The first thing I must own
is that there is no place
in a new heaven or a new earth
for the ancient dirt
that clogs my soul,
no place for the fetid fury
that clings to my speech,
nor for the old-as-Cain
hatred of brother
that kills me the moment
that it kills you.
sin
Catechism 45
Is baptism with water the washing away of sin itself?
No, only the blood of Christ and the renewal of the Holy Spirit can cleanse us from sin.
(New City Catechism)
God, no water is enough.
Stains worsen when washed deeper in;
this is the deepest, from Adam to now.
Only blood
can wash away blood;
only pure Breath can restore breath.
Nothing giving; the remedy hurts worse than the ill.
Yet grace gives us this:
gentle water as symbol,
another’s death as the price, impossible signed
in this simplest plunge,
the stain
taken right back to the source.
Lent: Man of Sorrows 4
Lay me down –
slow me down and lay me down
upon the Cross, in Jesus’ hands.
Slow my heart and silence all
the numb self-serving of my pleas;
stifle pride, unlock the clench
of fists deep in this fickle dust.
Lay me down, my soul;
lay down
my soul in Jesus’ hands. Their scars
have room enough for me.
Lent: Humility 3
The serpent bites deep;
venom lurks where least expected.
The heart has chasms, labyrinths, unknown even to itself.
What way out have we but to weep?
Deceitful beyond all things,
the heart’s lie is more twisted than you ever thought.
Good intentions pave Destruction’s road;
who will rid me of this body of death?
Follow the trail of tears;
enter the wilderness where, sweating blood, He kneels.
Kneel too beside Him, where spirit wills but flesh resists.
Word-made-flesh, His flesh transfigures humbled dust.
Catechism 41
What is the Lord’s Prayer?
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we have also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
(New City Catechism)
Hands upraised, hands open
imploring yet worshipping
receiving yet giving
asking yet content
forgiven and forgiving
on earth, as it is in heaven;
now forever
delivered yet
daily caught in moments’ fear…
Our Father here and Heaven’s king:
teach us how to pray.
Christmas Monday
Well: perhaps, you went to church the day before,
Heard Jesus hailed as promise kept, as wise
Old Simeon and Anna wept and saw
The saving one, a babe before their eyes.
Perhaps you picked some turkey from your teeth
And thought of all the washing to be done,
The relatives all gone, so now relief
From cooking up a storm for everyone.
Perhaps the Christmas tree is drooping now;
Perhaps the pool gives comfort in this heat.
Perhaps there’s too much light going around
And, victory done, you fancy quiet defeat.
Keep watch: He grew and walked and made His way
For summer sinners who always doze astray.
Catechism 37
Wikimedia Commons
Catechism 37
How does the Holy Spirit help us?
The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, comforts us, guides us, gives us spiritual gifts and the desire to obey God; and he enables us to pray and to understand God’s Word.
(New City Catechism)
Dove:
my best attempts are straw.
My righteousness is dust, my hope
of being more is void.
Dove:
Your peace like river flows;
your olive branch restores, implores
us into growing grace.
Dove:
rest on my spirit; open eyes
and ears and heart. Give gifts,
give life. Give comfort in this dross.
Dove:
only when Your flame descends,
and burns, convicts – O gentle peace –
only then, release.
Catechism 33
Should those who have faith in Christ seek their salvation through their own works, or anywhere else?
No, they should not, as everything necessary to salvation is found in Christ. To seek salvation through good works is a denial that Christ is the only Redeemer and Savior.
(New City Catechism)
Understand:
the chasm is too wide, the gap
too vast for any Good to bridge.
All vain
attempts to straddle death with works,
however beautiful, are only
puddles
in an infinite sea.
And know this:
all the ladder-clambering to
which the dying soul will turn
cannot
ascend the smallest rung,
can only slip, and slander grace
which lifts
the sinner from her knees.
And nothing
in our best attempts, our finest deeds,
our kindest actions, whitest fleece,
can near
the width of grace’s arms which span
the heavens and the earth to take
our filth
into its cleansing grip.
Catechism 29
How can we be saved?
Only by faith in Jesus Christ and in his substitutionary atoning death on the cross; so even though we are guilty of having disobeyed God and are still inclined to all evil, nevertheless, God, without any merit of our own but only by pure grace, imputes to us the perfect righteousness of Christ when we repent and believe in him.
(New City Catechism)
Without excuse, I
testify within me to
this daily sickness,
this ever-reaching backward
to the garden’s first death-fruits.
Without excuse, I
cannot grasp my way towards
what once should have been.
Too late, I have only death;
but rich mercy intercedes.
No excuse and no
justice: righteousness given
to the least righteous.
Perfect life lived in my stead,
lived on this beggar’s behalf.
How can we be saved?
No excuse, we cry, desperate.
The answer, senseless,
replies: only faith, only
grace which pays infinite price.
Catechism 26
What else does Christ’s death redeem?
Christ’s death is the beginning of the redemption and renewal of every part of fallen creation, as he powerfully directs all things for his own glory and creation’s good.
(New City Catechism)
Yet the cost went deeper than souls
into soil
and weathered the tree-trunks
and withered the whole.
The cost ate into friendship
and truth
and sucked all the marrow
from health and heart’s-ease.
So the victory’s deeper too
than our sin:
the redemption stretches vast across bowers
and sucks sin’s curse from earth’s veins.
Look on Him now: the one whom we’ve slain
and trust
in the truth which digs deep into soil
and restores the broken earth whole.
