a captured prayer

They frame your wedding memories snap by snap
as we pose, nesting smiles on canvas faces.

A joyful blessing, now frozen forever,
sent as a flashing prayer to the viewers

that will come. Acting now as both a prophet
and shaman, factoring what we know into

what we hope, saccharine-sweet prayers that He,
whom precise doctrine names but never holds down,

would bring destruction, with winds like Katrina,
to your now-constrictive views of love, and build

you both, red brick by red brick, into a house
through trust and conflict and reckless sacrifice.

Caught here, this mystic picture of glory, now
smiles, full of trick and treat; a framed communion.

A pose; a barrack for the storm warring forward.

two things i'm thinking about...

one, i heard a story last night. it was of a church that was going to have a drawing for a wii at an event they were having. the thing is, the way you got your name in the drawing: to make a decision at the event. YES, YOU HEARD ME RIGHT. if you came down to the altar and made a decision to follow Christ that night, you were entered into a drawing to win a wii.

this makes me so angry that i am choosing to pretend this story was made up so i don't have to face that this is the condition of evangelism in some spheres of the church.

i would go on a long diatribe about evangelism right now, but i'm still brewing over this and what it means for us in the christian context. any thoughts are welcomed in the comments section.

the second thing, and i put it here so this post has some merit to it, is a quote from a book i haven't read, but am now tempted to add to my stack. i found it on the Sojourn/Jim Wallis site God's Politics. feel free to respond to it as well:

"The question we need to ask with any spiritual discipline is, What does God want to accomplish through this practice? ... Perhaps we can see, then, that the discipline of fasting has to do with the critical dynamic of accepting those limits which are life-restoring. Our culture would seduce us into believing that we can have it all, do it all, and (even more preposterous!) that we deserve it all. Yet in refusing to accept limits on our consumption or activity, we perpetuate a death-dealing dynamic in the world. That is whey the discipline of fasting is so profoundly important today."

- Marjorie J. Thompson
Soul Feast

bikes and gravel

Cautiously peddling towards
the house beyond the paved road,
the house every mother had
warned their brave children about,

I felt my stomach crawl up
towards my throat and sit, brooding,
rumbling like an angry cloud.

We stopped shy, picked blackberries
and licked our chops hungrily.

This was my first rodeo.

everything

these are lyrics from a song on Kevin Smith that have meant a lot to me as i've prepared for this weekend and what it celebrates. this is the same guy who wrote the song tonight that we sang over Advent, and i think he writes lyrics in a way not a lot of people do. you should check him out.

Everything

Feel the mystery in this simple bread:
God would let me set a crown of pain upon his head
I’ve lived enough to know I’ll never understand
How he could trade the nails for mercy scars on either hand
His mercy scars his feet and hands

You were courage,
You were afraid;
A warrior on his victory parade
You, the thief that steals to give
The guiltless dies so that the traitor lives
You were God and You were free--
You were broken and poured out for me

And the shocking truth held within this cup:
God laid down to let me raise a hand and spill his blood
His word all along, His love over all-
The unassailable broke bread and cup to break my fall
His love for me was over all

You were heaven made of clay
The lead and author of this play
You the master, You play the fool
Fulfill the law to break the mortal rule
You were God and You were free
You were broken and poured out for me
Just for me...

Your eyes smile with no remorse
As you take my enemies by force
You the lover, more than friend,
You take my breath away with my sin
You are God and You are free-
You are everything I need

There Will Be Vader

A Gift for those who loved both There Will Be Blood and The Star Wars Trilogy.