Put it away

After James 1:19-21 

Put away 

filthiness,

all of it. 

Do the same

with wickedness, 

rampant as it is. 

Instead, receive

the word implanted

in you, and more 

than that, receive it

in meekness,

because that word 

can save your souls. 

Receive it as it’s 

intended to be

received: 

teaching you,

sanctifying you, 

edifying you, 

encouraging you,

transforming you.

 

Photograph by Ruchindra Gunasekara via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

“From Canzoniere 264,” poem by Petrarch – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

Crumbs – poem by Seth Lewis.

 

Here I Raise My Ebenezer – Maribeth Barber Albritton at Letters from Crickhollow.

 

Which is cleaner

After Luke 11:37-44 

A question for the ages:

which is cleaner,

the unwashed hands

or the unwashed heart?

Another way to ask it:

what are we more

concerned with, dirty 

hands or dirty heart? Or

what is more important,

to wash our hands or

to cleanse our hearts

of anger, lust, greed,

murder, desire, idolatry?

The man answered

the question two

millennia past, and

the answer is still

the same.

 

Photograph by McKenna Phillips via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Encircled, Enclosed, Squeezed In – Glenna Marshall. 

 

What No Eye Has Seen – Lee Hutchings.

People to avoid

After Ephesians 5:1-21 

It’s not only behaviors

to watch out for, it’s also

certain people, like

deceivers with their empty 

words. They’re everywhere 

you look, often disguised,

but they are darkness.

You were once with them

but no longer; the light

within you now dispels

the darkness. That’s

how you walk, as children

of the light, because that’s

who you are. Light illumines;

darkness hides. Light exposes

what darkness is. Once

exposed and illumined, 

darkness dies.

 

Photograph by Alekon pictures via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Behaviors to avoid

After Ephesians 5:1-21 

There’s a way to act, and

there’s a way to not act,

and while it’s not polite

to point out the bad stuff,

it must be done so we all

know what the bad stuff is.

like immorality (strictly

and loosely defined), like

all impurity (ditto), and

wanting everything you

see (another form of lust).

Don’t even talk about it.

Drop the foolishness and

the foolish talk and

the crude jokes, because

that’s what the culture 

does, and if we’re anything

we’re contra-cultural. 

This stuff gets you cut 

from the will. Instead:

give thanks.

 

Photograph by Engin Akyurt via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Dead men walking

After Ephesians 2:1-10

It’s rather stark and jolting

to be called dead, dead

men walking, following

the pied piper, whoever

he might be at the moment,

or following the owner

of the pied piper, the source

of disobedience and lust

and desire and violence.

It’s rather stark and jolting

to be called children of wrath,

just like everyone else,

nothing special about us, 

children of wrath in our DNA,

our inmost self, our heart

of hearts, our every thought,

until.

Photograph by Jose Lopez Franco via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Set free

After Romans 8:1-11

We’re set free

from the law,

the law of death,

to embrace

the law of life,

the spirit of life,

We’re set free from

the law of death,

the law of sin

and death.

A substitution

was made, 

a sacrifice

acceptable,

fulfilling what

the law required,

and liberating from

the penalty required.

It’s that simple.

It’s that monumental.

Photograph by Junior Moran via Unsplash. Used with permission.

The resistance

After Romans 7:7-25

A war rages.

On one side:

what it is

we’re supposed

to do, to believe.

On the other:

what our hearts,

our minds, our souls,

want to do instead.

There’s a sense, 

inborn, of what 

is right. There’s

a sense, inborn,

of what we want

to do instead.

It’s a war

we cannot win

without help.

It’s the war

Of already

not yet.

We cannot win

on our own,

no matter

how great

the desire.

Photograph by British Library via Unsplash, Used with permission.

I have to ask

After Romans 7:7-25

I have to ask the question,

what is it that prompts me

to do wrong? What is it

that compels me to see

a law as a challenge

to be overcome? Why

do I translate 60 mph 

as 65 mph or 70 mph?

What’s worse (of course)

is when I pat myself

on the back for observing

the law and see others

ignore it and speed by,

leaving me to swallow

their dust. Even when 

I know the rightness

of the law, my heart, 

mind, and soul wage

war against it. And

often win.

Photograph by Ludovic Charlet via Unsplash, Used with permission.

Conundrum

After Romans 7:7-25

A puzzle: a law

says there is a wrong,

and you must do right

(think speed limits).

But the mere fact

of the law lead us

to break it (what’s

five miles over

the limit, anyway?).

What is meant

to produce a good

leads to the creation

of a wrong. Perhaps

it’s not the law;

perhaps it’s the DNA.

Photograph by Olav Ahrens Rotne via Unsplash. Used with permission.

What was isn't now

After Romans 6:1-14

The old is gone, not

merely cast aside,

but taken,

a violent act, and

nailed to a tree

of all things, and

there to die

in the only way

it could, With

it gone now, 

the new remains,

a sprouting seed,

set free to grow,

set free from the old,

the old left lifeless,

powerless, forgotten,

absolved.

Photograph by Dietmar Becker via Unsplash, Used with permission.

Contradiction

After Romans 6:1-14

Dead to one thing,

live to its opposite,

how can both happen

simultaneously?

Short answer:

They can’t.

Which suggests

the contradiction

exists in our minds,

in our behaviors,

because we still

confront the one thing

while living the other.

Sin’s a powerful

thing.

Photograph by Pawel Czerwinski via Unsplash, Used with permission.

The message is the medium

After Romans 1:18-32

It’s a list, a list of stains,

a list no given but originates

from within, when the word

is ignored, when the word

is mocked, when the word

is buried, and the god is

the self.

What a list:

dishonorable passions,

a debased mind,

unrighteousness,

evil,

covetousness, malice,

envy, murder, strife,

deceit, maliciousness,

gossip, slander, hate,

pride, boasting, disobedience,

foolishness, faithlessness,

heartlessness, ruthlessness,

welcoming evil as a friend,

throwing off the reins,

running free,

trampling one another.

Photograph by Pagie Page via Unsplash. Used with permission.

My sin

After Psalm 32

My sin is not

yours (thank goodness).

Mine is a bit 

of a minor one, scarcely

worth mentioning, but

it is there, of course,

small and insignificant,

while yours, comparatively

and objectively speaking,

if course, is rather serious,

wouldn’t you agree,

certainly more serious than

my small transgression so

barely worth mentioning,

while yours, well, it speaks

for itself, doesn’t it,

a shout to my murmur.

I feel better already.

Photograph by Chen Hu via Unsplash. Used with permission.

We are the people

After John 17:9,10

It’s a slam, or slams,

as the world delights

in death and destruction,

pointing fingers at sin

and contradiction

and the fall.

The world loves this,

and if we’re honest,

we know this and

we know this hurts,

this tearing at our hearts

when one of us falls

hard,

and the world rejoices

over the shame. But,

and it’s a big But, we know

something else, something

more important, more vital,

more critical than any taunt

or justified criticism or fall

or stumble, and that is

we are the people,

we are the people of God,

the rock of our protection,

we are a possession, a gift

from out this world,

and we are owned because

we are the people of God,

created by a fierce love.

Photograph by Craig Whitehead via Unsplash. Used with permission.

I would die for a good man

After Romans 5:6-11

I would die for a good man

for sure, I think, or so I tell myself,

I guess I would, maybe,

a good person accused unfairly or

plotted against or betrayed or treated

unjustly. I would do that, I think,

surely we would do that.

But to die for an evil man? A murderer.

a thief, a rapist, a child abuser,

a wife beater, a terrorist, or even worse,

someone who votes differently? Would

I die for any of them, any of those people?

I think not.

I think not.

But he did.

Photograph by Ian Espinosa via Unsplash. Used with permission.