Lectionary Poem: Common People

Lectionary Poem: Common People

The people of Israel clamored:

Give us a king!

A king, that is, other than God.

God warned them

they’d never find a king like him.

How could they, right?

I’m reminded of “Common People”

I wanna live like common people

I wanna do whatever common people do

Are you sure you want to live like common people?

You want to see whatever common people see?

The people of Israel got tired of

their special vocation,

just wanted to live like 

common people,

king, taxes, cruelty.

How? Why?

Well, here’s the thing

about being set apart:

First, you feel special.

Then, you feel put upon.

But,

Are you sure want to live like common people?

Are you sure you want to see what common people see?

Am I sure?

Year B, Proper 5: The Third Sunday after Pentecost 

June 9, 2024 

1 Samuel 8:4-20; 11:14-15

Lectionary Poem: Sabbath

Lectionary Poem: Sabbath

God speaks through the lectionary,

I’m convinced.

Just when I am

exhausted

anxious

depressed

Lessons about

Sabbath.

Rest.

Even God took a break, and

commands us

to do likewise.

Set it all down:

regret

guilt

worry

dread

responsibility.

Set it all down.

Or, rather,

hand it over.

Hand it over

to the One

who has

searched me out

and

known me.

Rest.

Set it all down.

Hand it over.

Year B, Proper 4: The Second Sunday after Pentecost 

June 2, 2024 

Deuteronomy 5:12-15

Psalm 139: 1-5, 12-17

Lectionary Poem: The One Who Does Not Fall Apart

Lectionary Poem: The One Who Does Not Fall Apart

A character in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

describes the Trinity as

“madness.”

It is madness, I suppose.

How can anything or Anyone be

One and Three, both?

And yet.

It’s the harder road to

believe and preach

such madness.

And yet.

The world does seem to be falling apart,

after all.

Wars and fears of wars.

Our high ideals, disposed of swiftly,

without shame.

And yet.

Maybe there is a One and Three

who does not fall apart.

Maybe there is a One and Three

who is perfect community,

a timeless dance.

Loving our falling apart world.

Inviting Isaiah and Nicodemus

and all of us

to new life.

Year B: The First Sunday after Pentecost – Trinity Sunday 

May26, 2024 

Isaiah 6:1-8

John 3:1-17

Lectionary Poem: Hoping For What I've Seen

Lectionary Poem: Hoping For What I’ve Seen

Long ago,

Paul wrote to Rome, asking,

rhetorically, I guess,

“Who hopes for what is seen?”

I wonder if any of the Romans

answered,

“I do!”

It seems like

when things happen that I haven’t seen,

they’re terrible:

Diagnosis

Attack

Insurrection

(Maybe a sign of age?

I’m writing on my birthday.)

No, Paul, I’ll hope for what I’ve seen,

what I’ve felt,

thank you very much.

An old woman, awoke from stupor,

turned to me

and said:

“I never knew I could love my children so much.”

A not very old but so very sick woman 

said:

“I used to ask, ‘Why me?’

But now I ask, ‘Why not me?’”

So, Paul, respectfully,

I’ll hope for what I’ve seen,

what I’ve felt, sometimes,

thank you (God, actually) very much,

        Gifts of the Spirit:

Contentment

Forgiveness

Love

Year B: The Day of Pentecost 

May 19, 2024 

Romans 8:22-27 

Lectionary Poem: Springtime Prayer

Lectionary Poem: Springtime Prayer

leaves extend their reach 

  Jesus prays for joy, safety

trees rooted, not us

Year B: The Seventh Sunday of Easter

May 12, 2024 

John 17:6-19

Lectionary Poem: Radiant Love

Lectionary Poem: Radiant Love

After two weeks of metaphors,

The Good Shepherd

The True Vine,

Now we turn to plain talk,

a meditation of the heart.

Love one another, Jesus says.

Abide in my love.

Make joy complete.

Love follows commandments,

faithful love is radiant.

We plunge Phoebe into water,

evoking long-ago Phoebe,

letter carrier.

She was trusted by Paul,

a bearer of radiant love.

Radiating love on byways,

sojourning to the capital city,

hope and faith in her bag.

Presenting complex truths,

but most of all, radiant love.

Year B: The Sixth Sunday of Easter, the Baptism of Phoebe Anne Shellhammer

May 5, 2024 

Romans 16:1-2

John 15:1-8

Lectionary Poem: Wilderness Road

Lectionary Poem: Wilderness Road

Jerusalem to Gaza,

this was a wilderness road,

wild again.

On a wilderness road,

lurking danger plots and waits,

violent death.

On a wilderness road,

strangling vines grasp hungrily,

taking goodness.

On a wilderness road,

we might discover an outcast,

puzzling scripture.

On a wilderness road,

apostles suddenly appear,

holy water.

On a wilderness road,

The Loving Vine embraces,

branches abide.

This is what I wish.

Year B: The Fifth Sunday of Easter

April 22, 2024

Acts 8:26:40

John 15:1-8

Lectionary Poem: The Power of Good

Lectionary Poem: The Power of Good

Good, it seems, has lost its power.

Good now means

not too bad, so – so, just OK

you know.

Good seems no match for bad,

hate and deceit attract,

not good.

Good, it seems, has lost its power.

Good is not even the right word for

The Shepherd, right?

A “good shepherd” is adequate,

fulfills the job description.

What to call The Shepherd who loves the sheep?

Who dies for the sheep?

Mad, Holy, come to mind.

Good, it seems, has lost its power.

Oh, who am I kidding?

Of course good keeps its power!

It’s just, maybe, usually, always, I’d rather decline the power

to love dumb and ordinary

to appreciate even pungency and bleating

to trust sacrifice means something

eternal.

Help me hear the Good Shepherd.

Help me be a good shepherd.

Help me see, admit, use, the Power of Good.

Year B: The Fourth Sunday of Easter

April 12, 2024

John 10:11-18

Lectionary Poem: Startled and Terrified

Startled and Terrified

In a world of horrors,

even Good News startles and terrifies.

What’s the catch?

What’s the trick?

Where’s the anvil, overhanging?

Good News with wounds,

startles and terrifies.

Good News that commands us to go

out,

startles and terrifies.

Good News with wounds,

startles and terrifies.

Before we go

out,

let’s eat broiled fish.

Will it be enough?

Will we be enough,

in a world of horrors?

Year B: The Third Sunday of Easter

April 14, 2024

Luke 24:36b-48