Accidental Eucharist Poetry

Rejoice, the Body of Christ broken for you.
Rejoice, the Blood of Christ shed for you.

I said these words while participating in the Eucharist at St. Bridgids.  St. Bridgids has a very inclusive approach to the table.  Anyone who is willing may come to the table.  Anyone who comes to the table is also a server.  The table is not a place of solitude, nor is it a place of hierarchy.  So as we began I asked the woman I'd be serving her name. Her answer "Rejoice".

Beauty - a Lenten poem

He had no form or comeliness That we should look at him, And no beauty that we should desire him. — Isaiah 53:2 

A whiff. A beagle for beauty I sniffed Monet’s haystacks, van Gogh’s sunflowers, 
Devoutly meditated Marilyn’s breasts, 
Watched kingfishers—lost the scent. 

Kiss the leper’s wound: taste honey. 
Touch the blind eye: learn Braille. 
Keep vigil at the cradle: change diapers.
Drink tears from the chalice: live eucharist. 

Happened on found things, found in gutters 
Found on a cross, found under a stone, 
Heard in the rustling grass, heard in 
A tongue stammering sabachthani. 
Found when I wasn’t looking, heard 
When I wasn’t listening. 
Found beauty.

- Beauty by Eugene Peterson

So far my favorite poem from Holy Luck by Eugene Person. Resonated with my understanding of Lent.  The giving up of what we normally seek so that beauty can find us.

- Peace

The Unmeal

to eat the unmeal
to wash the feet of the one who will betray me tonight
to wash the feet of the one who will deny me three times by morning
to love as i' ve been loved
to live under the unlaw

First Ride of 2010

first two k of twenty ten
Fish Creek hill
water across path
black ice under water
wheels slip
heart stops
bike stays up
what a start

Practice Resurrection

Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ by Eugene Peterson is coming out in February. The title comes from a Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front by Wendell Berry. The final stanza reads

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

- Peace

Jesus isn't Jesus now that he's Jesus

before we made him the answer and forgot the question
before the orthodox and the catholic

before the freaks and the seminars
before we had him charted, dissected and enumerated

before t shirts, bumper stickers and the blue eyes
before the icons, statues and stained glass

He walked the earth
a man from disreputable Nazareth
son of a carpenter
born in a barn

He spoke and he upset our understanding of God

but he's safe now
we have him figured out
he doesn't threaten us

pray for my salvation and that of my people
that we might once again hear the word of the Lord

A Glimpse

caught a glimpse of an alternate 2007
lived in towers amongst the clouds
saving the world with bold moves
glowing sabers
jet-packs and droids
artificial beauties in spandex

and then I was back in my cube
mundane problems
keeping the lights on

home on the train
to my real beauty
to frustrations, fears
real love

our daughter
doing an artful job
of putting together a life
despite the failings of her all too present parents

dinner with a friend
form our community of honest sinners
shared stories
a game
dessert
some pictures

The world gets saved on the ground
not in towers

- Peace

Relationally Fragile

It been a week of weak relationships

A friend chose to leave professional ministry
Another was pushed from professional ministry

Two coworkers from past projects have paired up
two years ago I remember congratulating him
on the birth of his first child
with his first wife

I resigned from a ministry I'd been involved with for four years
for our common context was now too weak to support the work

- Peace

Subversive Poetry in a Postmodern World:

Colossians 1.15-20 Remixed

In an image-saturated world
a world of ubiquitous corporate logos
permeating your consciousness
a world of dehydrated and captive imaginations
in which we are too numbed, satiated and co-opted
to be able to dream of life otherwise
a world in which the empire of global economic affluence
has achieved the monopoly of our imaginations
in this world

Christ is the image of the invisible God
in this world
driven by images with a vengeance

Christ is the image par excellence
the image above all other images
the image that is not a facade
the image that is not trying to sell you anything
the image that refuses to co-opt you

Christ is the image of the invisible God
the image of God
a flesh and blood
here and now
in time and history
with joys and sorrows
image of who God is
the image of God
a flesh and blood
here and now
in time and history
with joys and sorrows
image of who we are called to be
image-bearers of this God

He is the source of a liberated imagination
a sub-version of the empire
because it all starts with him
and it all ends with him
everything
all things
whatever you can imagine
visible and invisible
mountains and atoms
outer space, urban space and cyberspace
whether it be the Pentagon, Disneyland,
Microsoft or AT&T
whether it be the institutionalized power structures
of the state, the academy or the market all
things have been created in him and through him
he is their source, their purpose, their goal
even in their rebellion
even in their idolatry
he is the soveriegn one
their power and authority is derived at best
parasitic at worse

In the face of the empire
in the face of presumptuous claims to sovereignty
in the face of the imperial and idolatrous forces in our lives

Christ is before all things
he is sovereign in life
not the pimped dreams of the global market
not the idolatrous forces of nationalism
not the insatiable desires of a consumerist culture

In the face of a disconnected world
where home is a domain in cyberspace
where neighbourhood is a chat room
where public space is a shopping mall
where information technology promises
a tuned in, reconnected world
all things hold together in Christ
the creation is a deeply personal cosmos
all cohering and interconnected in Jesus

And this sovereignty takes on cultural flesh
And this coherence of all things is socially embodied
in the church
against all odds
against most of the evidence

In a “show me” culture where words alone don’t cut it
the church is
the flesh and blood
here and now
in time and history
with joys and sorrows
embodiment of this Christ
as a body politic
around a common meal
in alternative economic practices
in radical service to the most vulnerable
in refusal to the empire
in love of this creation
the church reimagines the world
in the image of the invisible God

In the face of a disappointed world of betrayal
a world in which all fixed points have proven illusory
a world in which we are anchorless and adrift
Christ is the foundation
the origin
the way
the truth
and the life

In the face of a culture of death
a world of killing fields
a world of the walking dead
Christ is at the head of the resurrection parade
transforming our tears of betrayal into tears of joy
giving us dancing shoes for the resurrection party
And this glittering joker
who has danced in the dragon’s jaws of death
now dances with a dance that is full
of nothing less than the fullness of God
this is the dance of the new creation
this is the dance of life out of death
and in this dance all that was broken
all that was estranged
all that was alienated
all that was dislocated and disconnected
is reconciled
comes home
is healed
and is made whole
everything
all things
whatever you can imagine
visible and invisible
mountains and atoms
outer space, urban space and cyberspace
every inch of creation
every dimension of our lives
all things are reconciled in him

And it all happens on a cross
it all happens at a state execution
where the governor did not commute the sentence
it all happens at the hands of the empire
that has captivated our imaginations
it all happens through blood
not through a power grab by the sovereign one
it all happens in embraced pain
for the sake of others
it all happens on a cross
arms outstretched in embrace
and this is the image of the invisible God
this is the body of Christ

One of three Targums by Brian J. Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat that form the core of Colossians Remixed.

Snow Riding

four wheels glide through fresh fallen snow still falling
two riders crank to keep commitments with end of year deadlines
they rejoice at the wilderness they otherwise would have avoided
on a day with storm warnings

Thanks Calvin.

- Peace