Tuesday, January 28, 2014

The Banks of Babylon

Psalm 137

On the banks of Babylon I knelt,
by the rivers of sin I sat and wept
when I remembered Zion
when I recalled my youth.

Now, on the poplars of confusion
 I hang the harp of my heart, 
the fickle chords of errant inclinations.

My captor, desire,
has asked for songs of obeisance and sacrifice.
My tormentor, delusion,
has demanded songs of joy saying; Sing! 
Sing songs of  'you deserve happiness'
and 'Didn't God say...?'.

But how can I sing songs while in a foreign land,
 this land of carnal captivity?
Where is the happiness
in chasing worldly tributaries?
How can I sing when my first love
has become my last choice?

If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
If I forget you, O God my saviour-
the lily of my valley, 
the Garden of my God and,
the calling of your holy covenant,
may my right hand forget it's skill,
 may my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem-
The mountain of my God,
My God himself;
my true home
my true heart
my one desire
my highest joy.

SELAH

*****


You shall have no other Gods before me.
Exodus 20:3

You have forsaken your first love.
Revelation 2:4


"Come now,
let us reason together,"
 says the LORD.
"Though your sins be like scarlet
they shall be as white as snow,
though they be red like crimson
they shall be as white as wool.
If you are willing and obedient
you will eat from the good of the land."
Isaiah 1:18-20





Wednesday, January 15, 2014

She Weeps for Two

Death is not a Diminuendo...It is the Etude of Eternity.

Life has a way....

That's what she said, Life has a way...

What does one do with words like that?

Those words, like a crescendoing elegy, beat with the arrhythmia of life on the keys of my heart and left me murmuring a mournful duet for the two husbands she has lost and weeps for.

We buried him then, right there on that swell of land over looking the lake.

And after the bugle moaned it's dutiful taps, after the flag was folded and placed in her upturned palms, after epitaphs rang and tears wrought warm and memories flowed fluid, we buried him.


I never thought you could love someone again like that, but you can.

That's what she said, I never thought you could love someone again like that, but you can.

What does one do with words like that?

I suppose we learn to live in the Sacredness of The Now;

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life...
Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Matthew 6:25,34

Seek first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness
and everything else that you need
will then be given you as well.
Matthew 6:33

And then, we live life.

We "dance it, sing it, cry it, feel it on our skin and in our bones". 1




May we all acquire a passion and pleasure for life as you did, Gene.


May you find comfort in the arms of your savior now and know the true passion of Christ in all His glory.


*****


  I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 10:10


 Life has a way....



1.  Sue Monk Kidd,When the Heart Waits (San Francisco:HarperSanFrancisco, 1990) p.22