the burden of a future

wordcraft for the second Sunday of Lent:

have you ever been in a fiery baptism
where perception collapses upon itself
struggling to remain on a precipice of hope
rather than plummet into the abyss of despair

deep-seated is the quest
treading on the double-edge of a dreadful dagger
sapping the strength from this weary frame
that awaits the significance with anticipation

still…conviction glows within
as shadow obscures without
on a passage marked with bloodshed
longing for the release of an eternal embrace

my weathered reflection looks back at me suddenly
alighting with beauty etched by an ancient artist
a sculptor of supreme talent
crafting a masterpiece
with indulgent fingers aflame
poignant hands fashioning essence therein


still troubled by the burden of a future
…have i lost my way in this wandering world?
…have i been brought from one wretched state to another?

from thrashing in the throes of fallen desire
to now writhe on the precipice of hope

forever is a promise
that now seems hollow in my hands
as I hover over the chasm of expectation
in anguish…gazing deeply

yet deeper does this agony take me
clouds of confusion gather
around my questioning confidence
how can we live in the shifting sands of eternity
rolled back upon us?

refuge sought as i wander the halls of my soul
glimpsing past portraits-in-progress
by this eternal architect
of ethereal embrace
and an easy yoke

forsaking all, and forsaken by more…
whom have i but You…?
and this affliction of a hope with faith and love
…with the strength You shoulder
in this burden of a future

directions in post-charismatic theology

while i typically prefer to throw around words like 'post-charismatic' when i'm actually with other people face-to-face so they can ask 'what do you mean by that term?' and have a greater depth of exchange, i think jason smith brings his thoughts about what direction a post-charistmatic theology might take

...looks like a kind of a precursor to the upcoming discussion on re-imagining the vineyard that i mentioned this past wednesday...

peace

deep church: re-imagining the vineyard

upcoming over at the deep church blog, a few of us are going to be delving into 10 Vineyard Church values/distinctives, and explore how they might be run against some of the necessary theological questions of evangelicalism/emerging culture that the emerging church conversation has raised over the last 10 years...

i'll be one of the participants in this 10-week conversation, and i hope you will join us in the conversation as well...

peace

presence, promise and trust

The way of trust is a movement into obscurity, into the undefined, into ambiguity, not into some predetermined, clearly delineated plan for the future. The next step discloses itself only out of a discernment of God acting in the desert of the present moment. The reality of naked trust is the life of the pilgrim who leaves what is nailed down, obvious, and secure, and walks into the unknown without any rational explanation to justify the decision or guarantee the future. Why? Because God has signaled the movement and offered it his presence and his promise.

- Brennan Manning

the weight of love's dilemma

wordcraft for the first Sunday of Lent:

gazing into the light
of daybreak’s panoramic height
i recognize the outline, a work of art
initiated by an ancient Artist
emerging from the weight of love’s dilemma
like the strong, safe arms
of a Father reaching to encompass
the menace that has burdened my soul
throughout the nightwatches
yet the light now shed from above
perceives the shadow of consequence
as this illuminating Artist enfolds my body
alighting my spirit within to rhapsody
casting me into His masterpiece
with tenderness amidst my perplexity
and while radiance rises within
to meet the dayspring without
i discover myself clothed
in the cool of mornings’ gentle breeze
but my lips burn nonetheless
while my eyes manifest
as renewed witnesses
even as awe
(lightly holding my breath)
beckons me to wonder at
the spectacle of the will to love
so reminiscent of
the life of God and the tree of pain
borne along upon strong shoulders
just like the day you took my hand
and beckoned me to stand
then dance within sight
of a wondrous and glorious plight
beauty for ashes
and the budding of aaron’s rod
a soul summoned to behold
the ache of our God
then the ebb of darkness
let’s loose the crashing wave
of new mercies
running from morning’s horizon
to meet this prodigal
drawn by loving cords
to his Eternal Father’s
Divine Embrace

healthy church conversation

my friend jason coker has been hosting a great conversation on 'healthy church' and missional church and mega church so be sure to check it out

as a follow-up, here is a interesting interview between david fitch and ed stetzer considering can a mega-church be missional...one guy thinks yes, one thinks no...


i love ed stetzer's honesty about how many people come to a megachurch to heal and to hide, and in that they can become disconnected from the mission, thus megachurches work harder at creating community and keeping people "on mission" or get people "back to mission" after a time of healing or hiding.

i love their back-and-forth and their honest exchanges...

what do you think?

recitare: rock of ages

O abiding Rock of ages,
i am crushed yet caressed
in our enduring encounter
driven by the risk
of an illuminating trust

i cannot fully grasp
daring me to enter

the relentless quest
an invitation beckoning
still, relishing the velocity
in my unsettled convergence
i continually catch the sympathetic echo
of my own previous prayers (again and again)
as i twist in the spin-cycle of life
left to blindly grope for a holding
even so, change – my constant companion
casts me into
my own era of tumultuous vertigo
so as to lead me to the edge of our yawning subsistence
decorated with suffering cries and laughing eyes
compelling us to a place of interruption
while we weep and rejoice as one

ashes await

wordcraft for ash wednesday:


ashes await such specimens of survival

soil and spirit mingled by Another

dirt in our wake
as we march together
of earth we are

as we kneel…dust upon dust

a frail finger of ash upon ash
marking me…
a touch felt in my depths

how is it that such as we reside in the heart of Love Itself?

awaiting

wordcraft for the feast of st. valentine:

the rains are complete
yet the deeper moist earth
can still be felt
in the lush gentle wind
that cools the warm skin
of my sultry spirit

i lie among luxuriant fields
deeply breathing this moment
elastic in but an instant of beauty
as time spreads forth
from my hidden perspective
awaiting the arrival
of my very present love

the luster of a full bright moon shifts
among the sparse shadowy clouds
quiet as it meanders its way across the sky
while the song of the turtledove
blossoms among the last gasp
of lingering peonies
and their unforgettable fragrance
released as they embrace their measure

such sudden awareness
has unhurriedly stirred me
as bounding over the terrain
unbidden under the elegance of our moon
i hear your approach
in the rustling of leaves
as each step stokes
our tangled flame
enticing me further
my whole being trembles
deliciously abuzz with the new wine
of our ardent adoration
which wholly mimics
the turtledoves tender devotion
then through the barest caress
of apprehension
as finally
we touch
arousing such delight
that delicately endures
between our entwined hands
for we are both faint with love

double blizzard = cancelled

two blizzard's in the span of one week, thus my flight to houston for the SVS conference out of baltimore was cancelled. most of the flights out of the three airports in the baltimore/washington area are cancelled. then looked for flights out of philadelphia: cancelled; then looked in norfolk: on time, but totally booked...

looks like i am grounded and will miss the conference and connecting with everyone...and i'm totally bummed! I pray they have a rich and deep interaction, i know it will be great...

SVS in Sugarland, Texas

provided the newest 'weather event' in the blizzard-struck mid-atlantic area doesn't ground us, my good friend steve salsman and i are off later this week to sugarland, texas for the society of vineyard scholars conference, it looks to be a rich time with plenary sessions with don williams and ron sider, as well as two days of six panel sessions (i will be presenting in Panel #1: Bible); the conference theme is: the Theology and Practice of the Kingdom of God: Justice, Power and the Cross.

more information on SVS and what it is all about and how you can get involved is here on the VineyardUSA website...

also, you can check out the entire SVS conference program. i hope to meet some old friends and make some new ones.

peace

deeper Vineyard discussions continue

as i mentioned in the last few weeks, there has been some great discussion on-going in/on the vineyard or perhaps ruminations on the "state of the vineyard":

• with tony jones throwing a shot at the vineyard and calvary chapel;
• jason coker providing a great response to jones and some good interaction in the comments;
• coker's additional response 'at the crossroads';
• caleb maskell devoting a talk at the vineyard UK conference considering this subject;
• last week jason clark weighed in considering 'move left in the vineyard movement';

now jason clark has two posts with his further thoughts this week:

• four factors the vineyard needs to face coming toward the end of a wintering/pruning season;
• how do you move from renewal to being a church movement

peace

awakening

in a blanket of white
i lie in my bed
of enduring morning
awakened by the dawn
that has given rise
to the chirping of
diligent and industrious creations
…feathers with talons…
chasing their own dreams
southward

i would join them…however
i chase my own
shifting in and out of slumber
in a time-between-times
while sight blurs
with visions unbound
as frosty flakes
cling to stained glass
little by little
mixing the colours anew

God's creative and saving justice

God is not a blind judge, like Justitia with her bandaged eyes, who judges without respect of person. God the judge is the friend at court, the advocate of the people without rights and of wrong-doers (Psalm 82). On the side of the victims his righteousness is a righteousness that brings about justice, and on the side of the offenders a righteousness that sets them on the right path...[i]n the light of Israel's experiences of God, this justice-creating, saving and redeeming righteousness is also understood as God's compassion. But this compassion does not mean that God puts mercy before judgement, or retains for himself the sovereign right to reprieve those who have been condemned. It is rather that his creative and saving justice is itself his mercy.

- Jürgen Moltmann, In the End - The Beginning

NTRT: Plant a Garden...or Just Take a Walk

my guestblogging continues today at dave schmelzer's blog not-the-religious-type. i venture into the digital era with some thoughts on how that is forming us and how it might effect what we call 'spiritual formation'...check it out:

• plant a garden..or just take a walk

peace

deep church: God-in-History part deux

as i mentioned last week, i have a two-part post regarding God-in-History at jason clark's deep church blog...here are the links for part one and part two:

• revelation as history, historian as prophet
• bearing the future in history

check it out...