2024-03-17

Ask these brothers...



Last night we eight had beers, or drink of sorts

(that's after bush-dance), at the Fed. Hotel.

And while we sat, we started to cavort,

some questing to do, to ask & to tell.


Maybe, like Ian Johanson said, "The few,

the high trust situation might allow"

for real questing to wrestle down the "who"

of what it means to follow him somehow


(since, to the most of us, we have not "seen"

him, yet we've let his love into our hearts.

We recognize his wisdom, what it means

to choose for his creative love that starts


when we allow it into us and out, 

in ev'ry choice we make, not to be fussed

but to respond in kind (not only doubt),

to him, who's been so kind, for giving such


devotion to the Father of our souls

and also to his boys scattered, on task.

I heard their words, but now see on the whole

I didn't listen well, or quickly ask


some clarifying questions or, to hear

some further bits of stories they enshrine.

So brothers, "I am sorry." It appears

that I'm still immature, & often times


I'm not responding with the grace that's been

so showered on to me, to let me join

in with his plan to build, not to demean.

So thanks for each good question, friends of mine.



My questing on/


in/ for the "Complex Leg" of the long run:




What disciplines or rhythms do you train

in now, to listen and tune in to God, 

to take his attitudes on, in the main

expressing them in choices made and trod


in, lived out in his world, and then to learn

to speak this news he's given us to tell

that his reign is, and though it might be spurned 

it's very close, and can make all things "well".




Ca, Lu, Sa, Ci, Ja, Da, Jo, Pa…

 


 

2024-03-14

"Dying joyfully…"




Blessings on this couple, God & Lord!

That's Laurie & Elvita & their hoard

of loved ones who have often times implored

you to give more your grace, & peace assured


to them and all those who would bless them too.

May all who curse them find their curse reviewed

by you who only speak what's good and true.

May heart and soul & mind be much renewed,


as body dwindles, like teeth that once chewed.

Please give them breath and movement don't eschew

these frail ol' bodies, may each day be clued

with hints of all your life and love. You're goud!





creative love..

 ..forms, & transforms (death into life) etc..



And he was "gathered to his fathers^", so

it speaks of Abraham, and Israel too;

which maybe speaks of not "where he would go"

so much as of relationships, and who.


A gathering's essential, requisite,

for each to add to whole, in meaningful

and modulating ways, quite exquisite,

fulfilling and also for filling full!


To gather up together, and also

to come together as a choice at least,

but no choice less than chief delight to go

and come, and go, the movement IS the feast!


Not just some movement, as though it per se

was virtuous, a wind of gas that moves

to lower pressure places in the way

the weather forecast-ers try to improve.


But movement with, or in the comp'ny of,

an other who is as you, at your source.

And anything that aids, abetts such nov-

el move- meant as it is, to grow of course


not just by formulas of maths, or laws

but by the rule of heséd*, chief delight,

the undergirding principle which shaws

up ev'rything, and by it we have sight.


It brings this world, creatively to be,

for fun, and for enjoyment filling up.

It's bouncing off our best hopes that we'd see,

and overflowing ev'rybody's cup.



Genesis 25:8; 35:29; 49:29-33; Deut 30:50

*   hesed, the Hebrew word often translated into English as everlasting love, or loyal love or faithful love, or covenant keeping faithfulness, or loving-kindness, or steadfast love, and then into Greek as agapé.



2024-03-10

LOVE

 your  work !




Well, oh my GOD, I love what you have done,

& how you've done it too. You've done it well!

For you to notice then, in turn, your son

& how well he expressed and did your will…


is yet more reason for me to want to

become like you, who notices the man-

ner in which things are done, and also who

is right to do them, ev'ry way they can.


I love your multi-valent metaphors,

with all your Dad-jokes, poetry of sorts,

and riddles, games, of course you're not a bore,

since your creative-it-y well affords


attention to de-tails as well as heads

(and tales come in, and get a place as well).

I love your choice of head who once was dead,

so he can head up this journey from hell-


-ish living, to the heavenly kind that

we humans were conceived of (in your love),

to do, embody on Earth, that seems flat,

but isn't, as who's informed from above


to function as a citizen of Heav-

-en (heav-y concepts here must be worked out)

to lighten up the mixture (as does leav-

-en in a batch of dough). We caught that shout!


Whereby he shouted food and drink around.

And shouted out a pithy message too,

as herald of the Emperor, who found

some rulers whom he'd like to rule here through.




2024-03-09

Honour, humour,

on a human quest…



My calling as a human's best expressed

not in the words of mechanism, though 

they be involved in ev'rything. I'm blessed

with more than a reptilian mind so


I'll oversee a world of things, to bring

some aspect of the Father Mammal's care,

protection, and provision kind of thing,

instead of just the male's impulse to pair.


And humans more than other mammals have

capacity to then objectifine* -

not just for self to get about and nav-

igate, for filling up desires of mine.


We seem to have this penchant to do more,

so often times will posit bigger things

like ideologies to serve, & score

for, as a master, or as underlings.


And if I let that side of me then rule

I sink to a reptilian mindset.

And "human" is defined to be a "fool",

a Homer (not the Greek, but who forgets).


A homing pigeon, or the telly-show

a father figure cartoon-ish one who

still longs to be in charge, and a hero,

but other forces impact all he'll do.


I s'pose the choice we might still have is what

we choose to let us impact most, and who

will be our figures farther back. My GOD,

what shrine will I do homage at? Who'll do?



*   objectifine: I use this word as a compound of two of our chief desires, or at least things we humans often do, to objectify, & define; both of which are probably necessary aspects of the task of naming, nomenclature, and connect with our capacity to use the WORD (which is a tool to either box or describe, to control or empower, to en-noble or debase. Who has not experienced both aspects through the use of words?).



The most important word has not been heard

in this po-em-ish thing-o here above

(@ least what helps me redefine absurd

things, as sex can be when it's not for ….).




2024-03-08

..not just "he said.."..



(with a rolling "h") heséd*



Oh God, I'd hardly know of love that's true

except I've had a taste of it myself;

both ways, from you my Father to me through

both friends & family here on Earth. No stealth-


-y project. Pretty much full-on since birth-

day parties, kisses, hugs, and holding hands

show off, exalt, and celebrate with mirth,

the love of life which knows & understands.


And though I'm often late, not organized,

and immature, and baby-ish a lot,

and find I do, what I've often despised;

quite inconsistent, often I've forgot-


ten times when I've been loved; just soaked it in

as though it was fresh air, for me to breathe.

Oh God, as I look back, maybe the sin

I've most committed, and what I now grieve,


is just not seeing love, when it's been there,

and I've been in it, like a fish at sea.

But also, there've been times I've shown the care 

of you my Father through me to fam'ly


and friends on Earth; and here, you push me on

to love my enemies, with love from you.

Then celebrate that love with poem & song.

I'm letting your good crop grow in me to


both multiply, and influence quite deep

this shallow soil. Your anger doesn't boil,

but softly whispers to me as I sleep

and wake, in hesed love. You are my foil°!





heséd is the Hebrew word for loyal love, or keeping one's word, or covenant commitment, undergirding its friends and associates like justice, tender mercies, and compassion.


°  foil: two (of 4) meanings outlined by the Cambridge Dictionary that are fulfilled by God in my life are:

e.g. foil for The older, cynical character in the play is the perfect foil for the innocent William.

e.g.The prisoners' attempt to escape was foiled at the last minute when police received a tip-off.

[In this case I understand "successful" to mean to succeed in my instinctive, first level of response, in order to gain and "work out" this partnership's response. I am thinking of the way the two hemispheres of the human brain affect each other with inhibitory impulses, designed, I suppose to give time for a responsecto be hammered out from the full partnership utilizing the benefits that come along with the frustrations involved in a communal, combined view.]


Background Notes

  • We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. Rise up and help us; rescue us because of your unfailing love. (Psalms 44:25‭-‬26 NIVUK)