Watermark

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The Eternal Moment

In the Upper Room

Which followed

The Crucifixion

That Excruciating Pause

Before Faith

Becomes Sight

Unbearable Stillness and Confinement

The Suspended Animation

Of All Space and Time

Bated Breath of a Thousand Years

Hope held in abeyance

Under the Crushing Weight

Of The Wait --

-- And just on the other side

Of this sliver between seconds

The thinnest veil obscuring their View

The Tide Is Returning

Bearing Down Mighty on their Good Friday Shore

Their dashed dreams

Their Broken Bewildered Hearts

Rushing in

to Watermark them

in 

Unimaginable

Resurrection

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"It will be said in that day, 'Behold our God upon Whom we have waited and hoped;

We will be exceedingly glad in His Salvation."

-Isaiah 25:9

Ashes?

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Ashes Seem So Final.

Barns burned down

Bodies laid to rest

Dust to dust

Death's denoument...

But crucifixions are conduits,

Calling cards only

 of Impending Resurrection

Imminent Rebirth...

The Ocean's Ebb is not its end

The Tide returns

Again

and

Again...

After the Interlude...

Ashes,

Sorrows Sown

Do not have the last word

What has been burned down

lays lovely ground,

and will,
in the end

Be Bartered

for

Beauty

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"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for He has anointed Me,

to give Beauty for Ashes..."

-Isaiah 61:3

no trespassing?

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Today, on a run, I saw a sign in front of a chuch that said, 

"No Trespassing, parishioners only".....

Really?

Really??

Keeping this blog g-rated prevents me from using the language I'd like to use right now, but it's something along the lines of "Brood of vipers", 

as Jesus more gently put it.......

I was utterly horrified......Jesus would be rolling over in His grave if He were still in it.......

The Big Business of church has drowned out the still small voice that said, "Come, all who are weary" ... "Come all who are thirsty, and you all, who have no money, come, buy and eat, buy wine and milk without money and without price..." 

I find it sadly amusing (pardon the oxymoron), that we would be taken aback to hear, if Jesus came back today and walked through our churches, the crack of the whip and the turning over of tables and pews; we would be shaken at the rage as He delivered the same 2000 year old rebuke, 

"How dare you turn My Father's house into a den of thieves!"

How dare we indeed.....How dare we pick and choose who can join our little country club we slap His name on and call "church".  How dare we treat anyone as a trespasser, we the lot of us, who, but for the Mercy and Love of God, are all trespassers into Amazing Grace........

God help us on judgement day, we who purportedly represent Providence, we "Parishioners".  

We may be very surprised to find God's Heaven filled with all the "Trespassers" the church turned away.

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"My Name is blasphemed among the people because of you."

-Romans 2:24

Middle

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Middles are Messy.

In any Great Work of Art,

Michaelangelo's David,

My God, the dust, the pounding, the breaking...

A Butterfly in the making,

Nothing but a cocoon full of goo...

Creation Itself,

On Day Three, probably looked more like Madness than Method...

We short circuit our Beginnings,

We get stuck in the uncomfortable 'In-Betweens'

of what's been "Authored" and what will be "Finished",

the Work Begun and the Work Completed...

Our Belief stalls out on Day Three,

Stopping short of the Rest awaiting us on Day Seven,

We draw conclusions before all the data is in,

While there are still Three Days to go...

The Execution of a Great Plan

- One for Peace, and not Evil,

For Hope and a Future -

Sometimes takes more than five minutes,

More than our minute attention spans allow for,

And we abort our Beginnings

Before they have a chance to Begin...

So Breathe

Breathe through this Middle

Keep Walking

God is the Alpha and the Omega

The Beginning and the End...

Let Him also be Lord

in the

Middle.

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"Trust Me; I know the Plans I have for you: Plans for Peace and not Evil, Plans to Prosper you, and not to harm you, Plans to give you Hope and a Future."

-Jeremiah 29:11

Communion

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Anchored

Here,

In the Deepest Place

Axis of the wheel

Ancient Mooring

Abiding

in You

Here

We touch,

Here

We speak

Face to Face

Mouth to Mouth

We Breathe...

...and the Well is tapped...

Your Kingdom Comes

You Come,

Rushing upward

Soaking me

Saturating me

Gushing out of me

Like water from the Rock,

Drenching every Desert Heart

Slaking every thirsty soul

Bathing Your Beloved

in

Communion

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"Blessed is he who is in You; he passes through the valley of weeping

and makes it a spring; the rain also covers it with pools..."

~Psalm 84:5-6

Letting Go

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We treat our lives, at times, like an all-terrain vehicle

And our walk with God less like walking

and more like off-roading...

Clinging so tightly

White-Knuckling the steering wheel

In an attempt to avoid catastrophe...

Yesterday, I went through a car wash...

I pulled up to the opening, 

Lined up my tires with the track,

Rolled down my window at the attendant's behest

At which point he told me,

"Put it in Neutral and Let Go of the steering wheel"

The track took hold of my car,

Pulled me along, 

Peacefully,

Smoothly, 

Methodically...

And everything was cleaned that needed to be cleaned...

Everything was done that needed to be done...
I made it through to the other side...

Without any hyper-vigilance on my part

Without anything on my part......

Just the Letting Go.........

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"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

Lean not on your own understanding,

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

He will make your path straight."

-Proverbs 3:5-6