Movie projectors

After I John 4:7-12

We are movie projectors,

humming as the film is fed

into us or the pixels

permeate circuits and lines

in the glow, the light,

the light begins to shine

from within, the audience

isn’t focused on the projector

behind but on the screen

in front as the reflection,

the illumination,

the Codex Filmaticus,

appears. It is the light within

the projector that glimmers

to the screen, wrapped and

colorized, beauty filled

with surprise and wonder.

Photograph by Jeremy Yap via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Not an option

After I John 4:7-12

Not an option

not a choice

not a suggestion

not a question or debate.

A command: love

one another because

you can’t help it when

the love of him is within,

because once accepted and

contained it overflows, spilling

like a rising river flowing

from its banks. The love

within comes from without

and we can’t help but pour

that love on one another.

The love spills,

uncontainable.

Photograph by Collins Lesulie via Unsplash. Used with permission.

First he loved

After I John 4:7-12

First he loved

me, the disciple whom

he loved, so much

that even when I’m

an old man, sitting on

a rock, staring out

at the sea when I’m

not having visions,

everything falls away,

fading before the memory

of his love, the reality

of his love, the presence

of his love.

It was, it is, it will be.

That’s how he loved –

a look, a touch, a word,

a laugh, a cry, he breathed it

even as he breathed

his final gasp of air

a final grasp of his hand

a final glance toward

us gathered in the dirt

before him. At that moment

his love was finished,

his love was begun.

Photograph by Jacob Meyer via Unsplash. Used with permission.