Poverty & Power

When is poverty not related to the mis-use of power?

Really

What if I bring an empty cup
An empty cup to You?
What if I can pour nothing out
That's good or loving true?
What if all I really have
is an angry brew?
A dark, ground, scalding shout
Directed right at You?
Do you really want this cup?
Won't it burn Your lips?
Ah, Your eyes do brightly shine
Between the long, slow sips

-- Tim Koshnick

Oil and Water

Like oil and water, we lean
toward independence.
Our learning forces us to wait
for a blended fragrance
to waft us back togethered,
trusting
the betternness within each other
to soften the fast-grown
crusting.
With oil and water now mixed,
we savor the bread's
surprising moments:
The trust of unseparation
...unlike oil and water.

Starred

>Never a word, their silence sown,
Flickers delicate upon my own.
Light the touch -- no accident --
One silence with another blent,
Till I become accustomed to
A hope the growing quiet knew:
Of finding in my own soul-wide
A quiet sparkle deep inside.

-- Tim Koshnick

Tough vs Strong

Tough is hard,
while strength doesn't have to be.

Tough is outside; strong is from within.

A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever

Its lovliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkn'd ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
'Gainst the hot season; the mid-forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink.

-- John Keats

Beauty is so strong, this is partly why it is a joy.

Deeper

There are deeper things you do not know;
Mysteries that will remain so.
Until your heart, its courage found,
Looks to where your Fears abound...
Then seeing them stretch from east to west
You hold open your frightened eyes lest
Your true condition you somehow deny,
And the deeper work passes you by.

-- Tim Koshnick

Perceived or not, this work is a thing of beauty.

West Wind 2

You are young. So you know everything. You leap
into the boat and begin rowing. But listen to me.
Without fanfare, without embarrassment, without
any doubt, I talk directly to your soul. Listen to me.
Lift the oars from the water, let your arms rest, and
your heart, and heart’s little intelligence, and listen to
me. There is life without love. It is not worth a bent
penny, or a scuffed shoe. It is not worth the body of a
dead dog nine days unburied. When you hear, a mile
away and still out of sight, the churn of the water
as it begins to swirl and roil, fretting around the
sharp rocks – when you hear that unmistakable
pounding – when you feel the mist on your mouth
and sense ahead the embattlement, the long falls
plunging and steaming – then row, row for your life
toward it.

-- Mary Oliver

...we row so hard...in the wrong direction. Trust your Captain's voice and the work he asks of you.

The Third Body

A man and a woman sit near each other, and they do not long
at this moment to be older, or younger, or born
in any other nation, or any other time, or any other place.

They are content to be where they are, talking or not talking.
Their breaths together feed someone we do not know.

The Man sees the way his fingers move;
He sees her hands close around a book she hands to him.

They obey a third body that they share in common.
They have promised to love that body.

Age may come, parting may come, death will come.
A man and a woman sit near each other;
as they breathe they feed someone we do not know
Someone we know of, whom we have never seen

-- Robert Bly, from the collection "Ten Poems to Open your Heart" by Robert Housden


I am turning to poems this week. On the surface they allude to something, both farther in and farther out, something underneath, something behind...

...something wounding, like beauty.
...something comforting, like sadness.
...something glorious, like transcendence.

It will be a good week.

Thinking & Feeling

Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become...habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. And watch your character, for it becomes your destiny! What we think we become.

-- Margaret Thatcher



The movie (The Iron Lady) is an interesting view of the merging of youth and old age, forgetting and remembering, thinking and feeling.

I find this an interesting and repeating function of aging over each generation...the identifying and holding on to what is felt to be (or thought to be) 'right', virtues and liabilities inevitably in tow....  This one is worth seeing, especially for those who grew up in that era.

Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit - Revisited

The question from a prior post was, "What do you think characterizes the 'poor in spirit'?"

It strikes me that the NLT translation of Matt 5:3 is getting at it:

God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

I've seen many poor people who have no realization of this...in this sense, they are no different than the rich who don't either.  In other words, as my Dad says, "you can be as greedy with $15 as you can with $15,000".

Life of Passion - You Don't Need It!

You do not need to have a life full of passion. What is that life, anyway?

-- Penelope Trunk

My oh my, do I love this one!  Finally someone who stops blowing the 'passion' horn.  I've always hated that...noise.

I do think we're often talking about something else, when we're talking about that.  Penelope does a good job of helping re-construct it (see link above).

All Our Busy Rushing

We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.

-- Psalm 39:6

Puts things a bit more in perspective, doesn't it? It leaves you asking a few important questions about we're all doing here...so busily.

Income Tax Day

On this day of internal revenue
       some of us are paid up,
       some of us owe,
       some of us await a refund,
       some of us have no income to tax.

But all of us are taxed,
       by war,
       by violence,
       by anxiety,
       by deathliness.

And Caesar never gives any deep tax relief.

We render to Caesar...
       to some it feels like a grab,
       to some it is clearly a war tax,
       to some - some few ---
              it is a way to contribute to the common good.

In any case we are haunted
       by what we render to Caesar,
       by what we might render to you,
       by the way we invest our wealth and our lives,
       when what you ask is an "easy yoke":
              to do justice
              to love mercy
              to walk humbly with you.

-- Walter Brueggeman

Thanks for sending, Sue.

Going Home

The new Leonard Cohen CD has a profoundness to it that is difficult to fully grasp or describe until we are face to face with our common end.  He opens the new album with this song.  Imagine him in some kind of conversation with God about his impending, yet unidentified death (I think this is part of what is going on...he is 77).  I appreciate lines like the following:

And none of us deserving
The cruelty or the grace

...you can also listen from this link, if you like:

I love to speak with Leonard
He’s a sportsman and a shepherd
He’s a lazy bastard
Living in a suit

But he does say what I tell him
Even though it isn’t welcome
He will never have the freedom
To refuse

He will speak these words of wisdom
Like a sage, a man of vision
Though he knows he’s really nothing
But the brief elaboration of a tube

Going home
Without my sorrow
Going home
Sometime tomorrow
To where it’s better
Than before

Going home
Without my burden
Going home
Behind the curtain
Going home
Without the costume
That I wore

He wants to write a love song
An anthem of forgiving
A manual for living with defeat

A cry above the suffering
A sacrifice recovering
But that isn’t what I want him to complete

I want to make him certain
That he doesn’t have a burden
That he doesn’t need a vision

That he only has permission
To do my instant bidding
That is to SAY what I have told him
To repeat

Going home
Without my sorrow
Going home
Sometime tomorrow

Going home
To where it’s better
Than before

Going home
Without my burden
Going home
Behind the curtain
Going home
Without the costume
That I wore

I love to speak with Leonard
He’s a sportsman and a shepherd
He’s a lazy bastard
Living in a suit

-- Leonard Cohen, Old Ideas

Here is another great one from the new CD.

Marriage & Forgiveness

A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.

-- Ruth Bell Graham

Dance With the Devil

At one point or another or until we learn not to, we want to dance with the Devil as much as we think we can get away with.  At these times, we want what he's selling...until we see more clearly what it is (or isn't).

And it seems, we have to learn in very personal ways that he is the Father of Lies.

Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

-- Matt 5:3

Makes you wonder about what it is that the 'poor in spirit' have which will qualify them to rule in God's kingdom.  In our kingdom, the poor in spirit are condescended to, even frowned upon.  They don't have 'what it takes'.  ...to lead, to be a visionary, to be a hard-charger, to be a mover-and-shaker, etc...to rule really, a kingdom.

But, as seems typical in God's order of things, these folks will end up being the 'rulers'...perhaps because of something they learned when they were 'poor'.  I wonder when that will be, what that will look like.

What do you think characterizes the 'poor in spirit'?  Why do you suppose that in God's economy 'theirs is the kingdom of heaven'?

Thoughts on Getting Dumped

Another entry from Bob Goff...from Donald Miller's blog:

"I was in college and thought I wanted to be a forest ranger and later, a surfer. Then I got my first “dear Bob” letter from someone I really cared for who didn’t want to date a forest ranger or a surfer any more.

I’ve learned that God sometimes allows us to find ourselves in a place where we want something so bad that we can’t see past it...read on."

One of the blessings of poverty (being poor, not being 'rich', etc.) is the built-in 'No' in life.

Too bad we don't often see it that way.  But, I still suspect it is true; there is 'no' built into the regular life of those without much means.  And while not always the case, those who "can't" seem blessed with something that those who "can" often don't have.  It is hard to describe, but you do know when you see it. For example, the thorough enjoyment of something out of the ordinary, genuine gratitude for gifts from others, a simpleness (peace) that pervades one's existence with the direct and experiential knowledge that all goodness comes from God.

...and I'm really impressed by those who don't have to, but still say 'No' to things in life.  It confirms that they believe in something more than their money.

Not Quickly

Most good things don't come quickly.

You've got to walk a ways before you can learn to really appreciate and enjoy the goodness in things.  ...along the beach, through the woods, into life.

Awwww!

Click pic for more 'Awwww!'

Christ Is Risen

Christ is risen!
We give thanks for the gift of Easter
       that runs beyond our explanations,
              beyond our categories of reason,
       even more, beyond the sinking sense of our own lives.
We know about the powers of death,
                     powers that persist among us,
                     powers that drive us from you, and
                            from our neighbor, and
                            from our best selves.
We know about the powers of fear and greed and anxiety,
                            and brutality and certitude.
                     powers before which we are helpless.

And then you...you at dawn, unquenched,
              you in the darkness,
              you on Saturday,
              you who breaks the world to joy.
Yours is the kingdom...not the kingdom of death,
Yours is the power... not the power of death.
Yours is the glory... not the glory of deathl
       Yours... You... and we give thanks
              for the newness of life beyond our achieving.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

-- Walter Brueggeman

Lent's Birth - Resurrection Sunday

Paula said if you did this all the way, it may prove to be the very antidote you've been seeking.

Conversion means being liberated by God's grace so that we can at last follow the intimate spiritual aspirations that have long been unheeded, neglected, or frustrated.  It is the beginning of the journey towards a fulfillment, a journey powered by the spiritual quest but one which profoundly influences and transforms every sphere of human activity and experience.

-- Michael Casey

I have loved the recalibration this year's Lent has born in me.  Not that I'm all better or have become someone else.  But, I have been recalibrated to what makes me alive to who I really am.  And, I am grateful for it.

A few final thoughts from the wonderful little book I've referenced throughout this season:

Just as Jesus humbly bore his cross through the winding streets of Jerulsalem, I must be willing to carry the burden of myself as I am. Instead of fantasizing about my special gifts or fine character, I must lay aside self-importance. I must stop catering to my own whims, putting my own needs before the needs of others, or taking my own righteousness as a given. I must learn to see myself as I am: neither too high or too low.
...

That renunciation of my former way of life causes suffering, both for me and for those who love me but who are incapable of understanding the journey I am on. No matter how I'd like to avoid that stark reality, what I sign up for when I accept the faith is the quiet bearing of pain. Some of the worst of it has to do with the total restructuring of the person I've come to identify as myself.
...

Genuine transformation requires obedience to a power greater than myself.
...

Despite my predilection toward a strictly private relationship with God, I see that we do not and cannot meet him totally on our own. I realize that I am accompanied on this difficult spiritual journey not only by my living brothers and sisters in Christ but also by countless generations of believers who have already made the transition from earthly existence to the "land of likeness" -- the heavenly home that Jesus went to prepare for us. No longer merely an individual, I have been engrafted into the Body of Christ.
...

Our only way of thanking him is to offer back what he has so generously given:   our consecrated selves. We are made to bring peace to the war-torn, sustenance to the starving, hope to the desperate, love to the despised and the alone, and the good news of salvation to the ignorant and the cynical.
...

This task sounds daunting...so he reminds us of who he made us to be:

You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain that cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father. (Mt 5:14-16)

Humility is what allows us to take on this magnificent mission without trembling.

-- Paula Huston, simplifying THE SOUL

Amen.  We are re-born.

Another Slanted Morning

It is another slanted morning.  And, when I saw it, my heart rose a bit in anticipation.  I have come to love sunlight from the side, as it slants in on things, making both high-lights and shadow simultaneously..  Add in some heavenly breeze and the world seems to just tingle with dancing motion.  And, the secret of its beauty seems to be that it does so without calling attention to itself.  It just whispers faintly, "do you know what I know?"  I think it is a beauty that knows it source, so it has no need to advertise or flaunt itself.  It just is...reflecting its reflecting on the One who makes it all move and shine.

Whew...about all you can do is breathe it in; slowly, deeply, wonderfully.

As I do this, something settles in me.  I rediscover that I am a part of all of this, that I have a part in all of this.  And, when I assume this same position -- reflecting God like the rest of his creation -- a strange thing happens, I come alive.

I love it when truth sneaks up on you in ways like this.  It taps you gently on the shoulder and offers you something didn't expect, from the side, as it slants itself into your budding awareness.

The Outrageous

If you’ve lost the capacity to be outraged by what’s outrageous, you’re dead. Somebody ought to come and haul you off.

-- Wendell Berry

Are we outraged by anything any more? We are shocked by so little. We feed on things that should shock as if it were a normal diet. Not unlike the Hunger Games, we make nearly everything entertainment and become callous to what is deeply wrong. Like this day represents in the spiritual calendar, we view it largely as just one more day to get something done or with which to amuse ourselves.

We ought to be hauled off...I'd say, to the dessert until we can see things for the way they really are again...what is good and what isn't.

Learning from Silence

The great secret of monastic life, which on the surface looks like total withdrawal from human society, is that years of solitude, silence, and prayer, if they are undergone in the right spirit, lead to an expanded heart. Thomas Merton says, "Father, I beg you to keep me in this silence so that I may learn from it the word of your peace and the word of your mercy and the word of your gentleness to the world: and that through me perhaps your word of peace may make itself heard where it has not been possible for anyone to hear it for a long time."

-- Paula Huston, simplifying THE SOUL

2 of the Beauty in my Life

 

Few of Us Would

If it were up to us to judge who deserved forgiveness and who did not, few of us would forgive at all. Instead, we'd cherish our self-righteous rage, nurture our towering anger, and soon find ourselves on the road to self-destruction or mayhem. We cannot be trusted to pick and choose whom we will forgive. And, so, as folders of Christ, we are enjoined to forgive without measure.

-- Paula Huston, simplifying THE SOUL

Come Healing

O gather up the brokenness
And bring it to me now
The fragrance of those promises
You never dared to vow

The splinters that you carry
The cross you left behind
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind

And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb

Behold the gates of mercy
In arbitrary space
And none of us deserving
The cruelty or the grace

O solitude of longing
Where love has been confined
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind

O see the darkness yielding
That tore the light apart
Come healing of the reason
Come healing of the heart

O troubled dust concealing
An undivided love
The Heart beneath is teaching
To the broken Heart above

O let the heavens falter
And let the earth proclaim:
Come healing of the Altar
Come healing of the Name

O longing of the branches
To lift the little bud
O longing of the arteries
To purify the blood

O let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb

-- Leonard Cohen, Old Ideas