Sound & Fury

No more sound and fury,

if you please.

We don't care if

it signifies nothing,

there has been too much destruction:

trees, houses, property of all sorts,

and even human life itself.

Yeah, it made us all thankful,

it brought us together,

it helped us recognize both

our interconnectedness and

our individual and collective fragility.

The big question, however, is:

How will life be different now?

Not just storm cellars

and emergency plans;

but how will we live each day

with courage, hope, and abandon?

How will we celebrate

the sacred that surrounds us,

both in creation, and in

the people all around?

Photo by Ryan Sandmeyer

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Storm Praying

Source of wind and breath,

hold back the former;

gift those in its path

a steady cadence of the latter.

Keeper of the living and dead,

hold those who hover in-between;

guide those who dig and pray.

Inspiration of vision and hope,

fill those who wait in angst

with peace surpassing understanding.

 Shaper of order out of chaos,

speak your genesis words of recreation

into the pain of aftermath.

Photo by Todd Jenkins

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

@YHWH

Closing Prayer for 

Columbia Theological Seminary's 

2014 Alumni/ae Association Annual Meeting

You, O Lord, are:

a calling God who longs

to form us into

an answering people;

a nourishing God who desires

to satisfy us with living water,

bread, and wine;

a weaving God who looms us

into the neighborhood of all creation;

a gathering God who loves us

into memories;

a story writing God who hopes us

into becoming your tellers;

a sending God who energizes

and pushes us out into the world.

This day, and throughout this Colloquium,

we have answered, remembered,

and been fed.

As we move, toward all our tomorrows,

and into your holy neighborhoods,

may we have the courage,

wisdom, and compassion

to accept your sending;

to listen to your story

as it is told to us daily

by our neighbors, and,

by grace, to live your story

in thought, deed, and word.

Amen.

Photo by Todd Jenkins

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Think Again

The Muse showed up on Friday afternoon, and seemed to have an unusual urgency about her. I was thinking about the folks at Living Waters for the World's "Clean Water U" - instructor colleagues and staff, as well as the new students, all of whom would be bringing their passion and enthusiasm for mission, and especially for clean water. I could see, feel, and hear all of the things I've experienced and learned with LWW over the past seven years. The Muse kept repeating, "Think again." and I just typed, dutifully.

If you thought you were

bringing Jesus, think again.

Jesus is already where you're going.

If you thought you were

delivering salvific resources, think again.

Creation has provided sufficient stuff

for us all. Maybe you should check

the name tag on some of yours.

If you thought you were

bringing ingenuity and wisdom, think again.

The people who live where you're going

have already figured out

how to do more than

you've ever dreamed, and probably did it

with less than you ever imagined.

If you thought you were

bringing hope, think again.

There's more hope where you're going,

because it's grounded in something greater

than possessions. It's grounded in the great I Am.

Just bring yourself.

That is all.

Yourself and your open mind

and your tender heart.

That is what we need;

what YOU need to show up with.

You bring that, and trust God

to do the rest, and your world

will never be the same again.

Photo by Kendall Cox

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Three ways to have it all,

or so it seems;

each in its own right

a recipe for domination.

Smash it all to hell

with a heavy blow,

knocking the breath

out of your neighbor so that

your way is the only way.

Wrap it all in a giant blanket,

not from grandma's quilt collection,

but a thinly pressed piece

of processed pulp,

producing agonizing asphyxia,

or at least blindness.

Divide and conquer;

slice and dice all opposition

into easily dismissed

slivers of meaninglessness.

What do you do with the fool,

holy as she is, who dares

to play a fourth option;

one that flies below the radar

of conventional warfare: heart?

Photo by Todd Jenkins

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Call to Scripture

[Leader] Scripture is the place where well-dressed,

comfortable people turn

to have their lifestyles validated.

[People] No! Scripture is the story around which

all people gather to hear about

the lifestyle God intends for them to live.

[Leader] Scripture is the place for good people to

learn how to become even better.

[People] No! Scripture is the place for all people

to confess their own sin and

to hear and share God’s good news of forgiveness.

[Leader] Scripture is the place where people go

to ask God for the things they want.

[People] No! Scripture is the place where

people offer what they have received

for the work that God is planning.

[All] Let us gather to hear scripture,

that we might learn God’s lifestyle,

share God’s forgiveness,

and offer ourselves to God’s work.

Photo by Voncille Powell

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Growing Open

Growing is a movement

from narcissism

to connection.

It is the seed learning

to overcome the fear

that allowing itself to be

broken open by what is

and what happens in the world

will somehow weaken or destroy it.

As absurd as it appears

from inside the kitchen,

we are often incapable

of recognizing the purpose

and power of allowing ourselves

to be blessed, broken,

poured, and shared to feed

humanity's deep hunger.

It is equally difficult to fathom

that in such selflessness,

our own deep longings

are finally satisfied.

Photo by Farris Ralston

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

EV2014

Photo by Todd Jenkins

Time moves on, though

our focus obliterates its march.

Every once in a while,

my mind moves forward 

to tomorrow, but my heart 

calls it back with a somber cry.

The empty tomb was beyond imagination

even for those who followed closest.

Come sit with us in the dark

for a little longer.

Night, whose sensory deprivation

opens spaces and possibilities

never-before recognized;

whose motionlessness stills

all the monkeys vying

to subdivide our attention;

whose calming blanket

lowers our pulse so far

we fear our own hearts

might cease their beating;

leaves us perched upon

the graveyard's wall,

more sure than not that we,

too, will succumb to the abyss

of death's cavernous maw.

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Easter Vigil

Watching, waiting, hurting, praying;

no understanding, certainty; hope instead.

Wondering why we should be staying.

Will he be raised from the dead?

Time is indiscernible motion;

feet and arms heavy as lead.

Feels like we have cried an ocean.

Will he be raised from the dead?

Burying heads beneath the covers,

sheet of anguish, quilt of dread.

Hurt even more than that of lovers.

Will he be raised from the dead?

Photo by Todd Jenkins

© 2012 Todd Jenkins

Liberator

Death is the equalizer of all egos;

resurrection, their liberator.

The latter does not exist

without the former,

despite all efforts to the contrary.

Those who cannot release

their death-grip on life

will never reach the empty tomb.

Easter's vigil must begin

with people who recognize

an EKG that is fully flat-lined.

Photo by Todd Jenkins

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Easter Worship Resources

Call to Worship [responsive]:

 [one] Why are you here?

[many] We have come to see if what the women told the disciples is true.

[one] Do you mean what they said about the resurrection?

[many] Yes, we have heard that Christ is risen, and we believe that we’ve even caught glimpses of resurrection power in our own lives, but we’d like to see more.

(All) Let us open ourselves to the power and possibility of the promise of resurrection!

Prayer of Confession:

We confess, O resurrecting One,

that we have more experience with

the commercial celebration of Christmas

than we do with the evangelical celebration of Easter.

Here’s what we’re hoping today:

that you will open-up our hearts,

shore-up our faith,

and Easter-up our hope,

that resurrection’s light

might shine through our lives;

through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Ordinary Ministry

We work, play, casually interact

with people every day

who have unspeakable tragedy

lurking just beneath

the surface of their lives.

Sometimes we’re on

the other end, finding

tragedy as our own.

Most of the time there's

no longer visible indication

of this suffering;

occasionally- more often than

we probably realize –

thin places show,

where a fresh coat of normal

does not completely hide

what has been buried

in shallow ground.

Stubbing our metaphorical toe

on another’s invisible pain;

accidentally raking across

non-sequiturs of

rage, anger, shock.

Momentary silence creates

complete change of subject;

punctuation’s pause opens door

to overflowing catacombs of emotion.

Pay attention! These are

places where we can

rise to the occasion

and be fully present;

times for which we are created;

experiences by which,

if we resist the reflex of withdrawal,

we are warmed in love,

soldered together

by God’s healing touch;

foundational blocks for

the priesthood of all believers;

blessed sacraments of ordinary ministry.

Photo by Lee Lindsey McKinney

© 2014 Todd Jenkins

Faith Float

Photo by Todd Jenkins

Whether we jump

or are thrown into the river,

our reflex is to struggle,

mostly against the current;

either to maintain our favored position

or fight to get upstream

to a place we’ve decided is better.

But if we fill our lungs with breath,

and our lives with spirit,

we just might find the courage

to relax – to lie back and float.

No longer obsessed

with who's passing us by

or when/where we'll wash ashore,

we may find a way

to let the water shape us;

its steady flow wearing smooth

the rough edges of our brokenness,

so that we no longer

cut others and harm ourselves.

Lasting transformation is

more likely shared when we allow

others into the spaces where the river

has smoothed our abrasiveness.

© 2014 Todd Jenkins