The rock

After Matthew 16:16-20 

What do the people

say, he asked, who

do the people say 

I am? Perfunctory

and expected answers:

John the Baptist,

Elijah, Jeremiah,

a prophet like them,

that’s what the people

say. He makes it personal:

What about you? Who

do you say I am? 

Simon Peter, ever large

and ever in charge,

answers, the Christ,

the son of the living God.

He responds: blessed

are you, Upon you,

upon this rock, 

I will build my church.

 

Photograph by Zoltan Tasi via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

The One Walking in the Fog Beside Us – Lara d’Entremont at A Mother Held.

 

Let the Lord Handle It – Chris Martin at FYI.

 

“Awake, Arise,” hymn by Christopher Smart – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

The Ingredients of a Petal – poem by Seth Lewis.

 

Milking a Two-Bucket Cow – Linda Egenes at Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices.

Two men

After John 1:1-14 

Two men are sent.

The first is a witness.

The second is the light.

The first announces 

the light is coming.

The second is

the light arrived.

The first is of flesh.

The second is

made flesh.

The first baptizes.

The second is

the baptism.

The first is the herald.

The second is the news.

The first testifies.

The second is

the testimony.

 

Photograph by Rafael Garcin via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

The Kingdom Didn’t Come for Daughters Like Me – Heidi Tai at Letters from Heidi.

 

Essential Church – Stephen Kneale at Building Jerusalem.

 

Pay Attention to What You’re Singing – Todd Alexander at Ligoiner.

 

Storytelling: The Parenting Tool You Didn’t Know You Needed – Betsy Childs Howard at The Gospel Coalition. 

All the things

After John 1:1-14 

All the things

the word is:

The word is spoken.

The word is thought.

The word is felt.

The word is experienced.

The word is heard.

The word is read.

The word is shouted.

The word is understood.

The word is convicting.

The word is illuminating.

The word is judging.

The word is saving.

The word is enlightening.

The word is redeeming.

The word is creative.

The word is stabilizing.

The word was in the beginning.

The word is born.

The word always was.

The word always is.

 

Photograph by Bruno van der Kraan via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

Reason and Faith – poem by Adam Mickiewicz at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin).

 

Who’s Afraid of Romans 1? – Andy Hood at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

What Matters Most: The Little Things – poem by Joy Lenton at Poetry Joy.

The image holds

After Colossians 1:15-20 

He is the image,

invisible, image

of the invisible,

firstborn, creator,

creator of all things,

not only the physical

but also the invisible

yet real – thrones,

dominions, rulers,

authority, government,

all of it. He came first,

and all of it holds 

together because 

of him. In him

the fullness dwells.

Through him, all

things are reconciled.

Even death could

not hold him,

cannot hold him.

 

Photograph by Ken Cheung via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

As the High One, Yah, in the Gentle Winds of Eden – poem by Graham Perdun at Sabbath Empire.

 

2023 Natural Landscape Photography Awards.

 

Taking It Slow – Glenn McCarty at Story Warren on writing.

 

Order and Beauty: A Little Theology of Christian Writing – Greg Morse at Desiring God.

The why

After Galatians 4:4-7 

We complicate this

unnecessarily and

expend huge energies 

upon asking why. And

it’s simple, really,

which we with

our human hearts and 

minds believe is

insufficient, too simple,

not enough, and

lacking. We don’t like

the idea of a simple

answer to the question

of why:

why did he come?

Answer: to bear

our burdens, redeem

the condemned, and

make us heirs.

He paid the price.

 

Photograph by Evan Dennis via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

Treasure in Heaven – poem by Warren Bonham at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Seeds – Jared Pilllips at Front Porch Republic.

 

Revelation 19: His Eyes Are Like a Fiery Flame – artwork by Jack Baumgartner at The School for the Transfer of Energy.

 

Turning from God does not lead to a better society – Simon van Bruchem at Written for Our Instruction.

Left behind

After Luke 2:41-47

The annual trip

to the big city,

the annual feast

of Passover,

a custom observed

every year, a ritual

of faith, a ritual

of observance,

a ritual of family,

a loud, noisy, large

group of relatives

traveling, worshipping

together. Amidst

the noise and chaos

of leaving, no one sees

the boy isn’t there,

the boy is left behind,

Frantic parents

return and search,

search for three days,

and on the third day

they find him,

find him in the most

unexpected place,

the temple,

find him among

the teachers,

listening, asking

questions, questions

so profound that 

the boy has amazed

the teachers and

drawn a crowd, 

people there simply

to hear his questions.

 

Photograph by Jaikishan Patel via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Just a boy

After Luke 2:39-40 

Just a boy,

twelve years old,

not a child and

not a man, but

beginning 

the transition.

Just a boy,

growing up

in a small town,

carpenter’s son,

a strong boy and,

unusually, a boy

filled with wisdom,

a wise boy, favored

by God.

 

Photograph by Sonnie Hiles via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Hothead speaks truth

After Matthew 16:13-20 

Asked the question

who do you

say I am,

it is the hothead

who answers first.

The Christ. The Son.

The Son of the Living God.

And for this act of faith

revealed not by human

understanding but by spirit,

by confession,

Simon becomes Cephas,

Cephas becomes Petrus,

Petrus becomes stone,

the foundation stone

upon which will be built

the body, the ones

called out from the crowd,

the ones who will tear

down the gates of hell,

the ones holding

the keys of heaven.

 

Photograph by Barrie Johnson via Unsplash. Used with permission.

The city of Pan

After Matthew 16:13-20 

It is the city of Pan,

and of Baal before that,

a city replete with statues

to worship, now the city

of Caesar, of the deity

of man and self, this city

of Greeks and Syrians and

a dash of ruling Romans,

a gentile city. It is here

that he asks them

who he is, who do people

say he is. Answers vary:

the reborn cousin, the man

who rode a chariot of fire,

the prophet sawn in half

for speaking truth.

He persists: 

But who

do you 

say I am?

 

Photograph by Sarah McCutcheon via Unsplash. Used with permission.

From 3 to 3

After John 21:15-17 

This man, this hothead,

first to jump into the sea,

first to volunteer, first

to pull a sword, first

to deny him openly, first

to feel the shame of denial,

denial times three.

 

Three denials turned

on their heads with

three questions, sounding

the same but slightly

different, three responses

to three answers 

to three questions.

 

Feed my lambs.

Tend my sheep.

Feed my sheep.

 

Photograph by Luke Pennystan via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Three times

After John 21:15-17

 

The third time

they’d seen him

since the cross,

sharing fish

on the shore,

fish he cooks

on the shore:

three questions 

he asks, three

queries he

directs to

the man who

denied him

before death,

denied him

three times in

three questions,

asks three times

do you love

me, Simon?

 

Photograph by Vidar Nordli-Mathieson via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Dawn breaks

After John 1:9-14 

Dawn cracks open,

a sliver of light

at first, pale gleam

opening in the east, 

presumptuous in

its challenge to

the darkness, which

safely ignores

the insignificant

glimmer until

the panic sets in,

not realizing it

was always too late

to darken the light.

The light was in

the world, the light

was the genesis

of the world, 

the light was

stranger to the world,

rejected 

by its own people

but not entirely,

accepted by a few,

a tiny few, a few

insignificant seeds,

mustard seeds,

chosen and created

and crafted within

the light, showing

the power of the light,

the light becoming

flesh.

 

Photograph by Avinash Kumar via Unsplash. Used with permission.

So it begins

After John 1:1-5 

It begins with a word,

it begins with the word,

“word” implying speech

and thought, language

and understanding. And

more: this word is

in relationship,

relationship with God,

this word is God,

and all creation flows

through it.

This word is life,

this word is light,

the word shines

in the darkness,

a light to see,

a light to believe,

a light to defend 

against the darkness

it illumines.

 

Photograph by Jp Valery via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Three times

After John 21:1-19 and John 18: 15-27

Three times he’d denied him.

Three times he’d said 

he didn’t know him.

Three times he’s asked 

the question.

Three times he’s given

the command.

Do you love me?

(I am not a disciple

he said to the servant girl.)

Feed my lambs.

Do you love me?

(I am not his disciple

he said to the gathered crowd.)

Tend my sheep.

Do you love me?

(I was not in the garden with him

he said to the priest’s servant.)

Feed my sheep.

And finally a prophecy:

you will go where

you do not desire.

Follow me.

Did the rooster crow 

again?

Photograph by Michael Olson via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Hothead

After John 21:1-19

Ever the hothead, ever impulsive,

he jumps in the water to swim

to shore, swim to the man

who tells them to fish when 

they’ve caught nothing, and

then everything.

He drags himself on to the shore,

the others following in the boat,

to find all in readiness,

all prepared: the charcoal fire

glowing, fish grilling.

The man says to add the fish

they’ve caught. He hauls

the fish from the boat,

dragging the net to shore.

The man takes bread 

and shares it.

The man takes fish 

and shares it.

Photograph by Marcus Lofvenberg via Unsplash. Used with permission.

The fig tree

After Mark 11:1-14

Hungry, he spies a tree,

a fig tree in full leaf,

suggestive of branches

hanging heavy with fruit.

He searches, but the tree

offers nothing, yields nothing

but leaves, an appearance only,

an invitation without substance,

a mirage, a fraud

and so the curse.

From the cursed fig

to the temple, with its appearance

of wealth and wisdom and worship

but nothing but appearance, a fraud,

a mirage,

and so it joins its brother,

the fig tree.

Photograph by Lynn Greyling via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.