Lent Store

The Lent Store has now closed.

I'm in the checkout line

PO'd

Arguing with myself,

the checker, the guy ahead, the one behind, even bickering at the big damn dark dog in the room and her deep black eyes staring,

What to keep

What to shed.

The Lent store has now closed.

But seriously someone is asking,

You gonna decide and get through checkout time?

No, you see I'm stuck
though I think,

I'm doing just fine

PO'd here

delighted to quarrel with me,
anyone
all along
up
down
the checkout line.

The deal is there's this door
just ahead

I'm jittered seeing.

Something's there on the other side -- exactly what torques my chest -- what's to trust, what's to believe.

Exit
it reads.

But it's You!

The carryout fellow who whispers it says,

That way's Life, living, a share in the lamb.

May I bag all your things?

Stuff your graffiti, your prose,

You keep just your poetry then.

Now shall we decide this together while I carry
your bags and you free the line?

To seek

To find

To walk forth

To become fully human,

The Lent Store has now closed.

Time to go...

Time to be risen...

God will You carry us along, help us decide?

--tim

This Week

Lent transitions, transforms.

From me-of-Ash Wednesday to we-of-Easter.

Two thoughts for this week.

First, from Mary Oliver's poem, Today

Today I'm flying low and I'm

not saying a word.

I'm letting all the voodoos of ambition sleep.

The world goes on as it must...

But I'm taking the day off.

Quiet as a feather...

Stillness. One of the doors

into the temple.

And lastly remembering the words Rabbi Heschel wrote again.  And again.

God is waiting for man to seek him.

...waiting for us to seek God together.

Hope this week is good for you, for us.

--tim

A Sermon from the Sea

A field trip in Lent last Sunday.

Midday services celebrated in the Church of the Holy Rolling Pacific Ocean at Stinson Beach.

The Word rolled onto the beach as a sermon in an icon served up from the deep in one of the Minister's native tongues.

After looking at this remarkable sight for some time I imagined the message translates loosely this way,

I Am with you

Here's the reprint of a sermon from the sea,

--tim

Finding God

First thing she said was in answer to my pigeon-Mandarin question.

We were among a gathering of medical staff at a Chinese government hospital.

Lunch-time in a dull gray government-appointed canteen. Stomach-of-duck and jelly fish were served.

From a group of twenty-some participants, the young lady plucked out a seat next to mine.

I asked what she did for the hospital.

"I'm a G.I. doctor," she said.

"Oh, that's impressive," I said. She looks, I'm thinking, maybe in her mid-twenties...

"I'm in my forties."

We smiled. Beijing water is spiked with something...

"Have you been to America?"

"I studied in Mississippi. Do you know where Mississippi is?"

"Sure," I said.  Deep south. In the Bible Belt...

"It's in the Bible Belt."

I nodded.  No words for this...

"I went for five months.  Now I'm Christian."

"Hao de. Me too."

The good doctor was all smiles and appeared quite happy, joyful.

"I'm baptized. In Mississippi."

I'm peddling software... In China...

Having an Exodus moment...

Hearing holy words this Lent from a communist government's gastrointestinal Christian physician baptized in Mississippi...

Thinking of Moses' words as he noticed the burning bush,

"I must go over to look at this remarkable sight,"

Finding God and miracles in the billions in Beijing this week.


--tim

Finding Miracles

On to the middle kingdom this week, lugging along a few thoughts for the ride.

In verdant pastures he gives me repose;

this one introvert in the billions in Beijing this week,

Beside restful waters he leads me;

to the scrum on the other side of Earth led in silent retreat,

he refreshes my soul.

On to trusting, finding miracles and God in the billions in Beijing this week.


--tim