Day 40: In Consideration of Resurrection
“We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
[ Romans 6.9-11 ]
On this Resurrection day may we consider that Jesus Christ rising from the dead stripped death of its power and rendered us alive to God.
Day 39: Rumors of Resurrection
“Come, let us return to the Lord;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.”
[ Hosea 6.1-3 ]
Day 38: Thresholding
“Thirsting on the cross, your Son shared the reproach of the oppressed and carried the sins of all; in him, O God, may the despairing find you, the afflicted gain life and the whole creation know its true king, Jesus Christ our Lord.
[ BCP, Good Friday 03.29.24 ]
Day 37: The Holy Law of Love that Never Ceases
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, therefore I will hope in him.”
[ Lamentations 3.22-24 ]
We move, live and have our being
in the coffee shop
with ease in receiving this new, holy law,
a rhythm of love that moves us
to love.
Day 36: The Law’s Nightmare
”At daybreak, the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. “If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us.” Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”
[ Luke 22:66-69 ]
In decoding that which had long been set,
The unraveling of human strain and how bleak it must have felt,
even angels meditating, now worn and obsolete, one final week
Day 35: Mercy’s Flight
GOD be merciful unto us, and bless us and shew us the light of his countenance, and be merciful unto us; That thy way may be known upon earth : thy saving health among all nations. Let the people praise thee O God : yea, let all the people praise thee.
[ Psalm 67: 1-3 ]
Unto the sky, the birds take flight, unto You, our hearts take flight with delight,
In the dance of life, each step we bring,
Robes of joy, in the song we sing.
Day 34: Echos of Spring
{ A photograph through a car nap}
“Why are your robes all red, O Lord?”
[ Isaiah 63.2 ]
Unto blue the red bud’s strain, unto You flowers do fain,
life from death, the hour does sing, robes of wine, echos of spring.
Day 33: Sabbath Rest
{ A painting }
“It is good that we should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”
[ Lamentations 3.26 ]
Quiet marsh, trees sprawling, slow sabbath rest, this too is a grace.
Day 32: Looking for a City
{ A painting on a grey wandering day }
“For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.”
[ Hebrews 13.14 ]
On this day of Lent, might we look to see the city to come
Day 31: Right Has Won the Day
{ A photograph in morning light }
“It is I, who announce that right has won the day, it is I, says the Lord, for I am mighty to save.”
[ Isaiah 63.1 ]
On this day of Lent, might we be willing to lose and loose, in the light of the dawning day that has already been won.
Day 30: The Soul that Waits
{ A painting }
“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.”
On this day of Lent, might we be found waiting for the Lord.
Day 29: Pierced to the Quick
{ A painting }
“When my heart became embittered and I was pierced to the quick, I was but foolish and ignorant; I was like a brute beast in your presence. Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.”
On this day of Lent, might we guard against embitterment that renders us beastly in God’s presence? He is there, holding our hand.
[ Psalm 73.21 ]
Day 28: His Dwelling My Oblation
{ A painting in considering Psalm 27}
“Therefore will I offer in his dwelling an oblation with great gladness; I will sing and make music to the Lord..”
[ Psalm 27.8 ]
Day 27: Signs of Deliverance
{ A photograph and piece of prose contemplating Psalm 32 }
“You are a place for me to hide in; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with songs of deliverance.”
[ Psalm 32.8 ]
The early bud’s green, scream from terrors of winter past and sing for spring to come,
oh songs from screams become for us, a sign patterning all things put right,
of early bud’s green anticipating summers sun.
Day 26: One Who Scales Generations
{ A piece of prose contemplating Psalm 102 }
“But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations.”
[ Psalm 102.12]
Smoke consumed days, burning bones away,
hot fired furnace, smitten withered like grass, I am because like death,
A hovering bird wanting rest.
Up on top, the sparrow’s solitary watch- oh the loss of the last five-hundred years, each to us.
But there are things that endure, One who scales generations with a wink and yawn- those He will not despise, looks down from His Holy Height, He who writes and rights.
Day 25: The Approaching Day
{ A photograph while sitting in traffic }
“24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
[ Hebrews 10: 24-25 ]
I feel frayed and afraid, not knowing what is to come ahead, or to snatch from behind-but the Snatchers time is set- keep together He said.
In the morning we will see, and will be seen. Eyes lite up hot nectarine, eschatological being- That which causes me most pause, then push and play.
Until then it’s traffic for the road, hard things coming and go, In between, I will hold attention and the tension between the two.
DAY 24: Cast me not away
{ A painting }
“Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”
[ Psalm 51.11-12 ]
DAY 23: Ezekiel’s Vision
“Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them.”
[ Ezekiel 10.18-19 ]
God is not a genie in a bottle, He arrives and departs not according to our desires.
On this day of our Lenten journey, may we guard the temple of our own hearts, to speak, act, and believe that which is in accord with all that is beautiful, good and true.
DAY 22: Your Footsteps Were Not Known
{ A painting, when winter returned with vengeance }
“Your way was in the sea, and your paths in the great waters, but your footsteps were not known.”
[ Psalm 77.19 ]
DAY 21: Visit this Place
{ A photograph }
“Visit this place, O Lord, we pray, and drive far from it the snares of the enemy”
[ BCP, 03.09.24]
This afternoon this tree against the dusking day struck me, that the Lord’s open sky might come near, and that the enemy’s snares would be driven away.
DAY 20: After the order of Aaron
“Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?”
[ Hebrews 7.11]
The conversation which graces tables with seasoned songs and words and light,
though it might seem so to attain it, yet another priest is necessary,
the priest we see can not sustain, the perfected One we can not see,
Oh great High Priest, adorned of Heaven, fall on the table radiant bright,
The days do yawn with shifting shadows, serenaded by an alternate Priest.
On this day of our Lenten journey, may you know the priest you know is not the priest you need.
DAY 19: Light of the Living
A Painting, for the bustle of West St.
“For you will deliver my soul from death and my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living.”
[ Psalm 56.12 ]
That I might walk before you, behind you, alongside, with you, in the peculiar eschatological light, which is live, living, glowing with souls death delivered.
DAY 18: MAKE HASte to help me
A Drawing, around a team meeting
“In the darkness of our sin, your light breaks forth like the dawn, and your healing springs up for deliverance.”
[ BCP, 03.06.23 ]
What the warm, rich flavors evoke, messenger standing tall and weighted,
Among the shape and shruds or morning clatter and clutter,
of a table waiting in shards of light,
coffee sprung hot from the pot,
bound in a cauldron of heat, a brew breaks through that wakens the sleepy heart.
this, too, a sign of deliverance.
DAY 17: Rain Drunk Ground
A Painting, on a damp day in early March
“7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.”
[ Hebrews 6.7 ]
As trees strain to block light, the ground waits, rain falls, showered from above,
drink it in for a useful crop, and weep, your tears a cultivated growth.
On this day of our Lenten journey, may you drink in the rain from heaven, often, that you might experience God’s blessing.
DAY 16: Tested, Without Sin
A Photograph
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
[ Hebrews 4.15 ]
Through the bramble and the brush,
thorns and the naked trees,
that knit a net to catch the skin,
Yet the man caught not, heaven-draped flesh resists testing sin.
DAY 15: Do Not Fear Egypt
A Painting, for Steve, on the day of your father’s funeral
“3 Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. 4 I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again” [ Genesis 46.3-4 ]
Today it is cold, raining, even as a friend remembers his father’s life, which is no more.
We need not fear Egypt or the cold wet days of rain, God is one who travels with us, He goes down with us into Egypt and He will bring us up again.
He does this with us, even as He did it with His Son- literally and cosmically as the occasion and pathway through which we ourselves are lifted out.
On this day of our Lenten journey, as you arrive to Egypt, may you know you are not alone and that God is with you and will bring you up.
DAY 14: Mercy Trip
Photograph
“Full of Compassion and Mercy and Love is God Most High, the Almighty”
[ Daily Prayer Application, Prayers 03.01.24 ]
The daily morning sojourn to school, sleepy-eyed, bad-mooded attitudes,
There is a mercy in the trip, in the sip of half cold coffee, half older every minute of the drive, half of a halves time until our roadies drive,
The dashboard is a road itself, it lays the ground to an end, the hope of now and then again.
Soon my young passengers, you will fly, by the winged mercy of Christ.
On this day of our Lenten journey, may you find mercy in your trip, there is no place He will not reach you.
DAY 13: Self Preoccupation
Painting
“ Lord, may the Church have courage to give up her preoccupation with herself”
[ Daily Prayer Application, Prayers 02.29.24 ]
What fruit to come, to bear, that bears the marks of darkest loss,
from rotted roots drawn on by gods, does hasten pain from sun’s high heat,
Then heat of light, of grace and truth, that rots out the rot in nourishing roots,
that will then grow by Spirit cause, the buds of fruit of sweetest taste.
On this day of our Lenten journey, may you turn from all the things that preoccupy and steal you from the light of Christ and fruit that He wants to grow in your life.
DAY 12: Thanks in the Congregation
Painting
“ Then I will thank you in the great congregation;
in the mighty throng I will praise you.”
[ Psalm 35.18 ]
This piece is about the shape and color of a prayer time among fellow clergy in our city this morning. We met in a church building that a local Anglican church recently purchased. It is significant that the first gathering in the new space was made up of local leaders from the body of Christ. It was as if to say, this building is not just this church’s space but the Church’s space.
There is a movement afoot in our little corner of the parish- a coming together of a great congregation, of brothers and sisters in Jesus, unified across tradition, socio-economic and ethnic distinctions- those who name Jesus Christ as Lord and hold fast to his scripture as sacred within a historical faith.
And despite the hardship we all face our coming together is resulting in thanksgiving and praise to our God.
Lent is about seeing who we are not- that we are not our own, but that we belong to God and that we belong to one another.
On this day of our Lenten journey, may thanksgiving rise in the great congregation, the throng of witnesses you find yourself among.
DAY 11: Attentiveness in Love
Painting
“Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.”
[ Hebrews 2.1 ]
There is a correspondence between our attention to something and our love for it.
Love requires attentiveness- to see the shape of a person’s life, to hear the song of their longings, the rhythm of their joys, and the choreography of sorrows- to inhale the colors of their presence with us.
To not pay attention is to drift, that is for distance to be forged between ourselves and what we say we love.
On this day of our Lenten journey, may we be found paying greater attention to that which we have heard, the news of One, who became attentive love to us in His death and in new life has offered us eyes to see and ears to hear.
DAY 10: My Iniquity I Did not Hide
A Painting
“Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’, and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”
[ Psalm 32.5 ]
Consider the dark-valued hidden backdrops of our life, those deprived areas we do not want to be exposed,
Yet these are the very places where the light of Jesus’ New Creation arrives,
As we are transparent about our sin, as we expose shadow to the light, forgiveness floods and overwhelms the canvas of our lives.
In Christ, we need not hide in guilt and shame, for grace and mercy wait.
Today come out of hiding, confess, forgiveness is yours.
DAY 9: A Share of Fair Land
Painting, for Amy and Jordan on your wedding day
“My share has fallen in a fair land; indeed, I have a goodly heritage”
[ Psalm 16.6 ]
Consider here the land that in Christ befalls us; our share fair, regardless of the landscape, our heritage is secure.
DAY 8: Bread of Tears
Prose
“My tears have been my bread day and night, while all day long they say to me, ‘Where is now your God?”
[ Psalm 42.3 ]
Alert the Baker, salty one,
The oven of heaven diffuses the scent of breadboard, pans brought out, aching lot,
That which fell from above, yeast runs, sugar and flour flet, all night weeping,
tears for bread,
All day long, I stuff my face, the nights sliced, buttered laden and weight,
Where is the Baker now, they ask?
Fast asleep, they say, every hour taunting glee, the bread is gone or stale away,
The tear-soaked bread, from the spheres, weeping around the table meal,
soaked in blood of betraying hands, the fig withers, in garden sleep,
Baker, where are you?
Here I am, send me, not my bread but yours be consumed, the upper room,
the upper pole,
pulverized grain that knows the shedded tears of all who eat,
who feast,
who through the darkest wait.
DAY 7: Two Light Sources
Photograph
“For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. But one, the son by the slave woman, was born by natural descent, while the other, the son by the free woman, was born through the promise.”
[ Galatians 4.22-23 ]
There are two lights by which we see: one artificial that brings bondage; and one from the source of Light that illuminates all things and by which we see all things- the light through which color breaks and even opens eyes and hearts- even ushering freedom.
Today may the light you see by, be that Light which brings the promise of freedom!
DAY 6: All Day Glory
Painting
“We gloried in God all the day long, and were ever praising your name”
[ Psalm 44.8 }
That which we find in the refracting window and metal box street sheen,
Shines light that blinds open eyes, and opens those blind,
glory from God, to God, for God,
all the day long, the name of names,
the glory of praise.
DAY 5: Nests of Idolatry
Painting
1 “In the Lord I take refuge;
how can you say to my soul,
“Flee like a bird to your mountain,
2 for behold, the wicked bend the bow;
they have fitted their arrow to the string
to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;
3 if the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”
4 The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord's throne is in heaven;
Why fly fickle as a bird to a hill of perceived protection?
The Lord hasn’t moved to the mountains, His holy habitat stands, his temple address is unchanged.
Because the heart drives the body to that which it fears the most, the flying arrow and bow.
May the throne of heaven hasten your feet, fast fly to him, you need not the hill.
DAY 4: The Full Time Comes
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
[ Galatians 4.4-5 ]
The full time comes, some lights dim, others do dawn- send forth a glow,
born under code, born under, born again offered,
a morning light where the mystery does unfurl, on a bathroom wall.
DAY 3: The Heart’s Bent Knee
Prose
“And now I bend the knee of my heart before you imploring your kindness upon me”
[ BCP ]
The heart’s bent knee goes low, it stretches to find the cold hard ground, it hates it and wants it but not without shame,
Sometimes it is the swallowed pill of guilt and shame that shake the knee and trembling falls down,
The ground is cold this morning with muttered snow trying to survive the rising sun,
The snow can not stand in the presence of such ultra violet radiating warmth, and neither can we. This too is a kindness.
DAY 2: Interpreter of Interruptions
Painting
“We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God?”
[ Genesis 40.8 ]
Trees growing out of small sheds, parking lots as sacred events, garbage trucks sounding their place, what is the meaning of what you see, hear, and dream? That the dreams we dream in the things we see, that seem not to be, become for us Interpretations of Interruptions.
DAY 1: Laying our Gold in the Dust
Photograph
“If you lay gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed, then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.”
[ Job 22.24-25 ]
When to the dust we lay that which has become our gold or find it strangely suspended in an old window screen, the morning light does reveal an ever more radiant Jewel.