Choosing

Photo by Lee Lindsey McKinney

As soon as we are certain

that God has un-chosen those

of whom we are afraid and

about whom we know very little,

we can panic assured we have created

God to reflect our own image,

and not the other way around.

God in-the-flesh, whom we called Jesus,

spent little of his time creating

“insider” and “outsider” lists for us to check.

The chief complaint of his generation’s chiefs

was that he spent far too much energy

conflating with the unloved and the unlovely.

Holiness, at least as it is revealed incarnate,

is a great deal about choosing the unchosen, 
about erasing and expanding our circles.

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Imagine

It’s December 26, of all days,

and the very self of God has decided

to visit creation again, en carne.

Forget, for a moment, if you can,

what this time will look like to us;

try to picture what it will look like to God.

In much of the world, it will be

just another day of need:

toil and suffering

in the struggle to survive.

Perhaps the remains

of a meager celebration

from the night before

might be visible

to the trained eye:

a candle and the crumbs

from a small portion

of seldom-splurged-for food.

And then there’s my neck of the woods:

cardboard boxes, brightly colored paper,

ribbon, partially-eaten animal carcasses

and every food imaginable heaped at the curb

as if an omnivore named opulence

has binged and purged on the spot;

people scurrying to hide every vestige

of what’s not discarded from the extravaganza

in attics, garages, and storage buildings for another year

before returning to the security of their compounds.

Where will this generation’s shepherds be found –

those at the margins whose work

is both so menial and odoriferous

that they must be kept at bay?

What will be their response

to the celestial’s visit and proclamation:

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,

 and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”?

When they arrive in our neighborhood,

will we recognize them as the favored ones?

Will we join Mary in treasuring

their words in our hearts?

Or will their uniforms and smelly trucks

cause our eyes and hearts to glaze?

If you were playing this like the stock market,

how heavily would you leverage

your portfolio for the future they’re promising?

Photo by Todd Jenkins

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Preparation

Photo by Todd Jenkins

Incarnational experience

is less about doing;

more about remembering. 

Whatever else we “do”

to prepare for Christmas,

what matters most is that

we take the time to “remember”:

who it is that came and

who it is that will come again. 

Our hope, our liberation,

our deliverance are in

and through the God who comes

in decisive ways; the God

whose in-breaking is like

a wild animal tearing out

of its cage and into our world. 

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Map

How these letters, spaces

and punctuation marks form themselves

into something remotely intelligible,

and possibly hopeful

has always been a mystery.

We can feel it much better

than explain it.

At bare places where pain

and suffering have stripped

all sense of entitlement and control,

there is a swath cut through the jungle.

We don't need a map

to remember the way.

Each time we hear stories

of a remotely similar journey

by another person,

our hearts take that path again.

Somewhere along the way,

our brains join the trip,

sometimes abducted, others willingly.

As we near that familiar clearing,

the fog lifts, and we remember

the most powerful promise of Divine:

it is not protection, or power, but presence.

This is the gift that opens vocal chords

and directs fingertips to keyboard,

steadying us all in our naked places of hurt,

casting a flicker of grace upon our darkness.

Photo by Todd Jenkins

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Long Water

Clean water, pure water

more and more each day.

Coming soon to your place?

We're gonna find a way!

God's plan, our goal;

partnerships galore.

Education, filtering,

producing more and more.

A plan for operation,

so it can be maintained;

with God's help and grace

all will be sustained.

Bottle after bottle,

friend after friend,

let clean water flow

everywhere without end!

Photo from Miriam Mazariegos

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Thanksgiving

Like many regularly scheduled celebrations,

trappings have a way of obscuring

our view of the original purpose,

both when they are present

and when they are absent.

It’s not the food, certainly

not about retail competition

with others to acquire more,

not about stressing to create

a magazine-cover atmosphere,

not even about trying to make

everyone else get along.

It’s about pausing…

to breathe, look, and recognize

that you are surrounded

with relationships and connections

with the potential

to reveal the purpose

behind the universe’s great mystery:

you are a beloved child of God

whose name is known and spoken

regularly in the heavens;

your unique brokenness,

both accepted and held together by grace;

love, the gift that escapes

through the cracks, spanning eternity,

when forgiveness is carved and shared abundantly.

Photo by Lee Lindsey McKinney

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Knock, Knock, Knockin’…

Photo by Todd Jenkins

My hope is built

on nothing less

than grace and Christ,

whom I confess.

I expect I’ll find out

the full scope of heaven’s

list of invitees when I get there,

and not a minute sooner.

My life isn't really focused

on getting to heaven or identifying

its additional inhabitants,

but rather on living

with Christ-like humility

and grace moment by moment.

© 2013 Todd Jenkins