Dumbfounded

After Luke 2:41-52 

His parents stare, almost

in shock. Their 12-year-old

son, their young son, this boy,

is teaching the teachers,

astonishing the teachers

in the temple of the most

high God. Searching for

this boy for three days,

fearing the worst, anxiety

almost out of control,

his parents are almost 

in shock. They say what

any parents would say:

“Where were you? We

looked everywhere! We

though the worst, we

feared the worst. How 

could you do this to us?”

The boy looks calmly

at them, as if surprised. 

“Why were you looking

for me? Didn’t you know

where I was, the only place

I could be and would be,

here, where I belong,

in my father’s house? Why

would I be anywhere else?"

 

Photograph by Toa Heftiba via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Hildegard of Bingen: A Sonnet – Malcolm Guite.

 

Even as the Soul Prospers – Kyle Borg at Gentle Reformation.

 

Missionary, Your Life Makes Sense – Seth Porch at Desiring God.

 

A Theology of Music – Griffin Gooch at Reality Theology.

 

Canada’s MAiD Regime: How We Became a World Leader in Assisted Death: And How Christians Should Respond – Ray Pennings at The Gospel Coalition Canada.

Found

After Luke 2:41-52 

The boy they’d lost,

the boy they feared

was dead, is found,

and found in the most

unlikely of places,

the temple of God;

doing the most unlikely

of things, teaching

the teachers, questioning

the teachers of the law,

amazing the teachers

with his understanding

and his answers. Who is

this 12-year-old from

Nazareth; can any good

come from that place?

And a boy, astonishing

the teachers, the old men,

the wise men, the sages,

with his understanding

and insight of God’s word.

 

Photograph by Jean Valjean via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

“All Bright Things,” poem by Steven Peterson – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

Defending the Faith Like the Apostle Paul – J.V. Fesko at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

Britain just proved that assisted suicide is not inevitable – Jonathon Van Maren at The Bridgehead.

Three days

After Luke 2:41-52 

The travel group is large,

men and women, old

and young, children and

the elderly, parents and

grandparents, many

related, all known

to each other, all knowing

they’d watch out for each

other and the children.

They travel a day before

the couple realize their

son, their oldest, is not

with the group, Panic

seizes their hearts;

they hurry back to the city,

to Jerusalem. They look

everywhere, searching,

asking everyone if they’d

seen the boy, panic rising

in their hearts as they visit

and revisit every place

they’d seen and visited and 

rested. After three days, 

three days of imagining

the worst, three days 

of panic and anxiety, 

three days of growing

fear and despondency,

three days of looking

everywhere except,

perhaps, the least and

the most obvious,

the temple, the house 

of God. Three days, 

and the boy they feared

was dead, was found,

as if he’d risen again

in their hearts.

 

Photograph by Cole Keister via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

The Face We All Look For – Ami Wickiser at Gospel-Centered Discipleship.

 

Delicious Life – Elizabeth Stice at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

A Shepherd’s Heart: Honest Conversations when Members Leave Upset – Dan Reiland.

Coming to Jerusalem

Luke 19:28-40 

He comes to Jerusalem

carrying victory,

not by military power

or brute force, but

with a power not

of this world. He’s

seated upon a colt,

an unridden colt,

a young donkey. 

People wave palms

in welcome, disciples

throw their cloaks

upon the road

in front of him,

people shout their

hosannas, sing their

praises. Excitement

bubbles at the entry

of the king, the king

who comes in peace,

the power of peace,

the triumph of sacrifice.

No king will ever love

his people more, 

the king who brings

peace between,

peace among,

peace within.

 

Photograph by Brady Leavell via Unsplash, Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

“The book that reads you,” poem by Jill Pelaez Baumgaertner – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

Does It Matter if the Tide is Turning? – O. Alan Noble at You Are Not Your Own.

 

The Free Exercise of Religion – Kit Swartz at Gentle Reformation.

 

“The Spacious Firmament on High,” hymn by John Greenleaf Whitter – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

The Secular Liturgy of ‘Goodnight, Moon’ – Dan Olson at The Gospel Coalition.

 

“Autumn,” poem by John Clare – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

An unridden colt

After Mark 11:1-11 

A new king rides

into the city on the colt

ridden by the previous

king, to signify 

the transfer of power.

Choosing an unridden

colt signifies no transfer

of power from one earthly

king to another, but instead

a kingship transferring

from no man, no earthly

institution, but instead

transferring from God.

 

Photograph by Tim Mossholder via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Saved? A sermon for Palm Sunday and Savior of All Who Want More – Mark Daniels.

 

3 Reasons Easter Matters for Your Work – Theology of Work Project.

 

The Light of Hope – Br. Jeremiah Tobin at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

Pagan Easter? The Real Roots of Resurrection Sunday – Michael A.G. Haykin at Desiring God.

 

Notes from Great Lent – Andrew Henry at The Saxon Cross.

 

The Hidden Sorrow of Easter – David Bannon at Front Porch Republic.

Some Wednesday Readings

Massacre at St. Louis: The Road to the Camp Jackson Affair and Civil War by Kenneth Burchett  - review at Civil War Books and Authors. 

What does it mean to be Christian? – Steve Dew-Jones at The Critic Magazine.

 

My Journey From a Jerusalem of Ghosts to the Living Jerusalem – Niall Ferguson at The Free Press.

 

“Digging,” poem by Edward Thomas – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

The Ironclad St. Louis at Lucas Bend, Missouri – Greg Wolk at Emerging Civil War.

 

Letter #140: The Great Remarriage – Spencer Klavan at The New Jerusalem.

 

Why Gen Z Men Like Me Are Staying in Church – Luke Simon at The Gospel Coalition.

 

Is The Book of Common Prayer Still Useful Today? – Michele Morin at Living Our Days. 

 

Illustration: A contemporary drawing of the St. Louis Riot, also called the Camp Jackson Affair, on May 10, 1861.

The peace within

After Psalm 122 

The peace of Jerusalem

is a thing to be sought,

a thing to be prayed for,

a thing offering safety

to those who love

the city, this city set

apart. It is not the walls,

or the towers, or the houses,

or the streets that define

the city, this city; it is

the people, the people 

whose loves secures

the city, the people

whose peace creates

the city’s defense. And

this peace is corporate,

this peace is individual,

for what is held in common

is held within each heart,

cherished within each person.

To seek good for this city

is to seek good for each person

within it.

 

Photograph by Gerald Schoombs via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Thanksgiving and judgment

After Psalm 122 

Odd to think of a city

with a dual nature, 

as if you were telling

two tales of one city.

It was first bound

together, this city,

bound together firmly,

with purpose and intent.

It is a city for giving

thanks, offering

thanksgiving, a destination

reached by a journey,

the place containing

the house, the object

of the journey to the city,

to offer the giving

of thankfulness. And

it is the place of thrones,

where the thrones are set,

the thrones of judgment,

the thrones of the king,

thrones bound together

in judgment, bound 

together in thanksgiving,

judgment and thanksgiving

bound as one.

 

Photograph by Sander Crombach via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Men in white

After Luke 24:50-53 and Acts 1:1-11

They’re looking up,

expecting to see

something other

than disappearing 

cloud, something,

or someone, coming

back, and instead

they hear two men

in white, and see

two men in white,

asking why look

up, he will come

back the same way,

enveloped in cloud.

They listen, they heed,

and they almost

miss what the two

in white call them:

Men of Galilee,

men who cast nets,

men who fish.

Photograph by Sandy Millar via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Back to the city

After Luke 24:50-53 and Acts 1:1-11

From the olive mount

they walk back to the city,

the city of endings

and beginnings, his words

echoing, wait for the one

who will be sent, wait

for the one with power

of spirit, the one who

comes upon you, and you

will know when that

happens, but not the time

it happens, it is all of a piece,

of a plan, starting back

in the city but spreading

outward from there,

the place of endings

and beginnings, 

you do not know the then,

but you will know the now.

Photograph by Robert Bye via Unsplash. Used with permission.

A song to Ariel

After Isaiah 29

I sing a song to Ariel,

the city of God, the city

set upon a hill, a song

of mourning and lament,

the Ariel to be sacrificed

in the midst of its festivals

and celebrations, the thief

coming in the night, a pillager

to slaughter my Ariel,

to raze my Ariel,

my city on a hill.

The hungry man will awaken

and still be hungry.

My Ariel seeks to the clay

and rejects the stone.

Photograph by Alex Grichenko via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.