Sunday, June 28, 2020

center hold

center hold

newton’s third
works
when the
center holds

actions
reactions
require
connection

similarly
lashes and backlashes
pendulum swings
yins and yangs

but if
the center
fails…

if the essential
connection is
broken…

fragmentation
brokenness
dis-integration

perhaps that
in troubled
and troubling
times is the
role of the
peacemaker

to stand
centered
clinging
to the edges
holding them
together

the image
of a cross
of the Cross
gathers up
what
peace making
might mean

Monday, June 22, 2020

Towards Oneness

Had the opportunity to reflect on what unity might look like configured from the bottom, rather than the top... It has rocked me to consider what Jesus invites us to and why it matters so much.
Towards Oneness

Friday, June 19, 2020

Overlooking

Overlooking

it is a luxury
costly beyond measure
to look away
to ignore
what most can’t
especially those
overlooked

to
over time
un-see
seen
is a costly
blindness
afforded
to few

sooner or later
the overlooked
pile up in ways
unavoidably
inconvenient
except to those
choosing blindness
through isolation

to be able
to move along
get back to business
resume as you were
is a privilege beyond
the reach of
the seeing
the noticing

the cost of
not seeing
of overlooking
of turning away
is the missing
of Jesus
with and as
the overlooked
the unseen

so
let the one
who has eyes
see

Sunday, June 14, 2020

Beyond Hashtags

Beyond Hashtags

It is probably too late, but I press on in pursuit of likely lost causes. In this case, to rescue the hashtag from its current use to divide and subdivide people into a caricature of an idea they might hold. In the social media universe, at least as I understand it, the hashtag was intended to simplify searching for similar categories across multiple posts and platforms. The symbol provided a quick and easy way to sort lists and entries. Very helpful – allowing the organization of bits and pieces of information, thoughts, musings, opinions, and so on, after the fact, and to collect similar bits from wherever hashtags indicate they are residing. All well and good.

The problem, at least as I see it, is that the hashtag has been weaponized. I can imagine a version of it in Corinth - #iamofpaul #iamofapollos #iamofchephas #IAMOFCHRIST – rallying points for division. I suppose it might be more or less innocent were it used to register preference – which is inevitable. But what seems to happen is that my preference becomes, in my informed insecurity, the best option not only for me for everyone – which then leads to it becoming an easy measure of the intelligence of everyone – which then leads to it becoming a way  of dismissal, often with appropriate contempt, of the unenlightened who do not have two brain cells to rub together as witnessed by the fact that they don’t agree with me! They are probably, therefore, subhuman and deserving of nothing but shame lest they spread their damnable ignorance to the naive. And thus, we hashtag other parts of the Image of God – of the Body of Christ – into easily disposed of categories with self-congratulatory ease.

Not good.

What is missing in the hashtagged world is the reality of nuance – of both/and. Hashtags are gross filters – either/or, yes/no, for/against, agree/disagree. But that is not, in practice, how we think or live – unless forced into it by an increasingly loud shame culture, quick to tell us how we must think and live if we are to be accepted in the best of circles – by which is meant, by implication, the normal, sane, intelligent group of which I am a part (as compared to the reprehensible group on the other side). It’s like middle school all over again! Identity – value – is wrapped up in the most facile of markers, reducing those who aren’t us to cootie status!

It does not take long, if we are even moderately observant, to notice that, while there are some clear either/or, yes/no, issues – most of life is far too complex to allow for the simple sub-divisions implicit in our current hashtag identities. It is multi-textured, multi-hued, multi-faceted – and calls for respectful awareness of the mystery of being. We hashtag into reductionistic simplicity, to our loss. We may still hold to our preference, but we must do so humbly knowing that it is possible to be both/and on most issues about which we care. Further, it is possible to hold to a point of view without espousing everything that gets lumped into the hashtagged version of that point of view. We can, and probably must, be political – but we need not be (dare not be, as disciples of Jesus) partisan, knowing that no single party – no single position on pretty much anything – is going to adequately represent the Kingdom of God, which, ultimately, we seek in all its glorious depth and breadth.

Hashtagging disables constructive engagement – we have already filed people into their respective categories thinking, by doing so, that we no longer need deal with them as people. Not so. In many cases, the opinion someone holds on any particular issue is the least important thing about them – so when we start with that, when we subdivide by least important things, we lose out on the mystery that reveals how much we are alike. We lose out on wonder.

Friday, June 12, 2020

Jesus said...

Jesus said…

Love one another

i said
could you explain

Jesus said
Love one another

i said
perhaps an example?

Jesus said
as I have loved you

i said
oh

but what if…

Jesus said
Love one another

i said
but you don’t understand how…

Jesus said
Love one another

i said
but they’re wrong about…

Jesus said
Love one another

i said
but they hurt me

Jesus said
Love one another

i said
but they don’t love me

Jesus said
Love one another

i said
don’t you have anything else to say

Jesus said

.

Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Love > Fear

Had a chance to reflect on what it is that the Lord might be requiring of us these days...
Love > Fear

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

The Clothes Have No Emperor

The Clothes Have No Emperor

 

An old child’s tale

tells of the naïve speaking

of one who doesn’t know any better

but… knows better. Not seeing what

others with vested interests don’t

see – but who will not, in fearful “wisdom,”

speak

 

It is a tale of imagined

splendor, woven of words

without substance

literally

without substance

woven words become opaque

in placating one who

cannot will not see

blinded by unimaginable

hubris

 

Our modern version

twists

as, blinded it seems,

by the same powerless pride

emperors and wanna bes

appear fully clothed

armored in Armani splendor

holding symbols of power

position, place that ought

have meaning

but… don’t.

perhaps another child

is needed

to point out

the clothes

have no emperor

and cannot make one

 

meanwhile we

living in exile

are subjects

not of emperor

but of king

most known

most fully known

in naked splendor

bleeding out in

love

clothed in glory

dazzling in splendor

becoming through

suffering

the King of all Kings.

Lord of all Lords.