

seeing #3

signs of kingdom-of-God-LIFE
abound
though hidden
like a gopher in the field
always working
the hidden reality
beneath what is
easily seen.

please give us eyes
to see beneath the
sod of life,
Lord.

life as dialogue #2

to see our lives
as a monologue
causes us to miss ALL of You,
Lord.

since
we live in Your gigantic story
which we
call “history”…
&
every story worth telling is...
dialogue

and
every time we call on You
we find You
already to be listening
&
at work
for the very best
all around us…

what is it that You
see in us,
Lord?

lazy hearts

our hearts...
our eyes...
our ears...
gratefully take in
the constant offerings
our culture displays
for food
for life
for joy
for to not-think.

why, Lord, are
we
so lazy?
so easily misled?

lies we believe

Lord,
we believe a man
asking for our vote
can save us
where You could not...

we believe a group
wanting power
from us & over us
can save us
where You could not...

we believe a relationship
with another broken person
like us
can save us
where You could not...

why are we
so continuously
so gullible?

lost grace

Lord,
every four years
men fight
with words.

they un-grace Your world
so that they might win
power
to re-make it
in their own image.

they dis-grace one another
so that they might win
power
over the others of us.

can they not see
that it is Your hand which raises up one king
while deposing another?

daughters

they laugh their way
into our hearts, Lord...
the daughters You
thought up.

they weep their way
even deeper.

we laugh and weep
because they do.

blessed & amazed
all the way.

finding ourselves 3 (Mark 10:17ff)

Lord,
when he came to You
young & rich...
we all envied him.

when he left
he was sad because
he was too rich
to follow You
into Life...
and
we felt ourselves poorer
than he was
even more than before.

why then did You begin
to teach us about entering
the YaHWeH-kingdom?

did You fear that we
might follow him
into his new half-life?

finding ourselves 2 (Mark 10:17ff)

Lord,
can we ever find ourselves
outside relationship?

are we ever so lost
as when we seek
ourselves
in a plan? a program?

the rich young man
who came to You
was that lost.

You offered him
not a plan…but
Yourself as the Life-Way.

he was very sad…

finding ourselves 1 (Mark 10:17ff)

Lord,
is finding ourselves
ever as complicated
as we think?
or so simple?

like the rich young man
we look for a sure way…
something that cannot fail…

that is what fear
does to us.

yet
all the time
our identity lies
hidden in plain view…inside
You!

Hammer

Lord,
Your words
are a hammer
battering our
slow hearts...our
lazy souls...our
prideful wills...

like the blacksmith's
hammer,
Your words...when
we hear them
push us to where we
otherwise
could not
would not
go...
into LIFE.