FIRST EPIPHANY

FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

THE BAPTISM OF JESUS

LET US BEGIN AS WE BEGIN ALL THINGS
IN THE NAME OF GOD THE FATHER
WHO CREATED US,
IN THE NAME OF GOD THE SON
WHO REDEEMED US,
IN THE NAME OF GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT
WHO INSPIRES US.

LET US BEGIN IN THE NAME OF GOD,
MOTHER OF US ALL.

THIS IS THE FIRST SUNDAY OF EPIPHANY.
EPIPHANY
WHICH IS THAT TIME OF THE CHURCH YEAR
BETWEEN CHRISTMAS
AND THE BEGINNING OF LENT.

THE WORD EPIPHANY MEANS
TO SHOW.
THE CHURCH USES THIS SEASON
TO COMMEMORATE
THE TIME WHEN JESUS
WAS BEGINNING HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY.
WAS BEGINNING
TO SHOW THE WORLD
WHO HE WAS.

SO LAST WEEK
WE HAD THE FEAST OF EPIPHANY ITSELF

WHEN THE WISEMAN CAME.
MEN DRAWN BY A STAR
HERALDING THE BIRTH OF A KING.
THAT KING BEING JESUS.

THIS SUNDAY WE HAVE
THE BAPTISM OF JESUS
DURING WHICH GOD THE FATHER
SPEAKS FROM HEAVEN
DECLARING
THAT JESUS WAS HIS SON.


THE BAPTISM JESUS RECEIVED
WAS NOT THE SAME AS THAT BAPTISM
WE RECEIVED
WHEN MOST OF US WERE CHILDREN

BAPTISM WAS RESERVED IN THE JEWISH FAITH
FOR THOSE
NOT BORN JEWS
THOSE SINFUL PEOPLE
NOT BORN A JEW

THE JEW BELIEVED
THAT BEING A SON OF ABRAHAM
HE WAS ASSURED OF GOD'S SALVATION

AS LONG AS HE FOLLOWED THE LAW
HE WAS ASSURED OF GOD'S SALVATION
THERE FOR HE HAD NO NEED FOR RITUAL CLEANING

BUT THERE WAS A MOVEMENT IN JUDEA
IN JESUS TIME
THAT THE NATION HAD LOST THEIR PRIVILEGED STATUS

THE NATION HAD BEEN CONQUERED BY ROME
THE PEOPLE
WERE DESPERATELY WAITING
FOR THE MESSIAH
TO FREE THE LAND
THEY FELT THAT GOD WAS ANGRY WITH THEM
ANGRY WITH THEM BECAUSE OF THEIR LIFESTYLE
THEY FELT
THAT THERE WAS A NEED FOR A CHANGE
THAT THERE WAS A NEED FOR A CLEANSING
THAT THERE WAS A NEED FOR REPENTING

SO THERE WENT OUT INTO THE LAND
THOSE CALLING FOR CHANGE
SOME WERE CALLING FOR POLITICAL CHANGE
OTHERS LIKE JOHN THE BAPTIST AND THE ESSENES
WERE CALLING FOR MORAL CHANGE
AND THE SYMBOL OF THAT CHANGE
WAS THE WHOLE BODY PLUNGING
OF A PERSON INTO A LAKE OR RIVER



BUT THE CANDIDATE HAD FIRST TO STATE
HE WAS SORRY FOR HIS SINS
AND WOULD TRY TO AMEND HIS LIFE

AND JOHN'S MESSAGE OF REPENT
AND CHANGE YOUR LIFE
WAS BEARING FRUIT
MANY WERE FLOCKING TO JOHN
FOR REPENTANCE AND BAPTISM

UNDERLYING THIS MOVEMENT
WAS THE THOUGHT
THAT IF THEY CHANGED THEIR LIVES
THE MESSIAH WOULD COME
BUT THEY WANTED A POLITICAL MESSIAH

WHAT THEY WOULD GET
WAS A SERVANT

THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SURPRISED
BECAUSE GOD HAD DESCRIBED THAT SERVANT
IN ISAIAH
OUR FIRST READING TODAY
LET ME REFRESH YOUR MEMORY

THE LORD'S SERVANT

THE LORD SAYS,
"HERE IS MY SERVANT,
WHOM I STRENGTHEN -
THE ONE I HAVE CHOSEN,
WITH WHOM I AM PLEASED.
I HAVE FILLED HIM WITH MY SPIRIT,
AND HE WILL BRING JUSTICE TO EVERY NATION.
HE WILL NOT SHOUT OR RAISE HIS VOICE
OR MAKE LOUD SPEECHES IN THE STREETS.

HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF A BENT REED
NOR PUT OUT A FLICKERING LAMP.
HE WILL BRING LASTING JUSTICE TO ALL.
HE WILL NOT LOSE HOPE OR COURAGE;
HE WILL ESTABLISH JUSTICE ON THE EARTH.
DISTANT LANDS EAGERLY WAIT FOR HIS TEACHING."



AND NOW
THE LORD GOD SAYS TO HIS SERVANT,
I, THE LORD, HAVE CALLED YOU
AND GIVEN YOU POWER
TO SEE THAT JUSTICE
IS DONE ON EARTH.
THROUGH YOU
I WILL MAKE A COVENANT
WITH ALL PEOPLES;
THROUGH YOU
I WILL BRING LIGHT
TO THE NATIONS.
YOU WILL OPEN THE EYES
OF THE BLIND
AND SET FREE THOSE
WHO SIT IN DARK PRISONS.

THE THINGS I PREDICTED
HAVE NOW COME TRUE.
NOW I WILL TELL YOU
OF NEW THINGS
EVEN BEFORE
THEY BEGIN TO HAPPEN."

THIS SERVANT
THIS GOD MADE MAN
WHO DID NOT CONSIDER EQUALITY WITH GOD
SOMETHING TO BE GRASPED,
TO BE CLUNG TO
BUT RATHER
EMPTIED HIMSELF OUT
TOOK ON THE FORM OF A SLAVE
A SERVANT
TO SAVE US FROM OUR SINS

THIS GOD MAN WAS BORN IN A STABLE
WAS HUNGRY AT HIS MOTHER'S BREAST
WAS SENT TO SCHOOL
LEARNED TO TIE HIS SANDALS
WAS TRAINED TO BE A CARPENTER
TOOK CARE OF HIS MOTHER
STUDIED THE SCRIPTURES
LOOKED OUT AT THE WORLD
AND KNEW IT WAS NOT THE WAY IT SHOULD BE



SO HERE HE WAS
STANDING
LOOKING AT THE RIVER JORDAN
WHERE JOHN HIS COUSIN
WAS BAPTIZING
KNEW HE HAD TO MAKE A DECISION
KNEW HE HAD TO DECIDE
WHAT HE SHOULD DO WITH HIS LIFE
KNEW THAT IF STARTED PREACHING
THE WAY JOHN WAS PREACHING
THEY WOULD EVENTUALLY KILL HIM

BUT HE HAD HEARD
THE CALL OF HIS FATHER
TO MISSION
LIKE A BUGLE SOUNDING SOFTLY
IN THE DISTANCE

AND LIKE ALL MEN
BECAUSE HE WAS MAN
HE STRUGGLED WITH HIS DECISION
TRYING TO DETERMINE
HIS FATHER'S CALL
TRYING TO DETERMINE HOW TO BECOME THE PERSON PAUL WOULD DESCRIBE IN OUR SECOND READING

HE DID NOT NEED BAPTISM
THERE WAS NO SIN IN HIM
WHAT WAS IN HIM
WAS A DESIRE
A NEED
TO SHARE HUMANITY'S PLIGHT
TO BE WITH SINNERS
WHERE THEY WERE
AND WHERE THEY WERE
WAS WITH JOHN ENTERING THE WATER

SO HE JOINED THE LINE
BUT HIS COUSIN JOHN
FELT HE WAS UNWORTHY
BUT JESUS SAID
LET IT BE DONE




SO JOHN PLUNGED HIM INTO THE RIVER
AND HE CAME UP
GASPING FOR AIR
LIKE A NEWBORN BABY
LIKE A REBORN BABY
LIKE ALL THOSE IN LINE WITH HIM

AND FROM HEAVEN CAME A VOICE
THE VOICE OF A FATHER
PROUD OF HIS SON
FOR MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE
AND THE VOICE SAYS
THIS IS MY BELOVED SON
IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED

AND JESUS LOOKING AT ALL GATHERED AT THE RIVER
AND LOOKING DOWN THE LONG RIVER OF HISTORY
COMES TO THIS ROOM WHERE WE ARE GATHERED
AND SAYS
TO EACH ONE OF US INDIVIDUALLY
YOU
YOU ARE MY BELOVED BROTHERS
YOU ARE MY BELOVED SISTERS
IN YOU I AM WELL PLEASED

MORE JEREMIAH WRIGHT

The following is excerpted from the speech given by Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, at an NAACP dinner in Detroit on April 27.
Throughout its 99-year history, the NAACP has been built by people of all races, all nationalities, and all faiths on one primary premise, which is that all men and women are created equal. The nation's oldest civil rights organization has changed America's history. Despite violence, intimidation and hostile government policies, the NAACP and its grassroots membership have persevered.
Now, somebody please tell the Oakland county executive that that sentence starting with the words "despite violence, intimidation, and hostile government policies" is a direct quote from the NAACP's profile in courage. It didn't come from Jeremiah Wright.
Otherwise, he will attribute the quote to me and continue to say that I am one of the most divisive people he has ever heard speak. When he has never heard me speak. And just to help him out, I am not one of the most divisive. Tell him the word is descriptive.

I describe the conditions in this country. Conditions divide, not my descriptions. ...
One of your cities' political analysts says in print that first just my appearance here in Detroit will be polarizing. Well, I'm not here for political reasons. I am not a politician. I know that fact will surprise many of you because many in the corporate-owned media have made it seem as if I had announced that I'm running to for the Oval Office. I am not running for the Oval Office. I've been running for Jesus a long, long time, and I'm not tired yet.
I am sorry your local political analysts and your neighboring county executives think my being here is polarizing and my sermons are divisive, but I'm not here to address an analyst's opinion or a county executive's point of view. I am here to address your 2008 theme, and I stand here as one representative of the African American religious tradition which works in concert with other faith traditions, believing as we work together that a change is going to come. ... The support of the Jewish community, the Muslim community, and the Christian community, Protestant and Catholic, is in concert with the credo of the NAACP and a definite sign that a change is definitely going to come. ...
I believe that a change is going to come because many of us are committing to changing how we see others who are different.
In the past, we were taught to see others who are different as somehow being deficient. Christians saw Jews as being deficient. Catholics saw Protestants as being deficient. Presbyterians saw Pentecostals as being deficient. Folks who like to holler in worship saw folk who like to be quiet as deficient. And vice versa. ...
Whites saw black as being deficient. ... Europeans saw Africans as deficient. Lovers of George Friedrich Handel and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart saw lovers of B.B. King and Frankie Beverly and Maze as deficient. Lovers of Marian Anderson saw lovers of Lady Day and Anita Baker as deficient. ...
In the past, we were taught to see others who are different as being deficient. We established arbitrary norms and then determined that anybody not like us was abnormal. But a change is coming because we no longer see others who are different as being deficient. We just see them as different. Over the past 50 years, thanks to the scholarship of dozens of expert in many different disciplines, we have come to see just how skewed, prejudiced and dangerous our miseducation has been.
Miseducation. Miseducation incidentally is not a Jeremiah Wright term. It's a word coined by Dr. Carter G. Woodson over 80 years ago. Sounds like he talked a hate speech, doesn't it? ...
Turn to your neighbor and say different does not mean deficient. It simply means different. In fact, Dr. Janice Hale was the first writer whom I read who used that phrase. Different does not mean deficient. ... Dr. Hale showed us that in comparing African-American children and European-American children in the field of education, we were comparing apples and rocks. And in so doing, we kept coming up with meaningless labels like EMH, educable mentally handicapped, TMH, trainable mentally handicapped, ADD, attention deficit disorder.
And we were coming up with more meaningless solutions like reading, writing and Ritalin. Dr. Hale's research led her to stop comparing African-American children with European-American children. ... She discovered that the two different worlds have two different ways of learning. European and European-American children have a left-brained cognitive-object oriented learning style, and the entire educational learning system in the United States of America - back in the early '70s, when Dr. Hale did her research - was based on left-brained cognitive-object oriented learning style. ...
African and African-American children have a different way of learning. ... Those same children who have difficulty reading from an object and who are labeled EMH, DMH and ADD. Those children can say every word from every song on every hip-hop radio station half of whose words the average adult here tonight cannot understand. Why? Because they come from a right-brained creative oral culture like the (greos) in Africa ...
What Dr. Janice Hale did in the field of education, Dr. Geneva Smitherman did in the field of linguistics. ... Linguists have known since the mid 20th century that number one, nobody in Detroit, with the exception of citizens born and raised in the United Kingdom, nobody in Detroit speaks English. We all speak different varieties of American. ... Linguists knew that nobody in here speaks English, but only black children 50 years ago were singled out as speaking bad English.
John Kennedy could stand at the inauguration in January and say, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." ... Nobody ever said to John Kennedy that's not English. ... Only to a black child would they say you speak bad English. ... Ed Kennedy today cannot pronounce cluster consonants. Very few people from Boston can. They pronounce park like it's p-o-c-k. Where did you "pock" the car? They pronounce f-o-r-t like it's f-o-u-g-h-t. ... And nobody says to a Kennedy you speak bad English. Only to a black child was that said. ...
Different does not mean deficient. Tell your neighbor one more time. ... (This) is also true in ... biblical studies, black sacred music and black worship. We just do it different, and some of our haters can't get their heads around that. I come from a religious tradition that does not divorce the world we live in from the world we are heading to. I come from a religious tradition that does not separate the kingdom of heaven that we pray for from the devious kingdoms of humans that keep people in bondage on Earth.
... I also come from a religious tradition that say if you feel excited about something, be excited about it. ... Listen to how bombastic he is. Isn't he bombastic? He's stirring up hate. ... I come from a religious tradition where we shout in the sanctuary and march on the picket line. I come from a religious tradition where we give God the glory and we give the devil the blues. The black religious tradition is different. We do it a different way. ...
I believe a change is going to come because many of us here tonight, at least 11,900 out of 12,000, many of us are committed to changing how we see others who are different. Number one, many of us are committed to changing how we see ourselves. Number two, not inferior or superior to, just different from others. Embracing our own histories. Embracing our own cultures. Embracing our own languages as we embrace others who are also made in the image of God. ... When we see ourselves as members of the human race, I believe a change is on the way. When we see ourselves as people of faith who shared this planet with people of other faiths, I believe a change is on the way. ... Many of us are committed to changing, number three, the way we treat each other. The way black men treat black women. The way black parents treat black children. The way black youth treat black elders and the way black elders treat black youth. We are committed to changing the way we treat each other. ... The way the have and have-mores treat the have nots. The way the educated treat the uneducated. The way those with degrees treat those who never made it through high school. The way those of us who never got caught treat those of us who are incarcerated. ...
We are committed to changing the way we treat each other. ... It's going to take people of all faiths including the nation of Islam, but we can do it. It's going to take people of all races, but we can do it. It's going to take Republicans and Democrats, but we can do it. It's going to take the wisdom of the old and the energy of the young, but we can do it. It's going to take politicians and preachers ... but we can do it. It's going to take educators and legislatures, but we can do it. If I were in a Christian Church, I would say we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. If I were in a Jewish synagogue, I would say is anything too hard for Elohim? If I were in a Muslim mosque, I would say Sha Allah we can do it. If I were pushing one particular candidate, I would say yes, we can. ...

JEREMIAH WRIGHT'S 911 SERMON

Editor’s note: CNN Contributor Roland Martin has listened to several of the sermons of Rev. Jeremiah Wright from Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Portions of the sermons have been excerpted in recent stories.
As this whole sordid episode regarding the sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has played out over the last week, I wanted to understand what he ACTUALLY said in this speech. I’ve been saying all week on CNN that context is important, and I just wanted to know what the heck is going on.
I have now actually listened to the sermon Rev. Wright gave after September 11 titled, “The Day of Jerusalem’s Fall.” It was delivered on Sept. 16, 2001.
One of the most controversial statements in this sermon was when he mentioned “chickens coming home to roost.” He was actually quoting Edward Peck, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and deputy director of President Reagan’s terrorism task force, who was speaking on FOX News. That’s what he told the congregation.
He was quoting Peck as saying that America’s foreign policy has put the nation in peril:
“I heard Ambassador Peck on an interview yesterday did anybody else see or hear him? He was on FOX News, this is a white man, and he was upsetting the FOX News commentators to no end, he pointed out, a white man, an ambassador, he pointed out that what Malcolm X said when he was silenced by Elijah Mohammad was in fact true, he said Americas chickens, are coming home to roost.”
“We took this country by terror away from the Sioux, the Apache, Arikara, the Comanche, the Arapaho, the Navajo. Terrorism.
“We took Africans away from their country to build our way of ease and kept them enslaved and living in fear. Terrorism.
“We bombed Grenada and killed innocent civilians, babies, non-military personnel.
“We bombed the black civilian community of Panama with stealth bombers and killed unarmed teenage and toddlers, pregnant mothers and hard working fathers.
“We bombed Qaddafi’s home, and killed his child. Blessed are they who bash your children’s head against the rock.
“We bombed Iraq. We killed unarmed civilians trying to make a living. We bombed a plant in Sudan to pay back for the attack on our embassy, killed hundreds of hard working people, mothers and fathers who left home to go that day not knowing that they’d never get back home.
“We bombed Hiroshima. We bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted an eye.
“Kids playing in the playground. Mothers picking up children after school. Civilians, not soldiers, people just trying to make it day by day.
“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff that we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost.
“Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred. And terrorism begets terrorism. A white ambassador said that y’all, not a black militant. Not a reverend who preaches about racism. An ambassador whose eyes are wide open and who is trying to get us to wake up and move away from this dangerous precipice upon which we are now poised. The ambassador said the people we have wounded don’t have the military capability we have. But they do have individuals who are willing to die and take thousands with them. And we need to come to grips with that.”
He went on to describe seeing the photos of the aftermath of 9/11 because he was in Newark, N.J., when the planes struck. After turning on the TV and seeing the second plane slam into one of the twin towers, he spoke passionately about what if you never got a chance to say hello to your family again.
“What is the state of your family?” he asked.
And then he told his congregation that he loved them and asked the church to tell each other they loved themselves.
His sermon thesis:
1. This is a time for self-examination of ourselves and our families.
2. This is a time for social transformation (then he went on to say they won’t put me on PBS or national cable for what I’m about to say. Talk about prophetic!)
“We have got to change the way we have been doing things as a society,” he said.
Wright then said we can’t stop messing over people and thinking they can’t touch us. He said we may need to declare war on racism, injustice, and greed, instead of war on other countries.
“Maybe we need to declare war on AIDS. In five minutes the Congress found $40 billion to rebuild New York and the families that died in sudden death, do you think we can find the money to make medicine available for people who are dying a slow death? Maybe we need to declare war on the nation’s healthcare system that leaves the nation’s poor with no health coverage? Maybe we need to declare war on the mishandled educational system and provide quality education for everybody, every citizen, based on their ability to learn, not their ability to pay. This is a time for social transformation.”
3. This is time to tell God thank you for all that he has provided and that he gave him and others another chance to do His will.
By the way, nowhere in this sermon did he said “God damn America.” I’m not sure which sermon that came from.
This doesn’t explain anything away, nor does it absolve Wright of using the N-word, but what it does do is add an accurate perspective to this conversation.
The point that I have always made as a journalist is that our job is to seek the truth, and not the partial truth.
I am also listening to the other sermons delivered by Rev. Wright that have been the subject of controversy.
And let me be clear: Where I believe he was wrong and not justified in what he said based upon the facts, I will say so. But where the facts support his argument, that will also be said.
So stay tuned.
- Roland S. Martin, CNN Contributorwww.rolandsmartin.com

AUGUSTINE

Ask the loveliness of the earth, ask the loveliness of the sea, ask the loveliness of the wide airy spaces, ask the loveliness of the sky, ask the order of the stars, ask the sun, making daylight with its beams, ask the moon tempering the darkness of the night that follows, ask the living things which move in the waters, which tarry on the land, which fly in the air; ask the souls that are hidden, the bodies that are perceptive; the visible things which most be governed, the invisible things that govern—ask these things, and they will all answer you, Yes, see we are lovely. Their loveliness is their confession. And all these lovely but mutable things, who has made them, but Beauty immutable?- Augustine Sermons 214.2

MOTHER'S AGAINST THE WAR

He will leave again.
Again, I'll be broken, a relic
of that young woman I was when
I stood over his bassinet and
hoped his rash would heal
if I changed to cloth.
……………………………………………………………………………………


He left it out
of sight, as if recalling
my refusal,
when he was a boy,
to buy him one.
The only evidence
it existed, a small
brown square of paper,
slightly buckled,
three holes shot
through at the heart,
lying on the table
by his will.
…………………………………………………………………………….







His head was freshly shaved.
A blue square bandage
on his shoulder covered
the small pox shot they all get
before they ship out to Iraq.
In days he'd be cargo on some army plane,
and I'd be in New York City listening
to his message on my machine.
I save all his messages.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Last Mother's Day,
when he was incommunicado,
nothing came.
Three days later, a message
in my box; a package,
the mail room closed.
I went out into the lobby,
banged my fist against
the desk. When they
gave it to me, I clutched it
to my chest, sobbing
like an animal.
I spoke to no one,
did not apologize.
I didn't care about the gift.
It was the note I wanted,
the salt from his hand,
the words.
……………………………………………………………………..


Frances Richey
....................................................

OSCAR A ROMERO

Those who have created the evil are those who have made possible the hideous social injustice our people live in. Thus, the poor have shown the church the true way to go. A church that does not join the poor in order to speak out from the side of the poor against the injustices committed against them is not the true church of Jesus Christ.- Oscar A. RomeroThe Violence of Love

Had it been me...

As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, "That's a terrible statement," I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I'm going to be probably the only conservative in America who's going to say something like this, but I'm just telling you: We've got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told, "You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can't sit out there with everyone else. There's a separate waiting room in the doctor's office. Here's where you sit on the bus." And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had ... More of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.
- Mike Huckabee, offering his perspective on the preaching of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. (Source: MSNBC)

TAN FU

YANGISTS LIKED TO QUOTE THE EXAMPLE OF TAN FU,
AN ANCESTOR OF THE ZHOU KINGS,
WHO HAD RENOUNCED THE THRONE
RATHER THAN FIGHT AN INVADING ARMY:
" TO SEND TO THEIR DEATHS THE SONS
AND YOUNGER BROTHERS
OF THOSE WITH WHOM I DWELL
IS MORE THAN I COULD BEAR,"
HE EXPLAINED IN HIS ABDICATION SPEECH' .

PISTIS

Faith
(Pistis, fides). In the Old Testament, the Hebrew means essentially steadfastness, cf. Exod., xvii, 12, where it is used to describe the strengthening of Moses' hands; hence it comes to meanfaithfulness, whether of God towards man (Deuteronomy 32:4) or of man towards God (ps. cxviii, 30). As signifying man's attitude towards God it means trustfulness or fiducia. It would, however, be illogical to conclude that the word cannot, and does not, mean belief or faith in the Old Testament for it is clear that we cannot put trust in a person's promises without previously assenting to or believing in that person's claim to such confidence.
It seems a surprising way to begin talking about happiness by Saying, .. Blessed are the poor in spirit." there are two ways m Which we can come at the meaning of this word poor.
As we have them the beatitudes are in Greek, and the word
That is used for poor is the word ptochos. In Greek there are two Words for poor. There is the word penes. Penes describes a man Who has to work for his living; it is defined by the Greeks as Describing the man who is autodiakonos, that is, the man who Serves his own needs with his own hands. Penes describes the Working man, the man who has nothing superfluous, the man Who is not rich, but who is not destitute either. But, as we have Seen, it is not penes that is used in this beatitude, it is ptochos, Which describes absolute and abject poverty. It is connected With the root ptossein, which means to crouch or to cower; and It describes the poverty which is beaten to its knees. As it has Been said, penes describes the man who has nothing superfluous; Ptochos describes the man who has nothing. At all. So
This beatitude becomes even more surprising. Blessed is the man Who is abjectly and completely poverty-stricken. Blessed is the Man who is absolutely destitute.
As we have also seen the beatitudes were not originally
Spoken in Greek, but in Aramaic. Now the Jews had a special Way of using the word poor. In Hebrew the word is 'alii or Ebion. These words in Hebrew underwent a four-stage develop Ment of meaning. (l) they began by meaning simply poor. (2) They went on to mean, because poor, therefore having no Influence or power, or help, or prestige. (3) they went on to Mean, because having no influence, therefore down-trodden and
Oppressed by men. (4) finally, they came to describe the man Who, because he has no earthly resources whatever, puts his Whole trust in god.
So in Hebrew the word poor was used to describe the humble And the helpless man who put his whole trust in god. It is thus That the psalmist uses the word, when he writes, " this poor Man cried, and the lord heard him, and saved him out of all his Troubles" (psalm 34: 6). It is in fact true that in the psalms the' Poor man, in this sense of the term, is the good man who is dear To god. "the hope of the poor shall not perish for ever"
(psalm 9: 18). God delivers the poor (psalm 35: 10). "in thy Goodness, 0 god, thou didst provide for the needy" (psalm 68: 10). "he shall defend the cause of the poor of the people"
(psalm 72: 4). " he raises up the needy out of affliction, and Makes their families like flocks" (psalm 107: 41). " i will satisfy Her poor with bread"(psalm 132: 15). In all these cases the poor Man is the humble, helpless man who has put his trust in god,
Let us now take the two sides, the Greek and the Aramaic,
And put them together. Ptochos describes the man who is Absolutely destitute, the man who has nothing at all; 'ani and Ebion describe the poor, and humble, and helpless man who has Put his whole trust in god. Therefore, " blessed are the poor in Spirit" means
Blessed is the man who has realized his own utter helplessness. And who has put his whole trust in god.
If a man has realized his own utter helplessness, and has put His whole trust in god, there will enter into his life two things Which are opposite sides of the same thing. He will become Completely detached from things, for he will know that things Have not got it in them to bring happiness or security; and he Will become completely attached to god, for he will know that God alone can bring him help, and hope, and strength. The man Who is poor in spirit is the man who has realized that things Mean nothing, and that god means everything.
We must. be careful not to think that this beatitude calls Actual material poverty a good thing. Poverty is not a good Thing. Jesus would never have called blessed a state where People live in slums and have not enough to eat, and where Health rots. Because conditions are all against it. That kind of Poverty it is the aim of the Christian gospel to remove. The Poverty which is blessed is the poverty of spirit, when a man
Realizes his own utter lack of resources to meet life and finds His help and strength in god.
I
Jesus says that to such a poverty belongs the kingdom of Heaven: ,why should that be so? If we take the two petitions of The lord s prayer and set them together:
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven,
We get the definition: the kingdom of god is a society where God's will is as perfectly done in earth as it is in heaven. That Means that only he who does god's will is a citizen of the Kingdom; and we can only do god's will when we realize our
Own. Utter helplessness, our own utter ignorance, our own utter inability to cope With life, and when we put our whole trust in
God .. Obedience is always founded on trust. The kingdom of God is the possession of the poor in spirit, because the poor in Spirit have realized their own utter helplessness without god And have learned to trust and obey. '
o the bliss of the man who has realized his own utter Helplessness and who has put his whole trust in god For thus alone he can render to god that perfect
Obedience which will make him a citizen of the kingdom of Heaven!
Abraham had now become not merely the father of the Jewish people but the ancestor of all the faithful. His 'faith' (Greek: pistis, a word which, it is important to note, should be translated as 'trust' rather than 'belief) had made him a model Christian, centuries before the coming of the messiah. When scripture praised Abraham's faith it was referring 'to us as well': 'Scripture foresaw that God was going to use faith to justify the pagans, and proclaimed the Good News long ago, when Abraham was told: In you all the pagans will be blessed.' 41 When God commanded Abraham to abandon his concubine Hagar and their son Ishmael in the wilderness, this had been an allegory: Hagar represented the Sinai covenant, which had enslaved Jews to the Law, while Sarah, Abraham's free-born wife, corresponded to the new covenant, which had liberated gentiles from Torah obligations.
The author of the epistle to the Hebrews, who was probably writing at about the same time, was even more radical. He was trying to console a community of Jewish Christians
We should also recognize the changes in the meaning of our English verb, "to believe." Its use in mediaeval and Elizabethan times conveyed the sense of trust in a person, loyalty or commitment to a person. That is the sense in which Paul and all other biblical authors used its Greek equivalent, pisteuo when speaking of believing in God or in Jesus Christ. Since the time of Hobbes, Locke and Mills in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, it has gradually taken on the force of a proposition, "to believe that .... " In the 1959 edition of Chambers Encyclopedia, the article on "Belief" states, "what we actually believe, in the strictness of the language, is always a proposition or set of propositions. Of these, creeds are composed." (Quoted in Smith, Wilfrid Cantwell, History and Belief. Charlottesville, VA. Virginia University Press, 1977, p. 49; n. 30, p.109.)
Faith is the noun corresponding to the verb "believe," for which the Hebrew is heemin, the hiphil form of aman, and the Greek (LXX and NT) pisteuo. The latter is a key word in the NT, being the term regularly used to denote the many sided religious relationship into which the gospel calls men and women, that of trust in God through Christ. The complexity of this idea is reflected in the variety of constructions used with the verb (a hoti clause, or accusative and infinitive, expressing truth believed; en and epi with the dative, denoting restful reliance on that to which, or him to whom, credit is given; eis
and, occasionally, epi with the accusative, the most common, characteristic, and original NT usage, scarcely present in the LXX and not at all in classical Greek, conveying the thought of a move - ment of trust going out to, and laying hold of, the object of its confidence). The Hebrew noun corresponding to aman (emuna, rendered pistis in the LXX), regularly denotes faithfulness in the sense of trustworthiness, and pistis occasionally bears this sense in the NT (Rom. 3:3, of God; Matt. 23:23; Gal. 5:22; Titus 2: 1 0, of man).
A further argument for free will is that God's commandments carry a divine "ought" for man, implying that man can and should respond positively to his commands. The responsibility to obey God's commands entails the ability to respond to them, by God's enabling grace. Furthermore, if man is not free, but all his acts are determined by God, then God is directly responsible for evil, a conclusion that is clearly contradicted by Scripture (Hab. 1:13; James 1:13 - 17).
Therefore, it seems that some form of self determinism is the most compatible with the biblical view of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.
who were beginning to lose heart by arguing forcefully that Christ had superseded the Torah, was more exalted than Moses I and that the sacrificial cult had simply foreshadowed Jesus' priestly act in giving his life for humanity. In an extraordinary passage, the author saw the entire history of Israel as exemplifying the virtue of pistis, trust in 'realities that at present remain unseen'." Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets had all exhibited this 'faith': that had been their greatest, indeed their sole achievement." But, the author concluded, 'they did not receive what was promised, since God made provision for us to have something better, and they were not to reach perfection except with us.'
In this exegetical tour de force, the whole of Israelite history had been redefined, but in the process the old stories, which had been about far more than pistis, lost much of their rich complexity. Torah, temple and cult simply pointed to a future reality because God had always had something better in mind. Paul and the author of Hebrews showed future generations of Christians how to interpret the Hebrew Bible and make it their own. The other New Testament Writers would develop this pesher and make it very difficult for Christians to see Jewish scripture as anything more than a prelude to Christianity.
Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before.

SHITTY SHEPHERDS

Sister Escalera says the most hurtful part of the proposed sale of her convent is that the proceeds will be used to pay for the misdeeds of pedophile priests.

SHITTY SHEPHERDS

SHITTY SHEPHERDS
SHEPHERDING
CLEAN SHEEP

SO SAYS THE NOBLE POET
CHAUCER

HOW APT AN IMAGE

A ROLE PLAYED WELL
BY PRIESTS
MINISTERS
RABBIS
POLITICIANS
RULERS

ALL CLOTHED
IN SUNDAY FINERY
WITH THE BEST MANNERS

UNWORTHY SHEPHERDS
OF INNOCENT FLOCKS

TO QUESTION THEM
IS TO QUESTION
THEIR GOD LIKE STANCE
UNHOLY TO DO SO

BUT LATELY
THE SMELL OF THE SHEPHERDS
HAS BECOME TOO GREAT

THEY’VE MADE FRIENDS
WITH THE WOLVES
AND NO LONGER CARE FOR THE SHEEP

AND THE SHEEP
NO LONGER
LISTEN TO THE SHEPHERDS
AND THEIR CALL
TO FOLLOW

FRANK A VOLLMER

When God Paints

When God Paints: "When God Paints... We live in an awesome world people. Make it an awesome day. Peace To All and May God Bless You -Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply, Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God. "

RIGOBERTA MENCHUI

We feel it is the duty of Christians to create the kingdom of God on Earth among our brothers. This kingdom will exist only when we all have enough to eat, when our children, brothers, parents don’t have to die from hunger and malnutrition. That will be the "Glory," a Kingdom for we who have never known it.- Rigoberta MenchuI, Rigoberta: An Indian Woman in Guatemala

Rigoberta Menchu

But our reality teaches us that, as Christians, we must create a Church of the poor, that we don’t need a Church imposed from outside which knows nothing of hunger.
- Rigoberta Menchu
I, Rigoberta: An Indian Woman in Guatemala

Frederick Douglass

Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will.
- Frederick Douglass

RAMBLINGS ON IMMIGRATION

RAMBLINGS ON IMMIGRATION


FIRST LET ME SAY I AM NO EXPERT ON IMMIGRATION
BUT I HAVE SOME OPINIONS
WHICH CERTAINLY ARE OPEN TO CRITIQUING

MY CREDENTIALS AS SUCH
ARE
MY MOTHER WAS AN IMMIGRANT
WHO AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR
FOUND NO FUTURE OR JOB
IN NEWFOUNDLAND
EVEN THOUGH HER FATHER WAS A SEA CAPTAIN

SO SHE CAME TO AMERICA
STAYING WITH AUNT POLLY
THE ENGLISH ARE VERY PROPER

MY FATHER’S PEOPLE
WERE GERMAN
WHO CAME OVER
BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR
AND BECAME RICH FARMERS
I’VE SEEN THEIR ELABORATE TOMBS
AND DONATED STAINED GLASS WINDOWS
IN TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH
IN PHILADELPHIA

UNFORTUNATELY
MY GRANDFATHER
WANTED TO BE AN ACTOR
AND WAS CUT OFF FROM THE FAMILY FORTUNE

OUR BRANCH OF THE FAMILY CONTINUES TO BE SLIGHTLY WEIRD

BEING AN ACTOR WAS NOT CONSIDERED A SUITABLE VOCATION
FOR A DISTINGUISHED LUTHERAN FAMILY

THE EIGHTEEN HUNDREDS WERE A VOLATILE TIME IN GERMANY
AND MANY FLED THE COUNTRY
FOR RELIGIOUS AND ECONOMIC REASONS

THEY WEREN’T HAPPY
WITH THE THINGS WERE
IN THE OLD LAND

AMERICA
AND ESPECIALLY PENNSYLVANIA
LOOMED ON THEIR HORIZON
LIKE A LIGHTHOUSE FLASHING

SO I LIKE OTHER NON-NATIVE AMERICANS
AM AN IMMIGRANT’S CHILD

MY PEOPLE CAME OVER FOR THE SAME REASONS
THAT TODAY’S IMMIGRANTS
(BOTH LEGAL AND ILLEGAL) DO

NOW I AGREE THAT NEWCOMERS
SHOULD NOT LIVE OFF THE DOLE
OR ENGAGE IN CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES

I REMEMBER
THEOLOGICAL ARGUMENTS
AS TO WHETHER A HUNGRY MAN
CAN STEAL A LOAF OF BREAD

IS A MAN NOT VALUED MORE THAN A LOAF

HOWEVER THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED
WE NEED TO REMEMBER TWO DICTUMS

REMEMBER THAT YOU WERE ALIENS IN EGYPT

AND

WHATSOEVER YOU DO TO THE LEAST OF MY BROTHERS
THAT YOU DO UNTO ME

THE CRY AGAINST AMNESTY
IS
A CRY FOR JUSTICE AND NOT FOR LOVE

THEY’RE HERE
DEAL WITH IT

THERE’S NOT ENOUGH BOATS OR TRUCKS
FOR DEPORTATION
NOT TO MENTION
THE PAIN OF FAMILY SEPARATION

THEY’RE
DOING THE JOBS NOBODY WANTS
MORE TROUBLE IS INDUSTRY
MOVING JOBS
OUT OF THE COUNTRY
AND NOT PAYING A LIVING WAGE

WHEN ALL THE JOBS ARE GONE
WHO WILL BUY THE PRODUCT

IF MY THOUGHTS GO AGAINST LOGIC
SO BE IT
I’D RATHER LEAD WITH MY HEART
THAN MY HEAD
WHEN LEADING WITH MY HEAD SEEMS UNCHRISTIAN

FRANK A VOLLMER

FATHER'S DAY

A GIFT FOR A KING

Today I received a gift of a quilt made by my co-editor Nancy Stevens. It is beautiful. It has a special meaning to me, when you receive chemo they give you a quilt to stay warm. It's soothing and comforting and helps you through the rough spots. Now I have my own.

BEING LIBERAL

“Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What didConservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things – every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor." -- Matt Santos, The West Wing

LAST SUNDAY OF EPIPHANY

SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY


IMAGINE IF YOU WILL
THAT YOU ARE JESUS
STANDING ON TOP OF A HIGH MOUNTAIN
ON THE NORTH SIDE
OF THE SEA OF GALILEE..
YOU ARE LOOKING DOWN
AT THE SEA OF GALILEE.
THE MOUNTAIN IS IN GALILEE.

LOOKING SOUTH
YOU SEE THE KINGDOM OF JUDEA
AND THE CAPITAL
JERUSALEM.

LOOKING EAST YOU SEE PEREA.
LOOKING WEST YOU SEE SAMARIA.
AND YOU ARE SAD
BECAUSE THERE IS MUCH HATRED
IN THE LAND.

THE PROMISED LAND
HAS BEEN CONQUERED BY ROME
AND DIVIDED INTO THE FOUR PARTS
OF GALILEE, JUDEA, SAMARIA AND PEREA.

THE JEWS HATE THE ROMANS
WHO ARE EVERYWHERE
ACTING AS POLICEMEN.

THE JEWS HATE THE SAMARITANS
AND THE PEREANS
BECAUSE THEY WORSHIP GOD
IN A NON JEWISH MANNER.




WE HAVE IN THIS SEASON OF EPIPHANY
FOLLOWED JESUS
AS HE BEGINS HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY.
JESUS LOOKS DOWN AT THE LAKE
AND AS HE DOES
HE LOOKS BACK IN TIME
AND REMEMBERS THE EVENTS
THAT WE REMEMBERED
AS THE SUNDAYS OF EPIPHANY
CAME AND WENT

THE READINGS FOR THE YEAR 2001
EPIPHANY SEASON
COME MOSTLY FROM LUKE.
THE SEQUENCE OF READINGS THIS YEAR
HAVE VISITED THESE SCENES
FROM THE LIFE OF JESUS.

FIRST WE VISITED EPIPHANY,
THE VISIT OF THE THREE WISE MEN.
THEN THE BAPTISM OF JESUS
WHERE GOD THE FATHER
DECLARED THAT JESUS WAS HIS SON.
THEN THE WEDDING AT CANA
WHERE HE CHANGED WATER INTO WINE.
THEN HIS FIRST SERMON AT NAZARETH
AND HIS REJECTION BY HIS NEIGHBORS.
THEN WE HAD THE MIRACLE OF THE FISHES
WHERE THE APOSTLES CAUGHT SO MANY
THE BOAT BEGAN TO SINK.
AND LAST WEEK
JESUS CAME DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN
AND PREACHED THE SERMON ON THE PLAIN
ALSO CALLED THE BEATITUDES.






LAST WEEK JESUS LOOKED DOWN
AT THE DIVIDED KINGDOM
AND WAS SADDENED.
THIS WAS NOT HIS FATHER’S DREAM
FOR THIS LAND
THIS PROMISED LAND
AND ITS PEOPLE.

RELIGION HAD BECOME
AN OBSERVANCE OF LAWS AND RITUALS.
THE PRIESTS ARGUED
OVER SUCH THINGS AS
CAN A MAN WITH A WOODEN LEG
WALK ON THE SABBATH
BECAUSE THE WOODEN LEG
WAS A BURDEN
AND ONE COULD NOT
CARRY A BURDEN
ON THE SABBATH
BECAUSE CARRYING A BURDEN
WAS WORK.

THE PERFORMANCE OF RITUAL
IN THE TEMPLE WAS SUCH
THAT
ON ANY PASSOVER
OVER 250,000 LAMBS WERE SOLD
AND SLAIN IN ONE DAY
MAKING GOD’S HOUSE
MORE A SLAUGHTER FACTORY
THAN A HOUSE OF GOD.

THIS IS WHAT HIS FATHER’S RELIGION
HAD BECOME
AND HE IS SADDENED.
SO LAST WEEK
HE SLOWLY COMEDOWN THE MOUNTAIN
AND PREACHED THE BEATITUDES.


LUKE HAS A SENTENCE
AT THE BEGINNING
OF THE BEATITUDES
THAT SAYS
THERE WERE PEOPLE
FROM SIDON AND TYRE
IN THE CROWD.
HE DID THIS DELIBERATELY
BECAUSE THE JEWS ALSO HATED
THOSE FROM SIDON AND TYRE

SO JESUS LOOKED AT THE CROWD
THAT HAD SO MUCH HATE
AND PREACHED A SERMON ON FORGIVENESS.
A SERMON, WHICH SAYS
IF ANYONE HITS YOU,
TURN THE OTHER CHEEK.
EASY TO SAY DIFFICULT TO DO.

JESUS SAYS
FORGIVE YOUR ENEMIES,
DO GOOD TO THOSE WHO HURT YOU.
WHEN EVERY PART OF YOUR BEING
SAYS MAKE A FIST
AND HURT YOUR ENEMY
JESUS SAYS LOVE THEM.
JESUS HAS GOT TO BE KIDDING HERE
RIGHT

BUT ULTIMATELY
JESUS IS RIGHT.
FOR WITHOUT FORGIVENESS
NATIONS WILL FIGHT
LONG PAST REMEMBERING
WHY THEY ARE FIGHTING,






NEIGHBORS WILL FIGHT
LONG PAST REMEMBERING
WHY THEY ARE FIGHTING,

FAMILIES WILL FIGHT
LONG PAST REMEMBERING
WHY THEY ARE FIGHTING

HUSBAND AND WIVES
WILL FIGHT
LONG PAST REMEMBERING
WHY THEY ARE FIGHTING,

BROTHERS AND SISTERS
YOUNG OR GROWN OLD
TILL NEAR DEATH
WILL FIGHT
LONG PAST REMEMBERING
WHY THEY ARE FIGHTING.

WHEN WILL IT END.
AS THE SONG SAYS
LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH
AND LET IT BEGIN WITH ME.

WHAT I WOULD LIKE YOU TO DO
RIGHT NOW
AS A REACTION TO JESUS' SERMON
IS WRITE DOWN WITH YOUR FINGER
ON THE PALM OF YOUR HAND
THE NAME OF THAT PERSON
YOU FIND IT HARD TO FORGIVE.

THEN RUB YOUR HANDS TOGETHER
AND ERASE THEIR NAME.
THINKING AS YOU DO IT
THEY ARE FORGIVEN.
TRY IT



LET GO THOSE CHUNKS OF ICE
WHICH WE ALL CARRY
THOSE CHUNKS OF ICE OF HATRED
WHICH WE ALL CARRY
LONG PAST REMEMBERING
WHY WE ARE CARRYING THEM

HARD YOU SAY.
TOO HARD.
AND I AGREE.
BUT IT IS JESUS
NOT ME
WHOM IS SPEAKING
WHEN HE SAYS
LOVE YOUR ENEMIES,
DO GOOD TO THEM,
LEND ACCORDING TO THEIR NEED
EXPECTING NOTHING BACK.
BE MERCIFUL
AS YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER IS MERCIFUL.
STILL TOO HARD.

LET ME PAINT YOU A PICTURE.
THERE IS A MAN WHO IS DYING.
CONDEMNED TO DEATH
FOR A CRIME
HE DIDN’T COMMIT.

CONDEMNED TO DEATH
OUT OF JEALOUSY
AND FEAR OF LOSING POWER.

ALL HIS FRIENDS
HAVE DESERTED HIM
OUT OF FEAR.






ONE OF HIS FRIENDS
HAS SOLD HIM FOR A PRICE.
ONE OF HIS FRIENDS DENIED
HE EVER KNEW HIM.

HIS HEART
WHICH IS STRUGGLING
TO STAY ALIVE
IS STILL FILLED WITH LOVE
FOR ALL MANKIND.

AND HE IS GIVING THINGS AWAY.
HE WILL DIE POOR.

HIS CLOTHES ARE GONE.
HE HAS GIVEN HIS MOTHER
TO THE CARE OF HIS FRIEND JOHN.

NOW HE GIVES AWAY HIS ANGER.
STRUGGLING UPRIGHT ON THE NAILS
HE CRIES OUT
FATHER FORGIVE THEM
THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.

FORGIVE THE RULERS
OF TEMPLE AND STATE,
FORGIVE THE SOLDIERS
WHO WERE CRUEL TO ME,
FORGIVE THE CROWD
GATHERED LIKE VULTURES
TO SEE ME DIE,
FORGIVE THE THIEF WHO CURSED ME
FORGIVE ALL
WHO HAVE DESERTED ME,
LIED ABOUT ME,
SOLD ME FOR A PRICE






JESUS
LOOKING DOWN FROM HIS HIGH PLACE
ON THE CROSS
LOOKING DOWN THE YEARS
FORGIVING ALL WHO HAD EVER LIVED,
WHO WERE LIVING THEN
WHO WOULD LIVE IN THE FUTURE.

LOOKING DOWN FROM HIS HIGH PLACE
HE COMES TO THIS ROOM
AND CRIES OUT
FATHER FORGIVE FRANK
AND BARBARA,
JOE AND TOM,
ALICE AND JAN,
FATHER FORGIVE ALL
FROM EMANUEL IN WARWICK,
FATHER FORGIVE ALL
FROM FIRST LUTHERAN
IN BROCKTON,
FATHER FORGIVE ALL
FROM ST JOHN’S
IN PEABODY,

AND WE CRY IN RESPONSE
FATHER FORGIVE US
AND FORGIVE THE ONE
WE FIND IT HARD
TO FORGIVE
WE
AND THEY
KNOW NOT WHAT WE DO.



IN THE LIGHT OF OUR FORGIVENESS
CAN WE NOT TAKE
THE NAME OF THAT ONE PERSON
WE FIND IT HARD TO FORGIVE.
WRITE IT ON THE PALM OF OUR HAND.
RUB OUR HANDS TOGETHER
TO MAKE IT DISAPPEAR.

AND SAY TO THAT PERSON
THAT CHUNK OF ICE
THAT I HAVE CARRIED
WITH YOUR NAME ON IT
IS MELTED.
I FORGIVE YOU

AND JESUS SAYS
WELL DONE MY BROTHERS
AND SISTERS
WELL DONE

IN YOU
I AM WELL PLEASED.
MAY IT BE SO AMEN



Frank A Vollmer

CEREMONY FOR REMEMBERING

A CEREMONY FOR REMEMBERING









PROLOGUE

LET US SUMMON TO MIND OUR DEAD
BE THEY PARENTS CHILDREN LOVED ONES OR DREAMS
BUT WHEN WE ARE DONE
LET US GENTLY CLOSE THE DOOR
AND LET THEM SLEEP




EMMAUS

THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT HIS EYES
LIKE A SOLDIER OFF TO WAR
SAYING GOODBYE TO LOVED ONES
OR A SAILOR FOR A LONG LONG TRIP

WE'D WALKED THAT ROAD MANY TIMES
MY FRIEND AND I
IT HAD BECOME A BIT OF A TASK
WITH NOTHING NEW
TO BE DONE WITH SWIFTLY
AND DONE WITH
WITH PLEASURE AT EITHER END
BUT NOTHING IN THE JOURNEY

UNTIL THE STRANGER CAME TO WALK WITH US
THIS STRANGER
WITH RELUCTANT EYES
HE'D SIGHT A TREE AND CALL IT OUT BY NAME
A FLOWER
BIRD
OR SOME CREEPING THING
THE WAY THE SUN TOOK A CLOUD
AND LIT IT UP WITHIN
OR CAST LONG SHADOWS
LIKE THE SHADOWS
THAT SAT UPON OUR HEARTS
THAT DAY

WHY ARE YOU SO SAD
HE ASKED
AFTER A WHILE

WE'D LET HIM TALK FIRST
OUT OF COURTESY
HE SEEMED TO NEED TO TALK
WHY ARE YOU SO SAD

AND SO TO THIS MAN
WHO SEEMED SO EAGER FOR LIVING THINGS
WE TOLD HIM OF A DEATH
OF OUR FRIEND JESUS
WHO HAD DIED
AND TO USE HIS IMAGERY
PLUCKED LIKE A FLOWER
THAT WAS THROWN AWAY
PICKED WITHOUT PURPOSE

OF A MAN
WHO WHEN HE SPOKE
BOTH TESTED US AND JOYED US

OF THIS JOURNEY
THAT WE TOOK
WHICH WAS DOUBLY LONG
FOR WE CARRIED SADNESS TO EMMAUS
THERE WOULD BE NO PLEASURE THERE

THE BODY WAS GONE
OH THE WOMEN HYSTERICAL
HAD SAID HE WAS RISEN
BUT THE BODY WAS GONE

WHY SHOULD HE DIE
WE BELIEVED HIM CHOSEN OF GOD
WHY SHOULD HE DIE

PERHAPS BECAUSE WE WERE TOO NUMB TO SPEAK
HE TOOK OVER THE CONVERSATION
WHEN DID YOU LEARN TO LOVE YOUR FATHER HE SAID

WHEN I BECAME THE AGE HE WAS
WHEN I DISLIKED HIM
IT SOMEHOW MADE HIM DIFFERENT THEN
AND UNDERSTANDABLE

SO JESUS CAME HE SAID
TO BE THAT PARENT
TO BE THE ONE WHO WENT BEFORE
TO BE THE ONE WHO LIVED AND DIED
AND TO BE TRULY RISEN
AS THE WOMEN SAID
TO BE THE PARENT
WHO HAD GONE BEFORE
SO YOU COULD LEARN
TO LOVE HIM AS YOU GREW
AND THROUGH HIM
THE FATHER TOO

PERHAPS IT WAS THE CADENCE OF HIS VOICE
OR THE WORDS OR THE MAN HIMSELF
BUT WE FELT CALM
WE INVITED HIM TO SUP WITH US
IN OUR GARDEN IN THE EVENING COOL
FOR THE DAY HAD RUN AWAY

AND WE KNEW HIM IN THE BREAKING BREAD
AND THE WINE
THAT TOOK THE JOURNEY'S DUST AWAY





THE SHAWL


THE SHAWL IS FINISHED
I HAVE WOVEN THE WOOL WITH TEARS
I HAVE HURT MY FINGERS
AND SUCKED SORROW

BUT I AM DONE WITH WEEPING NOW

IT WAS FITTING HE SHOULD DIE IN FALL
OR EARLY WINTER REALLY
WHEN GRAYNESS COMES UPON THE LAND

WOULD I CALL HIM BACK
TO RE-SUFFER ALL HIS PAINS
TO ELIMINATE MY OWN

DID I NOT LOVE HIM TO THE POINT I COULD LET HIM GO
IF GOING WERE THE BETTER CHOICE

BUT I AM DONE WITH WEEPING

THE SHAWL IS FINISHED

I SHALL FIND OTHER THINGS TO DO














BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

BRING OUT YOUR DEAD THE WATCHMAN CRIED
IN THE CITY WHERE HE WAS RIDING
ON A CART PILED HIGH WITH LAST YEARS DREAMS
AND LONG REMEMBERED ANGERS
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
THIS CITY THAT WAS ONCE SO FAIR
WHOSE WALLS WERE WHITE AND RIVERS CLEAR
WHERE MEN WALKED OUT ALONE AND UNAFRAID
HAS BECOME A STINK HOUSE OF REMEMBERED PAIN
AND PENT UP SORROW
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
LET WINDOWS ONCE MORE OPEN TO THE BREEZE
AND PIPERS PLAY NO MORE THE FUNERAL MARCH BUT GAY
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
THAT MEN MAY SAY ON PASSING BY
A FAIR CITY THERE PLEASING TO THE EYE
AND HEAR
THE LAUGHTER RINGING IN THE AIR
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD




STARS


HE LIKED TO WATCH THE STARS
THEIR SENSE OF ORDER AND HIS FILIAL PRIDE
BOTH GAVE HIM WARMTH
HE LIKED THE LEGENDS THAT MEN TOLD
ABOUT THESE LANTERNS IN THE SKY
HE LIKED THE WAY THEY LED A SHIP
OR CARAVAN TO FIND A HOME
HE SOMETIMES THOUGHT HE HEARD THE SOUND OF SILVER BELLS
WHEN THE WIND WAS IN THE TREES
AND NIGHT CLOUDS CAME SCUDDING ACROSS THE MOON


WHEN WILD DOGS BARKED
AND SHEEP BELLS RANG CLEARLY IN THE DARK
HE THOUGHT HE HEARD THE STARS SING

PERHAPS THAT'S WHY HIS FATHER
MADE THE SKY GO DARK
BEFORE HE DIED




THE OLD HOUSE

WE FOUND IT DEEP IN THE WOODS
FAR FROM THE PATH
THE RUINS OF THE HOUSE
AND THE OLD STONE FENCE
YOU COULD TELL THE GARDEN
IN THE DIFFERENCE IN TREES
AND BUSHES GONE WILD
THE MOUNTAINEER'S CABIN
HARD BY A STREAM
YOU COULD MARK OFF HIS FIELDS
BY FOLLOWING HIS FENCE
EACH STONE HAND CARRIED TO BUILD IT
AS HE FOUND THEM
ON A SLOOP SO STEEP
YOU COULD PICTURE THEIR SAYING
IF YOU DON'T HOLD ONTO THE PLOW
YOU'LL FALL OUT OF THE FIELD
YOU WONDER WHEN HE BUILT THE HOUSE AND FENCE AND PLOWED
DID HE THINK IT WOULD COME TO THIS
OR DID HE SEE A LINE OF SONS COMING AFTER
LOVING THE LAND AS HE DID
IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER I SUPPOSE
WHAT COUNTS IS
HE HAD A DREAM
AND TRIED TO MAKE IT REAL



ABSALOM DAVID'S SON



HE COULD REMEMBER HIS SWINGING ON TREES
WATCHING HIM NOW
HANGING FROM THE TREE BY HIS HAIR

HE WISHED HIS FACE WAS LESS CONTORTED
HIS FACE LINES LAUGHTER CAUSED

WHEN THEY TOLD HIM HOW HE DIED
HOW HE SWUNG FROM THE TREE BY HIS HAIR
THE SOLDIERS SPEARS IMPALING
HE ONLY ASKED
DID HE CALL MY NAME

I WOULD NOT WANT HIM DEAD IN ANGER
THIS CHILD OF MINE
WHO TREE CLIMBED OFTEN IN HIS YOUTH
WHO TREE CLIMBED OFTEN AND WOULD CALL
FIND ME IF YOU CAN

WHAT HAPPENED AS HE GREW THAT I LOST MY CHILD
WHAT HAPPENED AS WE GREW THAT I LOST MY CHILD
WHEN DID HE CLIMB DOWN UNHEEDED
AND WENT HIS WAY

DID HE TIRE OF HIDE AND SEEK
WHEN I WOULD NOT PLAY
WHERE DID I LOSE MY SON
WHEN DID THE SILENCE GO TO ANGER
AND THE NEED TO HURT

SO MANY CALLS UPON ME
SO MANY PLACES TO BE
OH ABSALOM
ABSALOM
TREE CLIMBER
MY CHILD
STRANGE FRUIT ON THE TREE
STIFF IN DEATH
AS YOU WERE IN LIFE
I KISS YOUR STILL UNFEELING LIPS


WOULD TO GOD I HAD DIED
WOULD TO GOD I HAD DIED
THAN BE HERE TO WATCH
THE SUN GO DOWN
ON YOUR ANGER
AND YOUR DEATH




METAL FENCE

METAL FENCE WITH GATE DOOR OPEN
STANDING IN A FIELD BEFORE A HOUSE LONG GONE
THE GARDEN OVERGROWN
AND GONE TO SEED IN WINTER
WHAT POSSESSED ME I DO NOT KNOW
TO LEAVE THE ROAD
AND GO AND CLOSE THE GATE
WHOSE GHOSTS DID I WANT TO RESTRAIN
THEIRS OR MINE
WHAT VISIONS OF PARENTHOOD
HOPES
DREAMS
STILL DWELL IN THE GARDEN
STAY CLOSED GATE
I HAVE GHOSTS ENOUGH
OF MY OWN TO KEEP


JOSEPH'S DEATH

IT WAS SUMMER AND THE WINDOWS WERE OPEN
THROUGH THEM HE COULD HEAR THE SOUND OF HOUSEWORK BEING DONE
THE SNATCH OF A SONG THE RUNNING OF WATER
THE SOUND OF A BROOM
IT WAS HOT BUT HE COULDN'T FEEL IT
HIS SHAWL WAS ABOUT HIS SHOULDERS
BUT HIS COLD WASN'T IN THE WEATHER
THE SOUND OF THE BROOM RAN ALL HIS DAYS TOGETHER
SO THAT HE THOUGHT HIMSELF ONCE MORE YOUNG
AND COMING TO CALL FLOWERS FRESHLY PICKED
UPON HIS YOUNG SWEET LOVE
HIS MARY
BUT THEN HIS MEMORY DARKENED
AND HIS BLOOD IN SPITE OF YEARS RAN HOT
ANGER POUNDED IN HIS BRAIN
I AM WITH CHILD
NO A THOUSAND RAVENS CRIED
NO A THOUSAND CROWS REPLIED
PANDEMONIUM OF THUNDER
LIGHTNING FLASH
AND DRIVING RAIN
NO HE CRIED TO NO ONE LISTENING
RACING FROM THE SUMMER STORM
RACING LOSING AND WAS CAUGHT
DRENCHED
THE RAIN RUNNING DOWN HIS FACE MIXING WITH HIS TEARS
NO HE WHISPERED TO THE EARTH
FACE PRESSED DOWN IN SOGGY GRASS
WHY HE SOBBED OH GOD WHY..
BUT NO ANSWER CAME THEN SOMETHING CAME
THE MEMORY OF HER WORDS
REMEMBER I LOVE YOU
HOW QUICK THE STORM
HOW SUDDEN THE SUN'S RETURN
SO THAT THE OLD MAN FELT ONCE MORE ITS HEAT
HE STRUGGLED TO FORM THE WORDS
FROM IN THE HOUSE THE QUESTION
DID YOU CALL
I LOVE YOU
DID YOU CALL
I LOVE YOU
DID YOU CALL
THEN JOSEPH DIED
ON THE DEATH OF A FATHER OF MY FRIEND

I MOURN YOU
THOUGH I NEVER KNEW YOU
I NEVER BOUGHT YOU A BEER
LAUGHED AT YOUR JOKES
OR SHARED YOUR VIEWS
YET I MOURN YOU STILL
FOR YOUR DEATH IS A LOSS TO ONE I LOVE
AND I AM DIMINISHED BY IT
AND SO I MOURN YOU
BUT MORE
FOR YOU SHAPED AND BROUGHT INTO BEING
MY FRIEND
SOMEWHERE IN YOU THEN WAS A GIFT OF BEAUTY
AND THAT MUCH BEAUTY IS NOW GONE
AND I MOURN YOU
NOW YOU SLEEP OUT IN THE RAIN
ALL YOUR ELEMENTS GOING BACK TO GOD
NOW THE SENSE OF LOSS GIVES MY FRIEND PAIN
BUT IN THE SPRING
WHEN CROCUS BUDS PEEK THROUGH THE SNOW
COME BACK
WITH MEMORIES WARM
ALL HARSH THOUGHTS FORGOTTEN
COME BACK WITH MEMORIES OF LAUGHTER
AND MAKE MY HEART-FRIEND
SMILE














THE ULTIMATE IS SILENCE

I THINK PERHAPS THE ULTIMATE IS SILENCE
WHEN ALL LOVE COMES HOME TO GOD TO REST
WHEN WORDS
WHICH DO NOT TELL THE HEART
ARE OVER
I THINK PERHAPS WE SHALL REVERT TO THE BEGINNING
AND WITH A SIGH BREATHE OUT OUR SOULS TO REST
WHEN SPIRIT OF GOD AND LOVE ARE REUNITED
AND SAFELY DWELL FOREVER IN GOD'S BREAST




FRANK A VOLLMER