eastering

i have been thinking about the resurrection and something the apostle paul said…

if we have been crucified and buried with jesus, we are also raised with him

failure may sometimes loom as if it will serve as an early grave for us. when this happens, it is easy to believe that life is essentially over, that our voice has been silenced, that our purpose – the very thing we were created to do – is now lost to us, that we are dead and impotent, that a large immovable stone has been rolled upon our heart and soul and marked with a permanent seal which now defines us.  and even though a part of us agrees with this assessment (even if it’s only 1%), easter tells us otherwise. easter means we don’t have to stay in the grave. in fact, easter means it is impossible to stay there.

raised to live a new life

easter means that we are new. not just that ‘things have changed’ – this is not merely circumstantial. easter means that we have never breathed this air before and the lungs that are pumping it have never inhaled or exhaled before. indeed, every molecule of our being is now part of new creation. we have just become what the abba of jesus had in mind when he knit us together.

he put thomas’ fingers into his side and showed him his hands, the scars

jesus could have been raised without scars. even john the revelator, in his visions, sees jesus at the end of time…with scars. praise god for that 1% that remained! how many would not have believed if it were not for the resurrected scars? so it is with you and me, my friend. that part of us which can’t let go of our failure, can’t forget the past, can’t detach from old creation…it will, in time, become a hope and a blessing for many. dear lord jesus, please, easter in us…do not make us have to wait too long…

pledge of allegiance

as independence day approaches i am thinking about how in christian circles pledges come in threes. we pledge allegiance to the american flag then we pledge allegiance to the christian flag and the bible. but, can one stand for all that america stands for while, at the same time, standing for all that jesus the living word stands for? does our pledge to our country outwardly and knowingly deny jesus the living word? or, as followers of jesus, are we somehow pledging to a different usofa rather than the one which no longer represents jesus. i wonder if jesus the living word would  pledge allegiance to american nationalism. he stood in opposition to the national aspirations of his own people – as did his most prolific apostle, paul. so, again I wonder…does he stand (and die) in direct opposition to it again today? where is he leading us here…and how do we follow? uhum…attention! salute! pledge!

angel (for sabrena)

I’ve got an angel
She doesn’t wear any wings
She wears a heart that could melt my own
She wears a smile that could make me want to sing

She gives me presents
With her presence alone
She gives me everything I could wish for
She gives me kisses on the lips just for coming home

She can make angels
I’ve seen it with my own eyes
You’ve got to be careful when you’ve got good love
Cause them angels will just keep on multiplying

You’re so busy changing the world
Just one smile and you could change all of mine
We share the same soul

by jack johnson

doubt

been in the dumps of late

thought i might write it out

can’t quit thinking about faith

and how it relies on doubt

a painting needs a painter

a sculpture needs a hand

my faith would be much fainter

if on doubt it could not stand

moment of love

cobblers kids ain’t got no shoes

man with the answers still gots the blues

look too long you ain’t gonna see

leave too fast you’ll never get free

absolute talk makes it hard to speak

first you gotta find a bucket that don’t leak

only thing i’ve found down here or above

nothin’s more true than the moment of love

World

Got a package full of Wishes
A Time machine, a Magic Wand
A Globe made out of Gold

No Instructions or Commandments
Laws of Gravity or
Indecisions to uphold

Printed on the box I see
A.C.M.E.’s Build-a-World-to-be
Take a chance – Grab a piece
Help me to believe it

What kind of world do you want?
Think Anything
Let’s start at the start
Build a masterpiece
Be careful what you wish for
History starts now…

Should there be people or peoples
Money, Funny pedestals for Fools who never pay
Raise your Army – Choose your Steeple
Don’t be shy, the satellites can look the other way

Lose the Earthquakes – Keep the Faults
Fill the oceans without the salt
Let every Man own his own Hand
Can you dig it baby?

What kind of world do you want?
Think Anything
Let’s start at the start
Build a masterpiece
Be careful what you wish for
History starts now…

Sunlight’s on the Bridge
Sunlight’s on the Way
Tomorrow’s Calling

There’s more to this than Love

What Kind of world do you want?
What Kind of world do you want?

What Kind of world do you want?
Think Anything
Let’s start at the start
Build a masterpiece, yeah

History Starts Now
Starts now

Be careful what you wish for
Start Now

By Five For Fighting

undying still

the penny faces up most days

but the head still bleeds

bludgeoned by the damned expectation

of insecure needs

hope yet hampered

undying still

hindered from rising high as it will

two

a question or two

are my desires mine

is there glimmer of you

is there hope yet

for hopes that have died

who’s passing I’ve justified

“it wasn’t your will”

“just misguided whim”

“you’ve corrected my course”

“better-off without them”

did i give up too early

too easily let loose

miss all the beauty

pain would produce

the issue then not

self-ambitious desire

but aversion to suffer

to stay in the fire

true dreams bend on struggle

staying the course

pain the path

to fulfillment and source

The Blues

Is this the new year or just another night
Is this the new fear or just another fright
Is this the new tear or just another desperation
Is this the finger or just another fist
Is this the kingdom or just a hit and miss
I miss direction, most in all this desperation

Is this what they call freedom
Is this what you call pain
Is this what they call discontented fame
It’ll be a day like this one when the world caves in
When the world caves in

I’m singing this one like a broken piece of glass
From broken hearts and broken noses in the back
Is this the new year
Or just another desperation
You push until you’re shoving
You bend until you break
‘Til you stand on the broken fields where your fathers lay
It’ll be a day like this one when the world caves in
When the world caves in

Is nothing here worth saving? Is there no one here at all?
Is there any net left that could break our fall?
It’ll be a day like this one when the sky falls down
And the hungry and poor and deserted are found
Are you discontented? Have you been pushing hard?
Have you been throwing down this broken house of cards?
It’ll be a day like this one when the world caves in
When the world caves in

Is there nothing left now, nothing left to sing
Are there any left who haven’t kissed the enemy
Is this the new year or just another desperation
Does justice ever find you? Do the wicked never loose?
Is there any honest song to sing besides these blues?
And nothing is okay until the world caves in
Until the world caves in
‘Til the world caves in

by Jonathan Foreman

real

to speak words formed so long held

to tell the truth in certain terms

to over-shadow and outshine

a life lived so far below

to momentarily align

speech and being now in tune

to say and live one harmonizing chord

to be present

real

long last the embodiment of eternal desire