Holy

"I walked out into the night and saw a sky that had been wiped clear of its tears, after such a long day. At the edge of the horizon slunk a few strands of ragged cloud, but ringing brightly the bell-stars held their place. Enduring Brilliance. All the storms had been far below them. Hadn't it seemed from against the ground that the smoking clouds had quenched their light? Yet they were untouched. They are promises never reached by decay."

Can you believe that? Isn't it hard to believe that purity exists? That there could be anything that hasn't been turned? That hasn't bent in even the tiniest way to evil and been lost to confusion and perversion?

If it's all been lost then there's nothing to go back to. There's no hope for healing.

But we sing... Holy.

There is One, and only One, who never gave in.

...Holy

There is One, who at all costs, stayed true.

...Holy

All the loss that has crushed and confused our hearts. All the weeping. The volcanic ache that pushes out from beneath your ribcage. The poison that pulses in this world till even beauty becomes banal. Nothing feels natural. Like death, it's all an intrusion.

But it's low clouds. The high holy stars are out of its reach.

...Holy

We've been lost for so long. Everything pure that we've forgotten, there is One who still remembers. The long years that slip through our skeletal grasp, there is One who hasn't grown weary, One whom decay cannot grip.

Let all Israel, those striving, struggling ones, say "his love endures forever."

Poem Day: Thankful for friends

Eyes for eyes

Eyes are for eyes
and faces for faces-
the overlap of voices.

If you hadn't been there when I got home
I would have plummeted from the threshold.

All the strange shapes
that make a stranger less strange
the curves and movements you learn.

We began to sing and the song was the same
I wondered at the waves beginning to bear me up.

I love the years of breathing
that keep the Feather afloat-
the long watch of priestly investment.

When the muscles were tender you helped me
thread my arms and fasten the buttons.

Consuming (life-eating) vs. Creating (life-making)

First off let me admit that I'm ripping this idea off from an article I read written by Andy Crouch which you can find here: http://www.qideas.org/essays/from-purchases-to-practices.aspx

Andy says, "When we purchase, we are simply freeloading off the capacities some other person has developed, and our own capacities change very little or, most often, not at all. But when we practice, we change."

I'm a musician, songwriter, worship leader, storyteller, etc. and I love to record music as well. In short, I love 'making'. I love creating. It's the same reason I love to cook or have conversations. It's a process that ends in an effect which you have been personally invested in over a length of time. It always sounds self-centered but some of my favorite music to listen to is the music I make. Rich Mullins said you shouldn't make music you don't like. It's like lying. But I think the reason I like it isn't because I think it's the best music in the world, but because I'm personally invested in it. I breathed my soul into it and even if it's a little out of tune, the lyrics halting, or the performance messy it remains dear to me. It represents the always moving life-story within me, a sort of index of transformation.

When we consume a mere product there's no personal investment. We are feeding off of the investment of someone else. We experience a sensation of having gone through a process but it soon fades and we hunger again. Andy Crouch's illustration is when we learn an instrument we do not get instant gratification. We slowly develop an ability over time. We really do live through a process wherein we invest ourselves in making something.

That joy lasts, even grows over time.

I thought about reading the Bible and following Jesus.

At first it's like handling a guitar, you don't know how it works, you can't get much out of it, but you keep practicing. You keep reading the Bible. Over time you begin to see how it fits together, the stories resonate and come into focus (or in tune) with each other. So like learning an instrument, you begin to be able to hear a coherent music, a certain song develops. As you continue to work and practice hearing the song, the voice of Jesus lifts above the tune and you begin to realize you are holding in your hands a thing that is calling you, as your abilities grow, to sing this song for others. Over time your skill and joy increase as you practice living and participating in the ongoing creation of the Song of God.

But there was no instant gratification. You had to go through something. Had to deeply invest yourself even though you thought you'd never be able to get a single sweet chord from that guitar. Your fingers got sore and maybe bled on the steel strings. Now you can make it sing, now you can make your own contribution to the Music. And others will sing along in the mighty chorus.

May we commit to deeply investing over long years in the practice of reading the words and living out the call of Jesus! That's life-making and life-giving!