God Question

Given

Grace is not just

the gift we’ve been given;

it’s also the given

with which we’ve been gifted;

universal truth delivered

to the whole earth,

wrapped in elemental reality.

It is holy nakedness

allowing us to fully exist

without regard to expectations -

ours or others’ – neither needing

to be more or different,

nor shrinking from the sacred whole

that lies within each one;

fully accepting all failed attempts

of self and other to carry

and deliver its precious meal,

yet never settling until Eucharist’s

broken, blessed, poured, and shared

promise is finally fulfilled in the flesh.

© 2012 Todd Jenkins

Yea God!

River of Eternity

Come to the Table

In politics and economics,

as is also the case elsewhere,

the ultimate God-question

is not just  “What do you believe?”

but “Why do you believe it

and what difference will

your believing it make in the world?”

Reluctance and Anger,

twin sisters of Denial,

do their best to evade

answers that weave fabric of community

into conversation of power, resource control.

Eucharist is creation’s blueprint,

modeling God’s gracious invitation

through which no one

is denied access to the table.

“Gifts of God for the people of God!”

© 2012 Todd Jenkins

Clinging

A reminder for those deep, dark, flotsam-clinging days.

Conjuring

Access

I've been thinking about ACCESS this week. 

Grace's Spoon

Healed & Whole

The road I’m looking to walk,

run, and dance down every day,

is somewhere between

“raising the physically dead

is all that matters” and

“spiritualized pie in the sky.” 

THAT’s the authentic place

I want us all to find; 

the place where

a sprinkling of water,

Gospel, prayers, questions,

presence/relationship, Sacrament

are imbued with transfiguring hope,

even in the ICU. 

It is not the brief, glitzy flash

of Fourth-of-July fireworks,

but the steady percussion

of Grace’s heartbeat that flickers

and sounds in the depths of our being

long after the tubes and wires

of technology have signaled

that death has arrived. 

It’s promise whose not-yetness

holds the tension of

“How long, O Lord?” and “Possibility.”

© 2012 Todd Jenkins

Dear Political Candidates

"Not the Other Party"

is not enough.

If you're ready to put

an actual menu on the table,

I'm past hungry; but I'm not

ordering Chef's Surprise.

No a la carte either;

I want the whole meal explained:

the good, bad, and ugly.

Put-up or shut-up!

I want to hear less about

why I should be afraid of

your opponent and more about

how you will remove the boulder

of purchased self-interest that

sits atop the accelerator

as we careen toward the cliff!

Two parties seem to have created

this suicidal mega-electromagnet.

Where are we going to find

the neutrons necessary

to set a course toward sanity?

© 2012 Todd Jenkins

Remind Us

Remind us, O God,

that the real question is not,

“Where were you when

the world stopped turning

that September day?”

but “Where have you been

since then, and who are you now?”

Remind us that the quickest way

for terror to win is for hatred,

fear, anxiety, and xenophobia to flourish.

Remind us that it will be defeated

when understanding, hope, education,

peace, love triumph.

Remind us that grace is the gift

we have been given

to bring to the struggle.

© 2012 Todd Jenkins

Prayer for Congregational Worship

O God of hope and promise, we pray your persevering presence upon those who have been mentioned this morning, as well as those whose names are written on our bulletin prayer list, and those whose stories are written on our hearts.

In circumstances where loss, in all its forms, has unleashed pain, suffering, and chaos – physically, relationally, emotionally, vocationally, spiritually – we pray for the ability to serve as your hands and feet, your heart and voice, with our words and actions, as well as with our silence and our stillness; through Jesus Christ our Lord…

In the face of injury, illness, and anxiety, we pray for holy healing and Christ-like calm. In the places where disease and time have ravaged bodies, minds, and spirits, we pray for the courage to persevere and the wisdom to recognize the transformational healing of a new normal when it arrives; through Jesus Christ our Lord…

In situations where fear and anger (in all their disguises and self-justifications) hang as dark clouds of hopelessness, we pray for your peace that passes understanding and a non-anxious presence that frees us to let go of needing to know and control everyone and everything, opening ourselves to your gracious plan and promise for our own lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord…

In congregation, community, state, country, and world, we pray for leaders who are not only persevering, but also passionate and prophetic; and for followers who demand accountability, not to narrowly contrived contention or self-interest, but to the broad boulevard of your unconditional love, overflowing grace, unbounded mercy, and the revealing light of your all-encompassing justice; through Jesus Christ our Lord…

Now hear us as we join our voices together, as we are able, praying together the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, praying…

Our father... 

Together

"Like” if you agree

does not create truth,

no matter how many

times/people do it.

Neither does it strengthen

the fabric of our society;

especially when vitriol

masquerades as victim.

What is right is rarely easy.

What is needed is seldom simple.

What is acceptable is

probably not enough.

When it is good for some,

at the expense of others,

it doesn't matter how long

it's been law or how long

we've been doing it,

 it needs to stop.

If we don't keep

ourselves in this together,

we will find ourselves

out of it, apart.

© 2012 Todd Jenkins

Fault

Blame is a clog in

the drain of release.

As long as we focus

on who is responsible for wrong,

we’ll never find the road

toward place of right.

It keeps us captive

in suffering’s purgatory,

preventing journey through pain

toward healing, wholeness.

Religion’s greatest disservice:

painting God as one

who promises perfection,

protection from pain.

God is neither anesthetist nor surgeon;

but rather nurse whose

steadfast presence proctors hope,

therapist whose insistence, encouragement

hold transformation as possibility.

© 2012 Todd Jenkins