feastly reflections, part deux - less and more

OK...part deux of my reflections on the Feast of St. Patrick's in the thinspace of St. Elizabeth's:

i felt the tension of more and less in the thinspace...

less:

less distraction...because there was just not enough time to connect with new friends deep and wide

less of me: less talk, more listen...[and more patience when the conversations take big U turns that i miss]

less busy, more relaxed

less feeling like an interloper...[although grateful for my jedi-like invisibility, even though i did feel like an interloper in much of the intimate conversation that i did partake in]

less nit-pickin'...more grace-fillin'

more:

more conversation:
[actually, i think the conversations that began there are really just beginning to take form and really be mined and cultivated and explored: for instance, check out beth keck and the continuing conversation on sustaining femininity]

more amber champagne, toasting the high life with e keck

more exploring uncharted territory with dave nixon and k rains

more of tracy rains warm presence and smile

more seeing others perspectives, less caught up in my own

mostly grateful for the bits and pieces of connection:

• with mike bishop about mis-understandings, cross-talk, and the road of life
• with magical amber bishop, whose motherly presence eased the tears of iris elizabeth
• with bill bean about military bands and fireworks at fort benjamin harrison in indianapolis
• with aaron about health, broccoli and the importance of journey with friends
• with jerry and dawn stamper, hosts with great heart in my old kentucky home
• with rose about doing justice and yet somehow still loving mercy as we walk humbly with our God
• with bob ekblad about frustration and spiritual warfare in fighting the dark cosmocrats in the heavenly realms
• with mark bishop about metros, railways, conspiracy researchers, and the Kingdom bounding forth in the midst of vocation
• with kenny petrowski about life and trash and the goodness of God
• with eric keck, who floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee in that celtic thinspace
• with beth wacome keck, whose voice and words resonated in the thinspace of St. E's...and still resonate in my own family's soft-earlobed thinspace...that and the image of her seeking to communicate without words at the foot of the stairs in the brownhouse
• with kevin rains...his essence shining...may we all be so unpimp'd and remonk'd
• with dave nixon about spiritual formation and missional communities in Berlin
• with Mike T, the godfather...'nuff said

mostly grateful for the Presence felt and not seen, hovering over our gathering, intertwining us and knitting and resting and exploding and alighting on all flesh (and hopefully metal too...good luck with 'Mater, eric)...

finally some wordcraft in the wake of the Spirit's Presence after senor ekblad finished:


epicenter

mouth gaping as apprehension is slow
'what have I done' labours to be uttered on my tongue

before we were blistering in a fire ice-cold
yet now fallen is liberation clinging to us like sunlight aglow

the shockwave felt full-on of a reign unfettered
the epicenter en masse...an eruption of living souls reflected in stained glass

a quake that has shaken and not just stirred
the ground now littered with spirit-filling and flesh-crawling

embraced all around with a new glow
as we walk on holy ground

our sandals left behind as we stand with
the Flame that does not consume

progression the size of plate-tectonics as dominions shift and provoke
applying ancient pressure in a new resolve

the faultline of good news gives way in release
and may, in its awakening, the epicenter of a kingdom unleash