seven::eight

It is at hand, the nursing, the Kingdom,

Mercy's lap is at hand.

Having grasped her hand you will go and speak.

Words have power and they have feet

and they hold the hand of the Kingdom,

hold the hand of Mercy.

So speak, and dream with graced thoughts,

the nourishing milk of a Mother's love.

She has given you a new birth,

a birth that continues to birth,

to then coddle tenderly

the transfigured virtuous children of the Spirit's wind and light.

Mark the truth on your body,

mark it with your body,

the mark of kindness

that leaves the scars of beauty,

the present sign of healing

in a land still dust.

With dust, speak, if you must

but it would be more becoming

to speak in silence,

in that tone of still calm.

Your friends may forget when you try to remember.

Think of them again as brothers and sisters.

And when their spurn grows like weeds,

be a grass providing shade,
muting their scorn to wild flowers.

The waters may be dried for a time of passage,

but their rushing life will flow once again

sending you the clouds you will need

to veil your words,

to speak only the verse of a new creation.

Rest now in the Kingdom.

Rest in her, Mercy's, lap.

Hold her hand.

(Isaiah 66:10-14, Psalm 66, Galatians 6:14-18, Luke 10:1-11)

seven::seven::seven

How sad to be a man deceived, blinded, on the death bed by a second son. And decades ago a father raised a knife above your throat. Oh, Isaac, how sad you must have been in your days, even with a name meaning laughter.

And Laughter. You must belong with sadness, and together, begetting dull and cunning offspring, you leave your promised mark on the world. What is the burden of a legacy, even one you must leave trusting in your feeble hands and cataract eyes? I wouldn't know to laugh or cry, in the end, feeling that nothing was up to me any longer. Still, I admit that I want to leave this life with something to be remembered, be it a child or an encouraging and challenging idea, something that leaves the world better.

Yet, that seems so impossible and fleeting. Not that this earth will only get worse; but better, how can I know or measure?

See, it is best to seek the beautiful rather than better, though I know I am apparently assigning hierarchy here. But the beautiful is beyond hierarchy, an institutionalized concept. The beautiful is even beyond laughter and sadness, though it may evoke both. The beautiful is the good, the end, the telos, to those who seek to concern themselves with the Kingdom of God, that reality which enjoys new wine in fresh skins and bottles. The beautiful preserves itself. Though I have not yet found Beauty, I know when we one day meet, she will keep me, and her words will rest on my lips in silence.

Laughter, in your blind sadness, wake up and seek the beautiful, even in your final moments before the forever evening-morning rises. Be no longer deceived, but find yourself in the will of God, which is good and beautiful.

(Genesis 27:1-5, 15-29, Psalm 135, Matthew 9:14-17)

seven::six

I am ill today in my stomach and head, having perhaps consumed foods my body ought not have consumed. Ans so now everything aches and I want only to rest or be able to eat, but nothing now seems good to digest. As such my vulnerability and weaknesses make themselves apparent. I don't entirely bemoan my ailments for they are a touchstone of the Gospel: "The sick need a physician, not those well off." Christ calls the sick and sinners and makes them whole. He lifts up those who show mercy to others, not sacrificing them for their own benefit. In the hours off ill feeling, may I not curse but remember God's mercy with wholeness being make real in me.

(Genesis 23:1-4, 19, 24:1-8, 62-67, Psalm 106, Matthew 9:9-13)

seven::five

"Get up, you are healed. Your paralysis no longer binds you, and now you may lean on me in freedom and trust. Go now, you are made well."

The powerful words of Christ, God in flesh, flesh in God. We listen to his words and are strengthened and weakened at the same time. But the weakness is not a weakness that causes us to whither. No, it merely causes us to look ourself in the eyes, a practice the self-proclaimed strong are unwilling to do. They look into a mirror and see not themselves but a world to be conquered, or others to have dominion over, possessions they would never give up.

But the weak, they recognize they have come into this world with nothing. They can only form eternal relationships, become bound with the community of humanity, recognize their self in Christ and the other. They can give up the things that leave them paralyzed: fear, possessions, power. When we lack power, we are given strength to trust in God. When we give up hold of our stuff, we are held in the sustaining hands of God. When we relinquish our selves of fear, we are given freedom to love.

"Why do you harbor evil thoughts? Let your mind be freed, your disposition to be one of trust. You are healed. Get up, walk, go. You are made whole."

(Genesis 22:1-19, Psalm 115, Matthew 9:1-8)

seven::four

Ishmael, come home, my boy.
Forgive me of your departure, for it distresses me so.
Your mother is a wonderful lady,
and this one I am at home with,
this woman of promise,
she bemoans anything that finds her ill at ease.

Ishmael, come home, for I love you.
You are now a wondering ass of a man,
sophisticated in your wild ways,
and if I were to think I'm not crazy,
I'd be crazier still.
But have I set you free?

Ishmael, those who seek the Lord
want for no good thing.
So cry out loud, God hears you.
Cry out of your need,
for those with will be without.
Seek your father in heaven, for I have failed you.

(Genesis 21:5, 8-20a, Psalm 34, Matthew 8:28-34)

seven::three

Someday, I will see not with my eyes but with my spirit. I may even be coming upon that day, or perhaps have had it pass me, and shall find it again. This sight is more than belief in our contemporary arrangement of that word. It is an entire disposition, and entire arrangement of life, and as such cannot be relegated to the non-thinking mind, for it is a new mind, a renewed mind, a mind that means to unite itself with the mind of God while all the time knowing it is below that, yet seeks still. This mind does not need to stick its fingers in the side of Christ, for with eyes closed it sees. It believes. It be-lieges, that is it pledges allegiance to Christ, and sets itself to the task of the Apostle's teachings. This sight, this mind, I desire.

(Ephesians 2:19-22, Psalm 117, John 20:24-29)

seven::two

Destruction is being wrought all over the face of the earth, but the lords of nations would not listen to the voice of Abraham. And so what then of the lords who use the name of the Lord, a name that by their actions they piss upon, sleeping in mansions while the Son of Man, unlike the bird and her nest, has no place to rest his head? God covers iniquities, he does not perpetuate them.

This morning I was surprised to find a cucumber growing in a crowded tire next to forming crooked-necked squash. This evening, I will eat a straight-necked squash. Water and soil lend to growth which leads to growth. Slow is the growth, as is God's anger, and so I can breathe deep a taste of life, a reminder of grace.

I do not have a view from the mountain top, above the cities of the planet, though I am here in hilly East Tennessee. Mainly, though, I simply read of the powers and taste of forgiveness. One day I may move to a place offering a different vantage point. But today I recognize that I do not rule over any lands, yet I must come to hold steady my heart, this sad little kingdom within, that the Spirit fortifies. And the lords of the earth have no place in this kingdom, nor I in theirs. But my heart might melt in love with yours, my brother or sister of land, and we can join together in finding that no-where place to rest our heads.

(Genesis 8:16-33, Psalm 103, Matthew 8:18-22)

seven::one

Life in the Spirit is free. It is also disciplined. But most of all, it is life lived in love.

This life of love allows us to move beyond ourselves. It draws us to rest in God. We may even be shaped in such a way that others are drawn to us and us to others.

For freedom we have been set free. To love we have been placed in the life the Holy Spirit, the life of the church of Christ. May we find ourselves in the love of God, our portion, our redemption, our love.

( Kings 19:16b, 19-21, Psalm 16, Galatians 5:1, 13-18, Luke 9:51-62)