Within

The gift and miracle

of Emmaus is not disappearance,

but presence; not road presence

or table presence,

which were temporary,

but presence internal and eternal.

  The physical Christ of conversation –

  the material messiah of flesh-and-blood –

  is no longer with us, because he is in us.

    Eucharist is our regular reminder

    of this gift; our invitation

    to re-member – to reconfirm

    our membership –

    into the body of Christ.

      © 2016 Todd Jenkins

Bedrock

Old Stone Fort Archaeological Park
Manchester, TN

We need to uncreate the world

  that desires more for less,

    no matter the cost

      to planet and other people;

        the world that has profit

      as its bottom line, and

    views the rest of creation

  as a means to the ends

of accumulation and consumption.

My hunch and experience are

  that most of us can

    only see this necessity

      clearly in the context

        of our profound brokenness.

      Grace, love, and

    our deepest interconnection

  are most visible when all

of our faux identities crumble.

If the rest of the world is going

  to recognize and hunger for this,

    we, as a community of believers,

      must become sentinels of hope

    instead of wagging fingers of judgment,

  fountains of grace, rather

than fires of condemnation.

        We must confess our own

      shambled lives and live

    from a foundation of grace

  before God's mercy will ever

ring true for the world. 

© 2016 Todd Jenkins

Small

Photo by Linzi Anderson

Fear is afraid of everyone and

everything, including itself,

ever shrinking into a smaller box,

but pretending to loom large,

with ferocious bark

and inflated posturing.

   The small minded and hearted

   seek to divide the world

   into "us" and "them",

   never quite convinced

   that you or I or anyone else

   fully belong to "us";

      ever ready to banish us all

      to permanent Themville.

      But somewhere beneath

      the fearful veneer lies

a lonely, hungry soul,

never willing to admit it,

but desperately longing

to be invited into sacred "we"

and even holy "one".

© 2016 Todd Jenkins

Perspective

The chasm between human and divine

is largely dug by perspective.

Beyond the realization

of the limits of our own,

God approaches with our

recognition of someone else's.

   The holy is infused when

   our reality is secure enough

   to avoid the dizziness

   of multiple focal points.

Anchored in the self of God,

we can see, hear, smell, touch,

and even taste the universe's complexity

without needing to validate

one perspective over others.

© 2016 Todd Jenkins

Private

Privatization is the power charging

the flashlight of capitalism.

  When its acid leeches into the switch

  of connection, there’s an inability

  to distinguish between good and evil,

  a failure to distinguish on from off.

    When it corrodes the chamber

    of community, cooperation is voided

    in favor of competition and victory.

  When it interferes with the bulb of hope,

  more heat than light is generated,

  more hoarding than loving.

Despite the individuation

of our own economies,

the universe holds all in God’s trust.

© 2016 Todd Jenkins

Ode to Phenomenal Women

“A good woman is hard to find,
    and worth far more than diamonds.
Her husband trusts her without reserve,
    and never has reason to regret it.”

(Proverbs 31:10-11 MSG)

You do not need an ode from which

   to draw your power, for the light

      in your eyes emanates from a fire

         centered deep in your being;

            a burning placed there

             by the Spirit of the great I Am.

  

Your worth was determined

   before your birth, calculated

      on spiritual DNA; a value made richer

         by your unabashed living into it.

Biological motherhood, as many of you

   have learned, is neither a right

      nor something completely

         within your control.

Some with offspring never quite

   make it to “mom”, and many

      have mothered without benefit

         of labor and delivery,

            walking the tightrope between

               quiet strength and gentle nurturing.

In a culture and economy that largely ignore

   the strength of matriarchal bonds,

      you blend a powerful mixture

         of rebar and rose petals,

            holding families and communities together

               with the power of resurrection

                  planted in your soul

                     from the foundation of the universe.

Praise be to Yahweh

   for the gift of life you bring!

© 2016 Todd Jenkins