Love and Apocalypse

There appears to be a contradiction 

Between

"Love one another

As I have loved you"

And

"He will come again in glory

To Judge the living and dead"

How do we resolve the yawning chasm

Between Love

And Apocalypse?

Anyone who has ever truly loved

Sacrificially loved

Loved despite the odds

Despite the failures

Despite the future

Anyone who has loved like that

Like Jesus loved

Will tell you that Love brings an apocalypse

Love does not sooth

Nor lull to sleep

It rends apart space and time

To reveal the reality behind the masks

The disease behind the smile

And that kind of Love

Pisses people off

Causes fear and hatred

And can even get you crucified

Love will struggle

Love IS Apocalypse

Love brings the old world to an end

And gives birth to a new world

We never could have imagined.

 

Twas the Night Before Christmas, Gym Edition

Twas the Night before Christmas and all through the gym

Every lifter was repping to get swole or get thin

The Weightlifters snatched and cleaned with great care

Crossfitters did muscle-ups and thrusters into the air

Strongwomen flipped tires and atlas stones over bars

As Powerlifters benched, squatted, and deadlifted PRs

Bodybuilders put their dumbbells neatly in rows

For endless drop-sets to feel the pump as they grow

When what to their wondering eyes did appear

But Jacked Santa Claus dragging exhausted reindeer 

He farmer-carried Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and Vixen!

And repped Rudolph, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen!

Everyone was shocked at the six pack in his belly

"We thought that you jiggled, like a bowl full of jelly!"

Santa then replied with his loud booming voice

"One day I realized that my health was my choice

So I learned how to get ripped, strong, muscular, and mobile

Like a supple leopard, sleek, powerful, and noble.

I had the elves build a gym, and learn about nutrition

To keep me always in peak gift-delivery condition.

I traded in cookies and milk for vitamins and whey.

I drink gallons of water and 200 grams of protein per day.

So throw some plates on the bar and then let's train

Merry Christmas to all, may you all make great gains!"

Proems and Poetry

I am singularly non-spectacular in the poetry I write, and spectacularly obscure and meandering in the prose I write (hence the name of this nearly 20 year old blog: nate's INCOHERENT babble). Thus it was recently that I realized I often combine the two mediocre art forms I enjoy— prose and poetry— into one meta-mediocre art form: The proem. 

The proem is a poem that is far too didactic and expositional to be enjoyable, with far too little connective tissue and logical linkages and tedious footnoting to be taken seriously as an essay. Thus, a proem is a merger of two insignificant art forms into one truly trivial art form.

So, I have created a new category of blog: Poetry and Proems. Enjoy, if you enjoy that kind of thing.

Mark Nine Twenty Four

A Proem...

John Seven Twenty Four

“Do not judge by appearances...”

Let not popularity or power beguile you 

Do not look at self promotion or propaganda

Don’t be fooled by masks or makeup 

Or the sly salesmanship of snake oil sellers

Confusion is their strategy

False promises their bait

For they whisper what you want to hear in one ear

While their fingers pick your pockets

“But judge with right judgment.”

There is a standard we stand or fall before

There is a justice to which we are accountable

There is a Love who wants the best for all her children

There is eternal Beauty, Truth, and Goodness

That calls us home

And our judgments must point in that direction

Or they will direct us to destruction 

(A Meditation on John 7:24) 

A Post Pentecost Poem

We Christians love to affirm:

.

Semper Reformanda!

Always reformed

Always reforming!

Until that reformation

Reforms the way we read the Bible

Reforms the kinds of families we approve

Reforms our understanding of how God made us

Through the unfolding dance of evolution

Reforms the ways patriarchy and hierarchy 

Have silenced and sidelined

Women and Queers and Outsiders

So we can at last hear Christ

Speak through them!

.

When Reformation reforms too much

We cling to Tradition

To keep the boundary stones

Firmly in place

Predictably

Immovably

Inertly

In place...

A Prayer for Uncertainty

A poem and a prayer for those facing an uncertain future and trying to find the way forward. Let us pray:

God is...

The undeconstructable Love 

Which shines as a Light 

In the darkness

Calling us to unfurl 

Beckoning us to grow 

Into our fullest and best selves

Living Vine, Dead Trellis

A poetic reflection on John 15.5 and institutional religion.

Speed Wobble

You know that feeling

When you are cruising down a hill

On a skateboard

Or maybe a scooter or bike

And you get going

Faster

And faster

And faster

Until you are far beyond

Your ability to steer?

Glimpses of the Sacred

Where is holiness to be found?

Where are the thin places

The fjords between

This shore and that Great Beyond?

Where is the fabric of reality

Most easily rent 

To reveal the Ultimate Reality

Behind the curtain of space and time?

All Yang no yin

Proclaim Hope and you are adored. 

Explain despair and you are ignored. 

Preach Meaning and be applauded. 

Examine meaninglessness and be criticized. 

Durkheim’s Ghost

At this time of social distance, 

We need shared rituals 

Now more than ever

Even if they are shared 

At a distance 

Over an internet connection 

Or in a choppy livestream. 

.

In an age of 

Alacarte 

Individualized 

Atomized

Disconnected 

Consumerism

We have very few communal rituals 

To bind us together

To remind us

No one is an island

Separate from the main. 

.

And the ersatz rituals we do have

Seek to monetize us

Commodify the experience 

For passive consumption 

As a lifestyle product: 

A sportsball game 

A lackluster blockbuster

A concert of prerecorded audio loops. 

.

So let us embrace 

The communal

The collective

The old fashioned

The traditional

The ritual

The participatory 

As an act of resistance 

Against the totalitarian hedonism 

We are immersed in

And the nihilistic anomie 

It inspires.  

A Mediation on James Three

Words are a gift

An intimate gift

A holy gift

From the Word

Through the words

By our words 

We are invited 

To climb into someone else’s soul

To think their thoughts alongside them

To see through their eyes

To feel with their heart

To imagine their imaginations

And dream their dreams

Such is the sacred power of words. 

.

And yet we live in World

Deaf to words

And blind to the Word

Because we spew words frantically and frenetically 

We fire them like bullets to slay our enemies

We use words to lure and trap and ensnare

We prostitute our words

We whore them out for power and praise

We use them to manipulate and infiltrate

And desecrate

The Temple of the Soul

Using our many many many words

For anything

For everything 

Except communication and communion

Our use of words is to the Gift of the Word

What pornography is to the Marriage Bed. 

.

Words are a gift

Words are a weapon

Words are a tool

Words are a lure

Words can be signposts 

Pointing to the creative Word of Love and Light

Or they can be directions

Leading us to the depths of Hell

So take care how you use them. 

.

A poem on the occasion 

Of my 500th post to this blog

May my words be part of the solution

And not part of the problem

28 Summers

28 summers ago I fell in love with Jesus

Not all at once

But a growing awareness

Starting with a desperate deal

Heal my life Jesus!

And I will live that life for you!

Little did I know what that would entail

But Jesus was faithful when I was faithless

And so unfolding over several months

This new love became real

Until one late night

On a Christmas break

At a Taco Bell

I knew I belonged to Jesus

Deep down in my gut

And it wasn’t just bean and cheese tacos talking. 

The Most Damnable Reason

The most damnable reason for existing 

Is to be liked. 

Mirrors and Mimics

We are mirrors and mimics: 

What has been done to us, 

We will do to others. 

What we do to others, 

Will be done to us. 

Personally. 

Relationally. 

Socially. 

Politically. 

Globally. 

So to create the kind of world we want to live in, 

It becomes imperative 

We heed the ancient mundane ethical truism: 

Always do to others 

What you would have them do to you: 

Personally. 

Relationally. 

Socially. 

Politically. 

Globally. 

Mundane Mysticism

Why do we look for a Divine Realm 
Of depth and richness 
Beyond the elaborately embroidered world 
We live and move and exist within? 
Why do we long for a heaven 
Outside of earth? 

The Sacrament of Imagination

An abnormal Sunday approaches
When Church pews normally filled
Lie dormant and desolate
As the faithful search for ways
To fill the void
In their schedule 
And in their hearts

A Poem for a Pandemic

All across the world right now
People are feeling what you feel

Love one another

With anxiety for the future
And worry for their loved ones

Love one another

With boredom and cabin fever
Which grows deeper as time grows longer

Love one another

With dismay at empty shelves
Empty streets and empty shops

Love one another

With prayers for the wellbeing of their families
And supplications for those who are sick

Love one another

With unexpected childcare and meals to fix
And cries of “Why can’t we go out?!?”

Love one another

With a flinch at every cough
And hesitation when a chill is felt

Love one another

With trepidation at unpaid bills
And terror at missing paychecks

Love one another

With waiting waiting waiting
And worrying worrying worrying

Love one another

With this Litany we address the Lord of Life
Who reminds us again and again

Love one another