You tend to break things

We know you as the God who sustains
Who holds it all together
Who is three… in one
And that is how we would like to keep you
Unsplintered
Unfragmented
Whole
But you tend to break things
Nothing is safe in your hands
what we offer you, you break
What we hide from you, you take
What we cherish, you steal
For you would not have us live in the illusion
That what you want from us is wholeness
A people who have it all together
Unsplintered
Unfragmented
Whole
For in our wholeness we are scarce
And you have thousands to feed
So you come to us as one
Who breaks
And is broken
To be shattered into abundant life
And you invite us to be broken with you
So that our wounds heal
So that our scraps become meals
So that our hearts become homes
For you and for others
In truth we need you
You who sustains and debilitates
You who holds it all together and smashes it apart
You who is three… in one… in three
Because you tend to break things
Keep us in your hands, Sovereign Lord
Amen

New Direction

While I am, quite apparently, not a faithful blogger I am intensely interested in the blogging world. So, along with the new look, this blog will take a new direction, one that will hopefully result in more regular posting. From here on out, this will be a poetry blog (along with prayers and probably a couple of sermons...). What that means, I am not quite sure, but we can uncover that as we go. 

The blog genre is typically confined to being journalistic, an online diary which the entire world can read. Although keeping such a diary has not kept me interested enough to post frequently, the idea of the blog as public domain intensely interests me. Blogs are changing what it means to be published - anyone can do it and it's cheap. While we don't all carry the same readership the potential is at least present and that is part of what makes it so exciting. This is one reason for the change. 

The other is this: I like the idea of writing good poetry for an online community. While the web is full of misinformation, melo-drama, and chainmail there is also the opportunity for legitimate and worthwhile art to find a captive audience. To me, the blending of such a "low" medium with beauty is incarnational and a task worth pursuing. 

And so, without further ado, I present my first poem. I wrote this prayer/poem for Stephen Johnson who used it as a part of the liturgy in St. Paul this last Sunday night. The liturgy centered on John 12:20-33 (it would be helpful to read that text before reading the prayer in order to catch all of the allusions and borrowed imagery).

Our prayers give us away

Our prayers give us away:
Beneath our petitions for healthy bodies are
Troubled souls
Beneath our requests for a lighter load are
Heavy hearts
Beneath our pleas for security are
Lives in love with themselves
We would have you know that
Our hour has come, Lord
And we are ripe with need
But You have no desire
For amber waves of grain
You move
beyond sustenance
From life
To death
To life
Towards magnificence
And you invite us to follow
so that: life
ends
in life
and our prayers
end
in giving ourselves away
for the sake of others
It is for this reason that we have come to this hour,
Father, Glorify your name.
Amen