The dog wakes you up
The one you overlooked at bedtime because she is old
Once awake, you must play the game
Pray, and press your head into the pillows
As though this could be a time-traveling space ship and you could
Navigate the unthinkable
Process each broken bone, bond, or boundary
Circling darkness
Harm has come to the voiceless
Howl, old dog
give voice to all the babies
None of us rescued.
Our favorite local swimming spot is celebrating “Shark Week,” so we figured we would watch the beloved yearly event.
Our viewing party lasted 5 seconds as the opening scene of the episode showed a large shark thrashing a small seal to death in a swirl of blood. The footage was graphic, even haunting.
I ask myself when did humans decide that we would record and profit from violence? Or just profit from it?
The world is burning, and in the conflagration there are stories of human atrocities that far outstrip the “instinctual” feeding frenzy of a shark.
We all need to wake up and decide what we will record, what we do with that record, and where this is all going.
Jesus himself gives us the most haunting descriptions of hell. If we won’t listen to our own consciences, maybe we need to listen to him, after all, he went there for us.
Recently two little girls were raped and murdered in India. They were 11. The horror of the last few hours of their lives haunts me.
11 is childhood.
Something terrible is broken in the minds of men who kidnap, rape, and murder children.
Revelation 8:1-13 KJV
[1] And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. [2] And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. [3] And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. [4] And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. [5] And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. [6] And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. [7] The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. [8] And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; [9] And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed. [10] And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; [11] And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter. [12] And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. [13] And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
Sometimes the powerlessness of small ones in both life and death feels irrevocable and overwhelming.
But our God minds every sparrow
The story is not over
Until we hear his voice…
I wish there were a salve that I could pour out over the avenue pietà
Blown glass overflown with
Remedy made of light
An unspooling of the reckless myopia that led to the senseless tragedy
The beloved returned home
Wish.
V. Prayer—
The fragile vessel, the mind, the heart, the words spilled out to the God of Time and Propitiation
I don’t care if I don’t understand the words and can’t see the light
He will come back
Scoop up the Beloved
Call us Home
I have to have written about this before—
I once knew a young, smart-but-also-foolish lifeguard
Who strove to find meaning in a fortune cookie when he had
A relentless friend who constantly tried to get him to
Fall in love with Jesus.
I have been puzzling about how to tell the story of God made into a baby made into a man made into a sacrifice for the sins of the world broken for us, breaking open hell, coming back to life, giving us our lives back.
There.
Here—
Is the bottle, washed ashore for you
Open it
And once you know it is true, put it in another bottle and
Send it out to sea.
I know a man who is fighting to live in order to be there for his wife. His struggle, pain, and uncertainty are deeply courageous, but also scary.
When physics seems inexorable, then believing in the deus ex machina makes a person look pretty crazy..
But I am not talking about Aeschylus or even Plutarch, I am talking about Jesus.
He doesn’t need to save a weak plot with a contrived entrance, and he does very incisively predict his own return.
I want to “pray deeper.” I want to pray the way I swim, respirate, or walk up a hill.
I want to spend the time I have imploring God to do impossible things now and forever after.
I need to keep my eyes on Jesus. He is the God Who Saves.
I spent more than a few minutes trying to find the healthiest food choices in a gas station convenience store. It took some time and the eventual choices were the best I could do—pistachios, pretzels, Chex mix and two packs of chicken salad tins with crackers.
The cashier was very nice. He told me that I should dance, then told me that yesterday was “National Brown Liquor Day,” and that I should buy some liquor from the store and then buy a soda to “really be happy.”
I demurred.
Today I looked it up—
National Brown Liquor Day?
I don’t think so. But I should dance
Because God has given us the New Wine of the Holy Spirit.
On the good days, the bad days, and the days when the world feels food-deserty.
Jesus is here
Let’s dance!
Matthew 6:9 Interlinear: thus therefore pray ye: ‘Our Father who art in the heavens! hallowed be Thy name.
— Read on biblehub.com/interlinear/matthew/6-9.htm
I have loved CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia for over half a century (yes, I am old).
Lately, I have been particularly drawn to certain narrative elements of The Silver Chair.
The conditions of the enchantment of the Prince and Aslan’s signs—
How does a person wake up from a deadly delusion? How do the people around them help to “break the enchantment?”
And what are the signs we begin to forget in the castle of our besetting giants?
Jesus gives us all we need to navigate through the end of the world or an ordinary Tuesday.
Know the signs
And know the wonders too.
Matthew 24:4-46 KJV
[4] And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. [5] For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. [6] And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. [7] For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. [8] All these are the beginning of sorrows. [9] Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. [10] And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. [11] And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. [12] And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. [13] But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. [14] And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. [15] When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) [16] Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: [17] Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: [18] Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. [19] And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! [20] But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: [21] For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. [22] And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. [23] Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. [24] For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. [25] Behold, I have told you before. [26] Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. [27] For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. [28] For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. [29] Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: [30] And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. [31] And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. [32] Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: [33] So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. [34] Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. [35] Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. [36] But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. [37] But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. [38] For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, [39] And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. [40] Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. [41] Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. [42] Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. [43] But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. [44] Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. [45] Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? [46] Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
Carrying Light 