wisdom

When wisdom cries out,
the streets ring
with the timbre of your voice.

She sounds like you.

Whispers dropping alms,
echoing leftovers of Solomon.

Simple ones often
simply listen, finding more than
simple words.

My poverty begs towards
this mumbling absence,
ears cupped,
straining to catch any
offered change.

Cloudless, prowling thunder.

I listen with my head to the ground,
well within its grasp,

afraid to breathe
too loud.

Fearing sound,
knowing that my simple silence
may bring it near.

about post secret...

just a word on the Post Secret project i link to the left. Kari left a message about the content of the site, and i do apologize if any of you got more than you were bargining for when you clicked on the link. post secret is a community art project started by Frank Warren. its origin story is quite fascinating, and the entire project presents some interesting ideas on ideas like confession, community, secrets, and art. this site is by no means Christian or promoting things of the faith, but obviously has elements very close to the heart of the Christian faith.

i think it raises some interesting ideas on the place of confession, especially confession within community. this community of artists, confessors and (admittingly) voyeurs really struck a chord with me when i saw their traveling art exhibit at UK last year. i've bought the books, given some away even, due partially to my awe at the mix of artistic expression and raw honesty, and partially because i want to see things like this in the community of which i'm a part.

so maybe this is a positing post: where do (or should) confession and community intersect for the church?

i apologize for any material posted on the post secret website that catches you off-guard, but i hope you see why i think it's a thought provoking art project. i'm keeping the link up, though i'll tag a little warning on it. if you go there and it stirs up stuff you want to dialog about, comment freely!

snow makes me cold

i have this weird relationship with snow. i like to play in it. i like to make snowballs and throw them in a snowball fight. i like the way it makes the rolling hills in central kentucky look when covered with snow. i like watching bojangles antelope-sprint through it, with the snow on his doggy nose.

i do not like shoveling snow. i do not like having to run my car for an hour to get it to thaw out. i do not like how no mater how i try to protect my feet from the wet/cold, they always end up wet and cold. i do not like how my honda civic becomes a death trap when snow is near.

so, right now i have this weird tension with snow, and i don't know how to resolve it. and everywhere i go, there's snow, so it's hard to avoid. i don't want to pretend we don't have issues, but i don't know if anything will ever change...

in this silence

In this silence,
I find my heart asking
for what I sometimes fear:

for You to bring Your death
to what is now not me
anymore.

My cowering darkness
clings to this
lack of talk,

knowing that when You speak
it has no where to go,
no where to run.

My will betrays my fears,
praying haphazardly
for Your violent words;

words that can make
an apple pie from scratch
now threatening to make something new

out of me.

musings of late...

"When God created man in His own image and likeness, it was so he would have a life as similar to God's as possible." --Andrew Murray, Covenants and Blessings

I've been thinking a lot on this statement lately. While I'm in no place to really expand on my thoughts right now, the more I read this statement, the more profound it becomes. Andrew Murray continues to be one of my favorite writers, and I've read the introduction to this book about five times. I'm not ready to move past it yet because I don't think it's sunk in.

I'm attending lectures and workshops at Asbury this month--the topic is "A Movement into Mystery: Modern Psalms and Psalmists." We're looking specifically at recent American Poets (the teacher's speciality) and their writings as a means of spiritual pilgrimage, and at poetry and psalm writing as both a discipline and a needed component of wrestling with the mystery of God. The first night really ignited some interesting things in me, bringing a lot of dormant creativity out of its cave. Strangely enough, we've been writing psalms in our Thursday night bible study every once in a while for the past year. We've talked and are now preparing to launch a blog for our church called Psalms of Hope--a place where people in our community can post their own writings as well as read the thoughts and struggles that shine through other's psalms. I've really never tried anything like this, so I don't know how this will result, but every time we've written things in our bible study, people both see things on paper about their own heart that they didn't know were around, and are blessed in the readings and thoughts of others. SO--check it out.