These 3

There is but one place and time

where happiness can be found:

here, and now.

   If you don't have it now,

   where you are,

   chances are not good

   that you will find it later,

   somewhere else.

      It has less to do with

      surroundings and companions

      and more to do with the attitude

      and outlook you have

      about and for yourself.

         When it is grounded in these three –

         here, now, and self – no one

         can steal it from you.

      Don't miss it by wasting

      your life searching

      for it elsewhere.

   © 2015 Todd Jenkins

Light & Shadow

Faith is not a fraternity or sorority,

    where we are "rushed" on Sunday,

        and our background and history

            are researched and

                verified during the week.

It's not a place where

    the worthy are allowed

        to pledge and prove themselves.

It is, instead, a gift offered,

    without qualification, to all

        who have begun to recognize

            the futility of score keeping,

                competing, and pretending

                    to have it all together.

It is an invitation to do these four:

    (1) cease worshiping our own light;

    (2) cease hiding/denying our own shadows;

    (3) live with our whole selves

        in the light of God's grace; and

    (4) learn how to share this wholeness

        and grace with everyone we know and meet.

Carry on, not by way

    of anxiety and fear,

        but by the grace of God.

© 2015 Todd Jenkins

In Deed

The Bible contains

the word of God.

What we must try

to do, as sacred keepers

of this word, is keep

our interpretations of it

from losing that word.

We must also keep

ourselves from believing

that our static interpretations

have become that word.

History is replete

with the debris

of such religious hubris.

Let us neither fill the air and

decorate the public square,

 with the symbols and

monuments of our faith,

nor make the demand

that all the world,

including those whose faith

is other or not at all,

live by our rules and ours alone.

No, let us instead,

saturate the world and

cover our society

with deeds of love

and words of hope.

For then, not by demanding

our faith be accepted by others,

but by graciously demonstrating it,

will it be a gift worth opening.

© 2015 Todd Jenkins

Church Sitting

... together in pain,

through the meandering

river of healing

with its indeterminate length,

its unfathomable emptying

into a mysterious ocean named Grace.

 

Wait for it...

for resurrection to lift us

from the depths

of our own demise.

© 2015 Todd Jenkins

Freedom

Photo by Lee Lindsey McKinney

Let freedom ring, not just at the doorbells of those of us with resources and privilege, examined or not, recognized or not; but at every gate, door, shelter, and under every bridge.

Let freedom rock, not just in music and slogans, but let it rock our whole world, comforting our afflictions and afflicting our comforts.

Let freedom roll, not steamroll the voiceless and powerless, but roll out the red carpet of respect and dignity to all God's children.

Let freedom roar, not as battle cry of competition for resources perceived to be in scarce supply, but as proclamation of the justice and abundance of grace that's offered to all creation.

Ring, rock, roll, roar sister Freedom, for we are sore in need of your generosity!

© 2015 Todd Jenkins

Illumination

Candles are a safe,

controllable method

of being reminded

of fire's two essential qualities:

heat and light;

and with these hi-tech,

dripless varieties,

it's almost as if

they burn but don't burn.

We no longer need them

for their light, now that

we have electricity

to incandescence and beyond.

But our hearts are hungry

for what's lurking beneath

our own shadows;

to let you claim and redeem

the parts of us that we're afraid

to let anyone else see,

because those parts

don't measure-up

to the world's demand

for perfection.

In the half-light of our lives,

O God, claim us,

redeem us, send us;

through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

© 2015 Todd Jenkins

Lighthouse

Today's anger is not

entirely about what's been

said and done today.

Today's tears do not flow

exclusively from what we have

experienced in the moment.

The river of life

has many tributaries,

and all of them

create the flow in which

we live and breathe.

Recognizing the currents

and their sources,

where to paddle and

when to float,

are the keys to not being

carried so far out to sea

that we lose sight

of the lighthouse.

Photo by Jerry Gorman

© 2015 Todd Jenkins