A heart of stone

After 1 Samuel 25:1-44 

He hears from her lips

of his narrow escape

from destruction and

death, and the guilty

man quakes, realizing

how closely it came, how

closely his words nearly

brought his destruction. 

His heart dies within him,

paralyzed with fear. Gripped

by paralysis, unable to move,

he turns to stone, dead within

ten days, struck down not

by the man he insulted,

but by the God the man

served. Judgment belongs

to the Lord.

 

Photograph by Toni Reed via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Grief, Memory, and the Hope We Hold in Christ – Staci Eastin.

 

Duty and Delight: C.S. Lewis on Beauty in the Psalms – Michael De Sapio at The Imaginative Conservative.

We line up

After Matthew 7:21-23 

We gather ourselves

in line, patiently

walking forward,

walking in expectation

of recognition and 

reward. We try not

to look at others,

avoiding eye contact

because we don’t want

to embarrass anyone,

like those uncertain

of recognition and

reward, like we are.

We judge not, after all.

As we stand and walk,

stand and walk, we

take stock of all we

have done, the time

we’ve spent, the money

we’ve given, the work

we’ve done, the sacrifices

we’ve made. At the front

of the line at last, we hear

the unexpected:

I never knew you.

Be gone.

 

Photograph by Levi Jones 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.

We sit in darkness

After Isaiah 33

We sit in darkness,

surrounded, besieged

on all sides, defenses

exhausted, resources

gone, given to appease,

given in vain, nothing

left, nothing to give,

allies vanished, the brave

weeping in the streets,

abandoned and naked,

exposed to destruction.

Only then do we pray

only then do we seek

only then do we throw

   ourselves at his feet

only then

only then does the wind blow.

Photograph by George Hodan via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

On the last day

After Isaiah 34-35

On the last day

of the last month

the skies will streak

with black and fire

on the last day

of the last month

the cities will fall

and the desert

the wilderness

will bloom, the place

of retreat, exile, hiding

on the last day

of the last month

the desert will welcome

the redeemed.

Photograph by Dawn Hudson via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

I pick my way

After Isaiah 34-35

I pick my way

among the ruins

the cracked stones

the smashed columns

the streets overgrown

with grass

and I wonder what

did this city, these people

do to earn the broken pavement,

the wind filled with dust.

Photograph by George Hodan via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.