Latvia

Hi Latvian
I had my first Latvian reader today.
Bless you!

Mart

this sky blows my mind

Melbourne – beautiful even in the rain

grandson due in november

a poem has been emerging over the last few months
as I remember my daughter in her first hours of breathing life
thinking about what it will be like for her to hold her son in his first hours
and how those who once held her and me and those before us,
are strangely present in the near identical blessing we have wished on one another

it wasn’t long ago
barely a breath of time
that I held you
as you breathed
your first five hundred breaths
and I held most of mine

it wasn’t long ago
that Lloyd Campbell Stewart held me
in my first week
smile on his sun-worn face
the only sign to those watching
of blessing whispering and noting
the transition, a future
warm and wriggling in his arms

it won’t be long now
’til I hold your first-born, a son –
and watching his eyes I will see
not only him,
not only my reflection,
not only you on your first day
(with saucer-like unblemished gaze)
but something of all who have gone before us,
and a glimpse of who will follow.

 

Present

When I was at school the teacher called the roll.
When my name was called I was required to answer ‘present’.
With that answer was an invitation, even a summons,
to receive the gift of a world opening up before me.

I, of course, was not aware of the dimensions of the gift.
I often treated the classroom as a space to be endured.

Now I know better and I am having to play catch up.

resurrection

what is right in front of me
goes missing
depending too heavily on my eyes
to convey all truth
my eyes only see what the eyes
have been trained to see

looking deeper you allow
yourself to be found
mind’s-eye dreaming
revelations and wonderings
signs and visions
fantasy and imagination

this side of resurrection
your truth comes to me

an ever renewing category
that I may know enough to know

Good Friday

we look to you
who bears our burdens
all the way
they need to be borne
until they are burdens
no more

Holy Week

One doesn’t sit on a donkey
entering a hostile Jerusalem
with crowds cheering
and not worry
about how he might exit!

I’ll wait for you

If I Should Fall Behind

Bruce Springsteen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmUG1ffgKFw&feature=youtu.be

We said we’d walk together baby come what may
That come the twilight should we lose our way
If as we’re walking a hand should slip free
I’ll wait for you
And should I fall behind
Wait for me

We swore we’d travel darlin’ side by side
We’d help each other stay in stride
But each lover’s steps fall so differently
But I’ll wait for you
And if I should fall behind
Wait for me

Now everyone dreams of love lasting and true
Oh, but you and I know what this world can do
So let’s make our steps clear that the other may see
I’ll wait for you
And if I should fall behind
Wait for me

Now there’s a beautiful river in the valley ahead
There ‘neath the oak’s bough soon we will be wed
Should we lose each other in the shadow of the evening trees
I’ll wait for you
Should I fall behind
Wait for me
Darlin’ I’ll wait for you
Should I fall behind
Wait for me

Yeah, I’ll wait for you
Should I fall behind
Wait for me
I’ll wait for you
Should I fall behind
Wait for me

Prayers for the Road II

The Village Church 12-3-17

When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  ‘Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come.  Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:7-10

On the road that you speak into from ahead

Where are you Lord?
We ask this when we are desperate
We also ask this when we doubt
Where are you Lord that we might pray to you?

But you invite a different posture from us… daring us to ask:
Where are you Lord that we might pray with you?

And the answer is in the question ‘with’
in order to be with you, you have to be here already,
to be with you means we are to join into something already happening

You link us into your cry of love for the world
You prompt us from ahead
Your kingdom coming – not from behind like a fast train knocking us off the tracks
But from ahead – towards us…

You ahead
Coming for us
Coming in love
Linking us into your creative works

On the road we find you are already here
Thus there is no where you are not – never

Knowing that you know
we ponder what we might say
We don’t need to prompt you…
maybe you are prompting us…

We listen…

We hear the cries of our world…

This planet groaning under the weight of our carelessness…
The poor who simply want a fair share of earth’s abundance…

The dispossessed seeking home…
The suffering seeking release…
The greedy needing enlightenment…

We listen…

We hear you speaking restoration, renewal, love, healing, peace, and light
We hear you calling us and people like us to live into your future present…
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Hear our prayers…

We ask them in the name of the One
who prays to the Father in the power of the Spirit,
Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen