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Thank you,
Tuesday's Muse
We are surrounded by grace as much as air. Breathe them both deeply, in and out.
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Monday, July 18, 2016
Preachin' One
It's three
quarters-past 10 on a Sunday
The regular crowd
shuffles in
The usuals all have
their special seats
Sit there once;
just don't do it again!
And the ushers have
handed out bulletins
And told you to
silence your phone
We're here sharing
a prayer we call brokenness
‘Cause it's better
than prayin' alone
La la la, di da da
la la, di da da da
dum
Tell us a tale,
you're the preachin' one
Tell us a tale
today
Well, we're all in
the mood for a parable
And you've got us
leanin' that way.
It's a pretty good
crowd for a holiday
And the treasurer
gives me a nod
But he knows it's
NOT me
they've been comin'
to see
'Cause they wanna
get closer to God
And the folks in
the pews are a happy lot
Like family,
they're quick to share cheer
And they all sit up
straight
and throw cash in
the plate,
And say, "Rev,
what are you doin' here?"
La la la, di da da
la la, di da da da
dum
Saint Paul was a
traveling evangelist
who never had time
for a wife
He wrote
congregations
from all sorts of
nations
Teaching grace as a
new way of life
We are gathered to
kindle a memory
Though it seems
we've forgotten the plot
So it hurts and it
heals
When it gets in our
feels
But this story is
all that we've got.
Tell us a tale
you're the preachin' one
Tell us a tale
today
Well, we're all in
the mood for a parable
And you've got us
leanin' that way
Now Joan, in the
choir, is a friend of mine
She sings from her
heart so free
She listens a while
And she's quick
with a smile
Though there are
parts she just won't let us see
She passes me a
note as the service ends
"Your sermons
offer sacred space,
But the life that I
lead is so far from that
Please pray I can
live and breathe grace."
Oh, la la la, di da
da
la la, di da da da
dum
Tell us a tale
you're the preachin' one
Tell us a tale
today
Well, we're all in
the mood for a parable
And you've got us
leanin' that way
© 2016 Todd Jenkins
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Insecurious
It's that limited curiosity
overwhelmed with fear,
keeping us from
opening ourselves wide
to the universe's wild
imaginings;
so hunkered down
in our own little world,
trying to hang onto
and control everything possible,
that grace dances
right under our noses
completely unnoticed,
love sings harmony
we cannot hear,
life wafts beyond us.
© 2016 Todd Jenkins
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Sloth
Photo by Kendall Cox |
What if the
1950s
weren't the
church's heyday
but instead,
were its days of sloth,
when there
was no competition
and all we
had to do
was open our
doors and everyone
would come,
because there was
nowhere else
to go and nothing else
to do on Sunday morning?
What if we
need to develop
a completely
different model
for being
church in a world
long past the
simplicity
of unquestioned
exclusivity?
What if the
torn fabric
of our
culture has much less
to do with
its failure
to rigidly
adhere to our
own
particular list
of
biblically extracted behaviors,
and is much
more about
our own lack
of enthusiasm
for
practicing grace together
in
communities where all have both
a seat and
voice at the table?
What if the
church's purpose
is to equip
members
to reflect
hope, share love,
and nourish
a hungry and thirsty world
with heaping
servings
of dignity,
humility, and respect?
What if we
actually put
our time,
energy, hearts, and money
into doing
just that, instead
of trying to
figure out how
to get back
to the "good old days"?
© 2016 Todd
Jenkins
Friday, July 8, 2016
As If
Sculpture by Sterling Goller-Brown |
Two logs
were set afire.
Some closed
their eyes,
minding
their own business,
as if wood
wasn't really burning,
while others
critiqued, judged,
and blamed
the logs themselves,
as if it
were spontaneous combustion.
Then five
more logs were
tossed into
the fire.
As the
incendiary heat rises,
it's
difficult for any trees
to deny the
inferno.
We can keep
thumping matches
across the
strike-pad, or
we can dig
trenches around
our own
little grove, or
we can speak
and act with conviction,
so that no
more fuel is added,
no more logs
are lost.
What's it
going to be?
© 2016 Todd
Jenkins
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Too High
The cost is outrageous
for all these priceless lives,
secretly calculated in hearts too small
to hold Love's grand truth;
too scared to see
all of us have the same value;
too busy counting and comparing
to feel the ground beneath us quaking,
the skies above us leaking.
We shrink because we sense difference,
recoil with superiority's confidence,
while the universe expands and
diversifies, and the holy one weeps.
© 2016 Todd
Jenkins
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Heartspeak
Ichawaynochaway Creek, Newton, GA |
When,
"Our thoughts and
prayers are
with you."
becomes the
end and
not the
means,
we have lost
our
spiritual momentum.
Too often,
we see prayer
as a request
for God
to move, so
we don't have to.
The core of
prayer is
a shifting
of hearts;
primarily
our own.
We speak our
angst,
cry our
frustration,
groan the
unspeakable;
and in the
stillness between
syllables,
tears, and breaths,
a different
note vibrates.
Maybe it's a
new note,
perhaps a
dissonant one;
but, always,
it calls us
toward the
circle.
Whatever
else we imagine
it to be,
prayer is a request
for
inclusion in the sacred journey.
If you're
willing to move,
but don't
know where or how,
let your
heart speak.
The rest is
not up to you,
but you will
likely
find
yourself up to it.
© 2016 Todd
Jenkins
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