becoming flame

Up to its knees in the past

Post author By dw
Post date June 14, 2020
No Comments on Up to its knees in the past

Reflecting again on the nature of hope brings me back to a quote from Frederick Buechner I posted last year.

Click through to see where I think hope ends.

Then at last we see what hope is and where it comes from, hope as the driving power and outermost edge of faith. Hope stands up to its knees in the past and keeps its eyes on the future…shall is the verb of hope.
Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons, “A Room Called Remember”
Up to its knees in the past – becoming flame

Grace and peace to you…

Tags a room called remember, choice, despair, Frederick Buechner, future, hope, past, Secrets in the Dark

Current Events Poetry the real self

Here and Now

Post author By dw
Post date June 7, 2020
1 Comment on Here and Now

When your habit 
your normal course of action 
doesn't hear me out
doesn't let me finish my sentence...

When I am shushed 
if the question that matters to me
doesn't matter to you...

When I seek a better solution 
for all of us 
and my words 
expressing ideas important to me 
in language important to me 
are shifted 
to your words and language 
or struck from the final deal 
altogether...

When I strive to paint
together with you 
a world with more variety
of color and line
and my colors and lines
are painted over 
or are imperceptible 
except to one who knows
just where to look for them...

When everything I offer is met with
Not here 
Not now:

What do I do 
with a lifetime 
of the ends of sentences
jammed in my throat
and the wildly alive 
Image of God 
burning 
here and now
in my chest?

Tags habits, image of God, racism, relationships

prayer Scripture the real self

Losing so we can find

Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?
Peterson, Eugene H.. The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language . The Navigators. Kindle Edition.

May my plans defer to his plans,
  my ways to his ways,
  my words to his words,
  my life to his life,
  who is Life itself,
  who is the Word itself,
  who is the Way,
  who has plans for me,
  for you,
  for the world.

Amen.

Tags discipleship, embracing suffering, Eugene Peterson, finding ourselves, following Jesus, Gospel of Matthew, losing ourselves, The Message

love Poetry

Note to self

Post author By dw
Post date May 24, 2020
2 Comments on Note to self

To do
during COVID-19
or any other crisis
or any other normal time:

Love God with all I've got.
Love every person that crosses my path.
Love the people I don't like 
  and who don't like me.
Plead for God's will to be done here 
  as if this were heaven.

Act and speak accordingly.

Grace and peace to you…

Tags COVID-19, God's will, love your enemy, love your neighbor, loving God, time of crisis

love Poetry

Our greatest danger

OUR GREATEST DANGER is not our sins but our indifference. We must be in love with God. It is not so much to change what we are doing, but our intention, our motive.
Day, Dorothy. The Reckless Way of Love: Notes on Following Jesus (Plough Spiritual Guides: Backpack Classics) (p. 29). Plough Publishing House. Kindle Edition.

What I do,
What I intend to do,
And how I feel about it
(I keep thinking)

Are distinct,
Separate, in fact,
And controllable,
(I keep telling myself)

Their interactions civil
And honorable
To any casual observer
(I keep believing)

Until the slightest whisper of a feeling
Changes my mind and my actions
Forever

Tags danger, decisions, Dorothy Day, emotions, following Jesus, intention, loving God, motive, sin, The Reckless Way of Love