Saturday, September 29, 2012

Friday, September 28, 2012

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

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Monday, September 24, 2012

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.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Friday, September 21, 2012

Access



I've been thinking about ACCESS this week. 

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Saturday, September 15, 2012

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

Thursday, September 13, 2012

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

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

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

Friday, September 7, 2012

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... 

Thursday, September 6, 2012

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

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

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