Tag: fear

My writing

Encounter in the Shadows

rockyfort

I misheard someone on the radio. I thought I heard them talk about shadows, when they talked about their shattered life. I thought of Psalm 23 and the idea of walking through the shadow of death. Then, I thought about living in the shadows, not just walking through. I imagined how Adam must have felt after he sinned. This poem is the result of that thought process:

Encounter in the Shadows

I was living in the shadows

Hiding

Fearful

What if HE knew?

So much wrong

So much hurt

So much disgust

I can’t let HIM see

But HE’s pursuing me

Searching

Looking

Is HE toying with me?

Doesn’t HE really know where I am?

I move farther away

HE moves closer

There’s no more room

I can’t run any more

I swallow

Gulp

And step into the open

“I’m here.” I call

Head down

Afraid to look

HE arrives

And puts HIS finger under my chin

HE lifts my head

To look into my eyes

And then I see HIM for who HE is

Instead of feeling wrong

I feel forgiveness

Instead of feeling hurt

I feel healed

Instead of disgust and shame

I feel loved and valued.

“Come into the Light”

HE said

YOU are loved.

My writing

Three Poems And A Point

rockyfort

For those of you who remember the traditional description of sermons, I hope you enjoy the title of this blog. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, you can ask in the comments. I actually wrote a couple of these poems last week during the time of Easter Weekend. The first relates to the emotions on the Saturday between the crucifixion and the resurrection. While we’red dealing with issues of isolation now due to COVID-19, I tried to imagine the isolation, fear, and sadness of the disciples as they were hidden away, locked out from the world in the upper room.

Saturday

Finished

Death

Dark

Isolated

Alone

Hiding

Fearful

Sad

Depressed

Angry

Tears

Wary

Finished

 

The next poem celebrates the resurrection as experienced on that first Easter Sunday

Mourning Turned to Laughter

An early morning walk

Filled with questions and tears

Who will do it?

An uncovered tomb

Empty

Angels question

Why seek the living among the dead

Worry turns to wonder and then to joy

Running with the news

Others still skeptical

Even after looking

Still fearful and more confused

All but Thomas

Saw Him

Felt His scars

Mourning turned to laughter

Lives transformed, empowered.

He lives

 

After I wrote it originally, I took out a couple of lines relating to Thomas. I’m one of the people who thinks Thomas gets a bad rap. I thought most of that took away from the poem. Still, I wanted to allude to the situation by noting that all the other disciples saw what Thomas asked to see later.

 

I wrote this next poem today. As we deal with the battle of some in the church to continue meeting in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak as they proclaim that the church is essential, I thought a lot about the problem. While I had some decent thoughts about this, the Breakpoint commentary  “The Non-Essential Church” helped me solidify my thoughts. What have we become as a church, that we need to fight about whether or not we’re essential. The last three lines of this poem are the point in the title.

 

Relevant

The church is dying

Or so we heard

It’s not relevant

In these modern times

When life moves

So fast

And we responded

So fast

And we became

Hip

With it

Relevant

And the church

Was full again

We rejoiced

We were relevant

In tune with the world

Then trouble came

And we were so relevant

We were no longer

Essential