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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Don't Be Yourself (Tell His Story)



I once set out to find myself, but I wasn't there.

Good thing, too.

Don't let yourself define you
(I can hardly make this clearer!).
You have just got to see through
that image in the mirror,
for it's a most worldly thing,
a creature of a grasping greed,
obsessed with status and with bling,
and bowing to the septic need
to stand apart from God the Maker,
a clay idol on its own
for whom time will be undertaker
before the beast is fully grown,
so look on through the looking glass
to the place where saints and angels pass.

Music from The Killers, with Human

They're maybe the most British band that isn't British.

Sylvia doesn't need to know herself as long as there's ice cream.





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Thursday, March 14, 2024

Do You Want To Be Healed?


 


Do you want to be healed? asked Jesus.

That of course begs the question, Why do you want to be healed?

For most people it's probably a no-brainer. They want to pick up the threads of a ruined life, kinda like Job.

But I'll wager that many don't really think past the miracle, to exactly what they're going to do with that outpouring of grace.

It's kind of like the lottery. A lot of winners wind up broke after a year, because they really had no idea what they were going to do with that windfall, and on-the-job training doesn't seem to work too well.

So if you're asking for a miracle, when all seems lost, and hope has gone...are you ready to receive it?

I don't think God keeps a scorecard, dispensing or withholding the miraculous on the basis of preparedness, so, no, being ready isn't going to help you get what you want.

It'll just make what comes after so much more worthwhile!

So throw your heart and your dreams down the years. Throw them in courage and faith, and maybe, just maybe God will hand them back to you on the other side of Grace.

And if that's not His will, you'll have journeyed in hope.

Is it a miracle you need,
the hand of God for which you wait?
If so, you must plant the seed
for that unknown harvest date.
Don't just sit with arms upraised,
tears on cheeks and mind in neutral.
Sure, the Good Lord should be praised,
but you will find your praise is futile
if you do not have a plan
that projects your heart on ahead.
Don't despair, just understand
that it's not just for lament Christ bled,
but also for the stalwart few,
who, being healed, knew what to do.

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is HURRY. I'll be quick.

Hurry up, fulfill your dream,
and then move on to another
so it will always just seem
that you're outdoing your brother,
for this life's a competition
of cool virtues and hot sins,
and culmination of the vision
is he who dies with most toys wins.
Toss a buck for the collection,
let people think that it's a ten,
for on serious reflection
you'll find now has come to then
and you'll find on fun you've spent
every last benighted cent.

I have no idea where I was going with that, but hey, it's under four minutes.

Music from Glen Campbell, with Rhinestone Cowboy

Sylvia regards ice cream as miraculous enough.



Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Pistol Packin' Jesus (Tell His Story)



 

From Luke's Gospel, chapter 22...

36 Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
37 For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.
38 And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.

The Bible has a lot of sections that are puzzling (read Revelation lately?), but hearing Mr. Turn The Other Cheek suggest that it's time to buy a sword is in a class by itself.

There's any amount of commentary.

Some think it's heavy irony.

Some say that Jesus, knowing he was reckoned among transgressors, wanted to seal the deal by having the Apostles dress up as terrorists. (Presumably, two swords would be enough proof to convict Him.)

Many call this passage figurative, with swords as symbolic of the strength they'd need to endure the coming trials (remember, this scene takes place at the Last Supper).

There are problems with each of these interpretations.

Previously, Jesus had sent the Apostles out in pairs, with only the clothes they wore. But now, with His death imminent, He's telling them to take precautions. The purse bit is there, and it doesn't sound like irony.

As for lending credence to His criminal reputation, He wasn't arrested for leading an armed revolt. So was that suggestion an Oops on His part?

As for a figurative interpretation, this device was usually used in parables, and not in this kind of context.

But hold on...what about Turn The Other Cheek?

There are those who think He meant, turn the other cheek when struck, take one more blow, and then punch out your opponent.

Though it's tempting, and seems to go with doing two miles with someone when one has been demanded (two miles, not twenty), it doesn't seem consistent with His other teachings.

And cutting back across the aisle, He didn't tell the centurion whose servant He healed (and whose faith He highly braised) to find a job with Oxfam...as He advised the rich young man to do.

And then again,.He knew Peter had a sword at the Garden of Gethsemane (I mean, He's GOD, yeah?). He didn't tell Pete to leave it at home. He just said that it was not...or no longer...the time.

So I'm left puzzled.

What about you?

Just what kind of sidearm
do you think Jesus would carry?
A 44 to cause alarm,
homage to Dirty Harry?
He said go ye and sell a cloak
if you have got two
and buy a sword...was this a joke,
or was He quoted true?
It's really hard to reconcile
with Turn The Other Cheek,
but He didn't call for change in style
from the centurion who'd seek
his servant's healing and relief
based solely on his own belief.

Here's Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, with Pistol Packin' Mama

Sylvia doesn't need a gun. Her teeth do the job. Besides...no opposable thumbs!





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Thursday, March 7, 2024

The Reality


 Why did they not want me, God?
Was it something that I did?
Or was it that I may be flawed,
and that they would be rid
of the love I held within,
all that I had to give?
Was, for them, my heart a sin?
Why'd they not let me live?
And God held me much closer still,
and said He didn't know,
that it had been part of His will
that I'd be born and grow
and learn to laugh and learn to play...
and then He had to turn away.

Let this be an engraving
upon your Christian heart,
dedication to the saving
of those who stand apart
and weeping watch the great parade
of life go passing by.
For them the party is charade
for they are marked to die.
They are merely in the way,
an inconvenience,
but you can do much more than pray
with the best intents,
so rise and carry home the fight,
and roll back their coming night.

Under three minutes.

It was Barb writing the second sonnet. She didn't want to claim credit.

I can't think of any music to go with this

Neither can Sylvia.



Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Do You Believe In Miracles? (Tell His Story)


 

As you light the votives,
is your faith a fraud?
Do you doubt the motives
of Almighty God?
Do you feel that miracles divine
have forever passed,
and that the Mets of '69
surely was the last?
Or will you wait, though sad and broken,
yet knowing you were not fed lies,
with your heart wounded but open
to the glory of the skies,
that the God of Three Cross Hill
may show you some wonders still?

Music from Mike And The Mechanics, with All I Need Is A Miracle

Sylvia counts ice cream as miraculous.



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Thursday, February 29, 2024

The Saddest Words Of All


 

The cancer thing is rough and horrible, and I don't want to write about it today.

Still, it does leave room for thinking, and regret.

The saddest words were ever spoken,
words that flaming hell portend
illume a grace that has been broken,
and chill the soul, 'a former friend'.
What fell road led to this place
in which we see fellowship killed?
Can we still not find a trace
of love, or has the heart been stilled?
What is it, that is worth the fight
that comes between what should be whole?
Why pick we Egyptian night,
and let it fester on the soul
when we might yet chose to forbear
insult, and still consent to care?

The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is SUFFER. Can you suffer through another sonnet?

Will you bow, and choose to suffer
through an insult meant to wound?
Will you let God be your buffer,
when you've wept enough, and swooned
into the arms of black despair,
into the vale that floods with tears.
Will you let Him find you there,
let Him shield you from your fears?
Let the pride go out and pass,
let surrender be your all
that you may lay the looking glass,
and with fresh eyes behold the wall
behind which for years you have hidden,
and to surmount you now are bidden.

Three minutes thirty.

Barb does say I make her climb the walls, sometimes.

Music from The Sandpipers, with Come Saturday Morning

Come bearing ice cream, and all insult is forgotten.


Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Will You Say Hullo? (Tell His Story)




 He slipped into the rearmost pew,
a denim vest, no shirt.
No telling what he had gone through,
but clearly he'd been hurt
by the turns his life had taken 
by drugs and fights and alcohol.
Not broken yet, but he was breaking,
and he'd hit a wall
in which, by some wonderment
a door had opened wide.
Was it choice, or was he sent?
No matter now, he stepped inside,
and when it was collection time,
he offered up his final dime.

Music from Switchfoot, with Love Alone Is Worth The Fight

Sylvia says ice cream is worth the fight, as well.



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