Tuesday, May 31, 2016

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


Saturday, May 28, 2016

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

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

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

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

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

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

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

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

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