tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52116459800774293262024-03-14T00:44:30.664-05:00David M. AyresPrayers & PoemsDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.comBlogger153125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-87954992448193667752011-04-29T11:20:00.002-05:002011-04-29T11:22:17.340-05:00Forgive Meforgive me<br />when I do not want you to<br />and I will be saved.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-62010874503190426002011-03-22T18:40:00.009-05:002011-03-22T18:56:41.861-05:00Libya: A SummaryWe are using our superior military capabilities to protect our interests against an inferior and aggressive military force who was using its superior military capabilities to protect its interests against an inferior and aggressive military force.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-12490329207685344042011-03-21T15:39:00.003-05:002011-03-21T15:40:08.326-05:00On Free WillFree will is our ability to learn to want what we do not yet want.<br />Namely, the cross.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-43718424910080460732011-03-14T08:58:00.003-05:002011-03-14T09:04:32.606-05:00Holy SpiritThe tide turns itself<br />and us along with it.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-39409682892277942392011-03-01T16:27:00.013-06:002011-03-01T21:05:18.809-06:00My Canon within the CanonExplorations in the New Testament this semester have given me a new awareness to my blind spots when it comes to the biblical text. It is easier to build a "biblical" theology when you emphasize certain parts more than others. This seems like a very bad way of going about reading your bible, after all, "All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching..." But I am convinced that some parts of scripture are more important than others and that all of us, if we are honest, have a "canon within the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_canon">Canon</a>." Furthermore, the parts that we select to be a part of our "canon" say a lot about who we believe God to be and how he interacts with humanity. So, for the sake of transparency and conversation, I offer to you my (little 'c') canon. (I will restrict this to the New Testament for now, though exploring this issue with the OT may be an even more important venture.) <br /><br />My canon: <br />Matthew 4:12-17 (The kingdom of heaven is near!)<br />Matthew 5-7 (The Sermon on the Mount)<br />Matthew 22:34-40 (The Greatest Commandment)<br />Matthew 26:57-68; 27:11-66 (Jesus' Trial and Crucifixion)<br />Mark 8:27-38 (Peter's confession of Christ and subsequent screw-up) <br />Mark 14:32-42 (The Garden of Gethsemane)<br />Luke 4:14-21 (Jesus reads Isaiah in Synagogue)<br />Luke 9: 57-62 (Following Jesus is hard!)<br />Luke 15: 11-32 (Parable of the Prodigal Son)<br />Luke 24:13-35 (The Walk to Emmaus)<br />John 1:1-18 (In the beginning was the Word...)<br />John 13-17 (The farewell discourse)<br />John 20 (Jesus' resurrection and appearance to Mary and the Disciples)<br /><br /><br />Acts 2 (Pentecost)<br />Romans 6:1-23 (Dead to sin, alive in Christ and slaves to God)<br />Romans 8 (The life of the Spirit within us, groaning of creation, nothing can separate us from God's love in Christ Jesus)<br />1 Corinthians 12 (Spiritual gifts, diversity of the body of Christ)<br />1 Corinthians 13 (Love)<br />1 Corinthians 15 (Our Physical Resurrection)<br />2 Corinthians 4 (Hard pressed but not crushed...)<br />2 Corinthians 5 (Ministry of Reconciliation, New Creation)<br />2 Corinthians 12:1-10 (My grace is sufficient for you...)<br />Galatians 3:26-29 (There is neither Jew nor Greek...)<br />Ephesians 3:14-21 (Paul's prayer for the Ephesians)<br />Ephesians 4:1-6 (One Lord, one faith, one baptism...)<br />Ephesians 5:21-33 (Mutual Submission and the mystery of the Church)<br />Philippians 2:1-11 (Your attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God...)<br />Philippians 3:7-11 (What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.)<br />Colossians 1:15-20 (He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation...)<br />Hebrews 11 (Now faith is being sure of what we hope for... and here are a few examples...)<br />Hebrews 12 (Consider Jesus... so you will not grow weary and lose heart)<br />1 John 3:11-24 (Love one another)<br />Revelation 21-22 (New Jerusalem!)<br /><br />There we are, I have probably forgotten some things but this is a good start. For clarification, this is not a list of my favorite scriptures (though many of them are), nor does it mean that I dislike parts that I have left off (though sometimes that is true). Instead, these are the passages I depend on again and again to tell the story of the Christian faith as I have come to understand it. I am anxious to hear from others about additions (or subtractions) to this list, what do you think of this little canon?Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-21956258177672507082011-02-26T21:35:00.002-06:002011-02-26T21:39:01.438-06:00DiscernmentChristian discernment comes down to two options:<br />Are you going to the cross <br />or coming out of the tomb?Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-36169219586961703192011-02-22T09:10:00.003-06:002011-02-22T10:17:44.333-06:00On Reading ScriptureMany of us who read scripture and want to honor it as a special sort of text, a text somehow set apart from all others, spend a great deal of time discerning <span style="font-style:italic;">how </span> we should read such a text. As a result, we come to scripture with expectations about what scripture is and what it should do to us or for us. Put another way: we confess that scripture is the word of God before we ever sit down and read it.<br /><br />Yet it seems to me that this confession should come <span style="font-style:italic;">after</span> we have read. We should read our bibles the way we would read any other book, with questions and curiosity, eager to find some pattern of words that truthfully names reality and excites our thought. Because it is only as we take our bible down from its own secluded shelf and place it among <span style="font-style:italic;">The Republic</span>, and <span style="font-style:italic;">Macbeth</span>, and <span style="font-style:italic;">Brothers Karamazov </span>, and the <span style="font-style:italic;">Collected Poems of Robert Frost </span> that we begin to understand what a treasure it is. Just as the centurion crucified Jesus as another common criminal and only then recognized him as the Son of God, so we read the bible as another common text and only then recognize it as the word of God.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-31296641944999153552011-02-21T10:03:00.005-06:002011-02-21T10:09:35.676-06:00"Human Beauty" by Albert GoldbarthI was perusing <a href="poetryfoundation.org">poetryfoundation.org<br /></a> and came across this poem. I love the beautiful way in which the author explores our attempts, with language and symbol, to capture and name beauty. The narrative ending in particular is lovely and thought-provoking. <br /><br />----------<br /><br />If you write a poem about love ...<br />the love is a bird,<br /><br />the poem is an origami bird.<br />If you write a poem about death ...<br /><br />the death is a terrible fire,<br />the poem is an offering of paper cutout flames<br /><br />you feed to the fire.<br />We can see, in these, the space between<br /><br />our gestures and the power they address<br />—an insufficiency. And yet a kind of beauty,<br /><br />a distinctly human beauty. When a winter storm<br />from out of nowhere hit New York one night<br /><br />in 1892, the crew at a theater was caught<br />unloading props: a box<br /><br />of paper snow for the Christmas scene got dropped<br />and broken open, and that flash of white<br /><br />confetti was lost<br />inside what it was a praise of.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-84302940414139937452011-02-17T17:41:00.002-06:002011-02-17T17:51:32.290-06:00On prayerTo be fed by your hunger,<br />this is prayer.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-55402970913955589302011-02-02T13:54:00.003-06:002011-02-02T14:13:39.388-06:00On the Infallibility of ScriptureI can concur, if what we mean by infallible is that we rely on the incomprehensible mysteries described in Scripture as a more accurate and trustworthy account of reality against the superior reasonableness of our own attempts at naming it. To champion the infallibility of Scripture is to be joyfully and faithfully ridiculous.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-13426911042264476332011-02-01T20:38:00.005-06:002011-02-01T21:07:27.660-06:00Why We are BuriedImagine our faces <br />as memory decomposes <br />in the furrows of foreheads<br />and the shallows of dimpled cheeks<br />and fertilizes our flesh for resurrection.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-64263806599554178202011-01-21T19:36:00.005-06:002011-01-21T20:11:56.746-06:00A Theologian's Confession<div>Do I want to love you</div><div>or be known as one who loves you?</div><div>Idolatry is always public. </div><div>So I confess:</div><div>these are my Nouwen dress-up sweaters </div><div>which would have gone smartly </div><div>with my Bonhoeffer eye-glasses</div><div>had my wife let me buy them. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8kKFNERfjMY/TTo8iJZLnPI/AAAAAAAAAFk/-gul4kBjh0c/s1600/nouwen-3.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 211px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8kKFNERfjMY/TTo8iJZLnPI/AAAAAAAAAFk/-gul4kBjh0c/s320/nouwen-3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564826846904425714" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8kKFNERfjMY/TTo8iDhpLQI/AAAAAAAAAFs/RVXfEiQUp4c/s1600/images.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 184px; height: 273px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8kKFNERfjMY/TTo8iDhpLQI/AAAAAAAAAFs/RVXfEiQUp4c/s320/images.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5564826845329304834" /></a>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-59827700509141004802011-01-03T13:56:00.000-06:002011-01-03T13:56:54.441-06:00A Sermon for the New Year<div>This past Sunday I had the opportunity to preach at my home congregation, South MacArthur Church of Christ. We took a look at Jeremiah 31:31-34 and meditated on Jeremiah's description of the new covenant. Below I've given a link to a video of the sermon, enjoy!</div><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.truthcasting.com/player.aspx#showSermon=28459">TruthCasting - Sermons</a>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-68780731113933228572011-01-03T13:16:00.004-06:002011-01-03T13:49:40.034-06:00Early MorningThe steps to her bedroom<div>are miles a stride </div><div>and I am the deep-eyed</div><div>road weary one</div><div>until she becomes home</div><div>in my arms. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-33426416244156456682010-12-11T09:29:00.001-06:002010-12-11T09:32:21.168-06:00He dug he a shallow grave<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">New poetry is coming hard lately. Below is the beginning of a story I am tinkering with. Let me know what you think. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">--------------</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">He dug her a shallow grave. When the shovel started slipping in his hands he stopped, no reason not to. He figured half of everything we do is courtesy, anyhow, and courtesy had sealed itself off inside his bones a while back. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>He rested on the shovel, palming the crown of the staff with his right hand while the other slid until friction stopped it. If he looked at the mound of unpacked earth to the left it kept the sweat out of his eyes. He breathed into a damp sleeve and the cooled smell of salt and soil felt intimate, safe; he drew his shirt between his teeth. Off to the west, in the direction of the coffin, there was an oak tree and beyond the tree a hill and beyond the hill the sun was setting. A cloud bloomed out of the darkening eastern sky and flowered in pink and shadowed petals that fell upon the crest of the hill. But it was the thought of the encroaching darkness and not the blossoming sky that turned his face to the west, to the coffin. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Might as well, he said, and dropped the shovel behind him. Bending slowly towards the casket the thought entered his mind that he should not be the one doing this. He had insisted, he reminded himself. I need to, were his exact words to the deacons. They had nodded and almost said something about forgiveness but didn’t. He edged one corner closer to the grave and fantasized that someone was watching him flex and strain and glare. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The face of his father appeared on the imaginary spectator, nodding at this act of grace. Yes, he would have done this. </p> <!--EndFragment-->Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-53168156579788647292010-10-31T23:56:00.005-05:002010-11-01T00:03:04.577-05:00The OfficeRecently, for a class assignment we were asked to examine various cultural "artifacts" (TV shows, movies, architecture, music, poetry, etc.) in order to interpret the various understandings of the world implicit within them. I chose to think about The Office and the various "truths" it portrays. Enjoy!<div>-------------------<br /><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 16px; font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;font-size:11px;"><p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The comedy "Mockumentary," The Office, features a failing paper supply company called Dunder-Mifflin based in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The central character, Michael Scott, is the regional manager of the Scranton Branch of Dunder-Mifflin. Michael is the definition of an incompetent boss who has little regard for (and/or knowledge of) social boundaries. The character of Michael Scott gives us insight into the world behind the text. Michael's ineptness as a boss drives the comedy forward yet Michael is no mere clown. His understanding of himself and the role of manager is strikingly different from that of those around him, and different from what has come standard operating procedure in American business. While most others see work as a compartmentalized portion of their life characterized by professional etiquette, Michael repeatedly calls his staff his "family." He sees himself, in relation to his employees, first as a friend, second as an entertainer, and finally as boss. Simply stated, Michael expects a deeper level of social interaction than typically available in an office. <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"></span>His need for this kind of community is tied to deep levels of pain. In the course of the various episodes we learn of a friendless childhood, a turbulent home life, and his various failed attempts at dating. He has no meaningful community outside of the office. Thus, the office becomes his primary source of social interaction because they are forced to be around him, they cannot avoid relationship with Michael as so many others have. With no other alternatives, the office becomes Michael's family, his primary source of relationship. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The comedy of The Office pours forth out of this reality. The underlying and unquestioned assumption that office relationships are superficial and only professional creates the comedic tension that supports the story. Thus, Michael's character becomes a satirical protest against the lonely American office.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The world of The Office is an ongoing competition between sanity (social distance and discretion) played primarily by the straight characters Jim and Pam, and the world envisioned by Michael where social boundaries disappear and he is accepted and successful. This is played out in two rivalries in particular. First, a rivalry between Michael and Toby (the human resources representative) contrasts Michael's priorities with the priorities of the business world as Toby inevitably reminds Michael of "company policy." Second, a rivalry exists between straight man Jim and the doggedly obedient Dwight. Dwight plays an ironic foil to Michael as a parody on the self-reliant "All-American Man." Just as Michael desires to escape the relationship killing constraints of office "business as usual," Dwight embraces the social structures of the office with a gullible respect for all authority in order to cope with his own loneliness. Dwight's elevation of hierarchical structure creates an obsession with his own status and makes him an easy target for Jim's relentless pranking. Whereas Dwight wholeheartedly accepts Michael's office management on the basis of his positional authority, Jim calls attention to the absurdity with generous helpings of sarcasm.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We catch glimpses of the world envisioned by The Office in the relationship between Jim and Pam. Over the course of several seasons we watch the courting that takes place between the two in the office. As the relationship develops and the two eventually get married Michael interprets their marriage as a direct result of his management and the confirmation of his most cherished ideals. Thus, Michael's imagined world in which office relationships are intimate and meaningful is brought to fruition. Ironically, the two straight characters who most heavily resist being pulled into Michael's fantasy become the consummation of it.</span></span></p><div><br /></div></span></div></div>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-54977463713956306962010-10-26T20:30:00.003-05:002010-10-26T20:32:07.779-05:00GenerationsAll the mothers<div>all the fathers</div><div>just cans stacked against a wall</div><div>in preparation</div><div>singing generations</div><div>generations</div><div>generations</div><div>But I'm hungry too. </div><div><br /></div><div>And I will eat</div><div>and I will be other than I am today.</div><div><br /></div>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-8254237477644749132010-10-03T19:31:00.001-05:002010-10-03T19:34:54.049-05:00The One Who Calls: A sermon<div>Click on the below link to watch video of a sermon I delivered at my home church, South MacArthur Church of Christ, on the calling of Moses. </div><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.truthcasting.com/player.aspx#showSermon=24121">TruthCasting - Sermons</a>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-87439943337643119682010-09-20T20:23:00.005-05:002010-09-20T20:36:02.074-05:00How to Hear a ConfessionSo often with God<div>the appropriate conjunction</div><div>is not "but"</div><div>but "so"</div><div><br /></div><div>"You've messed up </div><div>and caused so much pain,</div><div>so</div><div>God forgives you."</div><div><br /></div><div>It is not:</div><div>but God loves you anyways,</div><div><br /></div><div>It is simply:</div><div>God loves you. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-30621437325177787432010-09-02T10:55:00.004-05:002010-09-02T10:57:38.523-05:00A Tentative Definition of ScriptureScripture is the Gospel's most adequate conversation partner.<div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-89633299026865932422010-08-19T23:38:00.007-05:002010-08-20T07:08:17.504-05:00Prayer in response to Psalm 1Psalm 1:<div>Blessed is the man </div><div>who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked</div><div>or stand in the way of sinners</div><div>or sit in the seat of mockers.</div><div>But his delight is in the law of the Lord,</div><div>and on his law he meditates day and night.</div><div>He is like a tree planted by streams of water</div><div>which yields fruit in season</div><div>and whose leaf does not wither.</div><div>Whatever he does prospers.</div><div><br /></div><div>Not so the wicked!</div><div>They are like chaff</div><div>that the wind blows away.</div><div>Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement </div><div>not sinners in the assembly of the righteous.</div><div><br /></div><div>For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,</div><div>but the way of the wicked will perish.</div><div><br /></div><div>---------------------------------</div><div><br /></div><div><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">Excuse us if we seem unmoved, today, by your word</p> <p class="MsoNormal">But we’ve been taught to be </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">both/and people</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">and never either/or.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We can’t help but find ourselves</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Wary of duality</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Skeptical of polarities </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">Suspicious of dichotomies </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Because our world rebuts such simplicity</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>We’ve seen the power “the right” use against “the wrong”</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>We’ve discovered lifelong friends among mortal enemies</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>We’ve explored the tumultuous landscape of our own hearts.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">So we resign ourselves to ambiguity,</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">We feel at home with relativity,</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>we guard ourselves against extremity.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We choose to be somewhere in between;</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">a people constrained to shades of gray.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Until you,</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">who have suffered the power “the right” use against “the wrong”</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">who have chosen eternal friends among mortal enemies</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">who have cherished the tumultuous landscape of every heart</p> <p class="MsoNormal">re-educate us, re-enlighten us, re-create us with your definiteness:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Either you are Holy or you are not</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Either you are Life or you are not</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Either you are The Way or you are not</p> <p class="MsoNormal">By grace and to our own advantage, </p><p class="MsoNormal">we confess that you are. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Amen.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span></p> <!--EndFragment--> </div>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-32920114059645467622010-08-17T17:41:00.004-05:002010-08-17T18:35:39.941-05:00The beginning of prayer<div>somewhere;</div><div>I think that my lungs are being filled</div><div><br /></div><div>and that is not so bad</div><div>when pain is hope</div><div><br /></div><div>(which I hope it is)</div><div><br /></div><div>I understand that you must do this</div><div>and that you know I do not want it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I wanted a drink. </div><div><br /></div><div>Just a drink. </div><div><br /></div><div>But you would make me a fish before cooling my throat.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-21335606355056587902010-08-11T16:57:00.002-05:002010-08-11T17:02:44.889-05:00An Honest QuestionHow long <div>should one wait<div>after sinning</div><div>to pray? </div></div><div><br /></div><div>Save your theology,</div><div>I tremble at the thought.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-56485646054819886722010-08-10T10:50:00.002-05:002010-08-10T11:36:53.140-05:00Home for the NightWe are what no one else sees.<div>Our cluttered home, </div><div>piqued by evening light</div><div>and vacant shoes (still warm),</div><div>summons our imagined selves</div><div>to the fringes of our conscience</div><div>and casts visions of immaculate</div><div>hotel rooms where we once made love.</div><div>Tonight, her laps around the coffee table </div><div>are enough to quell our suspicion </div><div>of our own laziness and we remain</div><div>as we are - </div><div>we call this love,</div><div>as we were taught to call it,</div><div>and I am inclined to the accuracy </div><div>of our instruction</div><div>even as we fall regretfully asleep. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5211645980077429326.post-21907094285422101752010-08-07T21:49:00.003-05:002010-08-07T22:08:50.951-05:00CampfireAt last<div>the murmuring ash</div><div>is silent</div><div>but I do not hear it cease</div><div>or mourn a wide-eyed blindness</div><div>because I am already asleep,</div><div>somewhere in a dream </div><div>in which I just shivered. </div><div><br /></div>Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15186395526530252403noreply@blogger.com0