Frosty moonlight
filters through church-window prisms,
striking the cross—
the hungry one crying out of the dark,
words to the Sacred.
In the dark, no one remembers the sparrows.
An old man dreams
about a cheeseburger and hot fries.
Where will he lay his head?
Left half dead outside in the cold,
perhaps, through some oversight,
shivering and naked,
with no bowl of hot soup
to warm his belly. Might as well be dead.
Holy candles flicker as they burn.
The old man dreams a valid dream.
Dirty children line blasted streets,
sucking babes who cannot cry,
their parched throats
swelling amid the rubble.
Have they no homes, no mothers?
And, oh God—the men.
Yes, the men. Are they so guilty
as to die for those who govern with
trumped-up creeds, pitting brother against
brother, maiming for life, stealing
divine creation—one-by-one?
The world must lock the door to
keep war out, the people safe.
A woman rises from a third row seat
with stomach churning
and lungs that will not fill.
She’s a Pillar of Fire
who wants to burn like
God’s voice at midnight. But ice crystals
cast thin shadows in the place where she’s going—
a room filled with strangers.
There’s no make it plain in the buzz of this crowd.
The woman’s dream divorced from the cross,
small embers in fallen leaves,
the Promised Land in the incensed air—
and all she totes are borrowed words.
10 comments
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June 26, 2006 at 12:23 pm
dantheman123ya
another great poem helen. that is a really great way to relate w/ people.
June 26, 2006 at 2:33 pm
love2quiz
Did you make that up? It would take me forever to write something like that I think! haha
June 26, 2006 at 3:04 pm
helenl
Thanks Daniel. Hi Jen. Yes, I wrote the poem. It started out as three poems–the first about poverty, the second about war, and the last about fighting racism. (Racism, poverty, and war are the triple evils Martin Luther King Jr. identified.) But they seemed to work better when I put them together. I’ve had that happen a few times. It’s probably not orthodox but hardly unique to me.
June 26, 2006 at 3:28 pm
bereans
Agree with Dan and Jen…wonderful poem, Helen.
You know, the great physician gave us solutions to all of these, but stubborn humanity continues to want to do things their way. Christ set up the church to save souls, bring them in and provide their needs, the ultimate solution to homelessness and hunger–we have failed in that aspect. War is most often the result of economics, and we know that the love of money is the root of all evil–Christ offered himself as an example to us to do the same, but we love the money too much. The world hated Him (“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”) and only a change of heart can remove the hatred that lies behind all hatreds.
In our failure to do what Christ instructed we have doomed this world to its current evil state. Don’t you think that we share some of the blame?
Just a thought…
-j
June 26, 2006 at 3:44 pm
Helen Losse
Couldn’t agree more, Jack. We are to blame. The Church has not been true to Her calling. If Christians were different (than we are), people wouldn’t be turning to Islam and other religions. If we only wanted to bring everyone into the fold, into the Kingdom, (as I believe is the will of God), rather than separating ourselves into factions and fighting one another, when we should be loving people into the Church. And yes, it is the love of money. We should be making the world exclaim, “How they love one another!” but instead we make them say we are hypocrites. We do not believe that God will provide enough for everyone, so we pick the most worthy in our faulty estimation. We do not live by faith but by our big mouths. May God have mercy on us all.
June 27, 2006 at 9:39 am
bereans
Not too long ago, Helen, I read an article about how men are abandoning church (Christian ones)– according to the article 80-90% will leave by age 21 and never come back, current ratios about 39% men 61% women in Christian churches. Meanwhile, Islam is recruiting men — faithful to the point of zealotry — in record numbers.
Do you think it may be that we have left the true message of Christianity? At one time Christianity was something a man could sink his teeth into–strong meat, but when I go into most churches I rarely see programs or environments that appeal to the manly side of men. Christianity has lost its way, its message diluted, and in so doing people are losing interest. Periodically there will be a 9/11 that brings people back to church and God for a short time, but the relationship is casual at best, and more often than not, prostituted.
Anyhow, love your poem, Helen.
-j
June 27, 2006 at 10:11 am
Helen Losse
Not sure I know anything to further this one. Just observation. It seems as though Christians want to be against things (issues, actions, people, movies) but rarely for things. Christians want to be anything but sinners saved by grace, who can relate to others. “Sinners, of which I am chief.” We want to solve problems in a backwards way: “Clean up your life and join us.” The Church is becomming reactionary rather than leading the way. Sadly, I find more in common sometimes with non-Christians than Christians, because Christians always say we can’t solve problems until Jesus comes again. They don’t seem to realize that Revealtion is a prophecy of what will happen, if things don’t change, if we don’t use the Spirit of God to do “greater things (even than Jesus)” (now that’s hard to envision) rather than what will happen if we just sit back and let the world go to hell. I’m not sure I know what you mean by “the manly side of men.” Seems like the church is still about men leading, and women following, which is wrong, because “in Christ there is neither male nor female.” That heirachy (God, angels (various choirs), man, woman, kids, monkeys, dogs, . . . ) is not in the Bible. I’ve known women leave the church because of the glass ceiling, only to be made priests in new age situations. If the church is driving away men, women, youth, gays, . . . where is its light? Where is its salt? “No man is an island,” and yet we are driving the best and the brightest from our own midst. If the church cannot keep its own, how can Christians change the world? Our mission is to spread the good news. But we will not heed the words of prophets either in scripture or in our midst. “Come quickly, Lord Jesus.” And I mean, pick the hearts of your children not leave airplanes flying without pilots.
June 27, 2006 at 11:07 pm
Helen Losse
Jack, Take a look at the entries for June 23 & 24 at http://lutheransurrealism.blogspot.com/
June 28, 2006 at 7:08 am
bereans
I agree 100%, Helen. Christians have become reactionary activists rather sticking to the simple plan of sharing the “Good News”. We have launched a crusade against sin of our own devices and making, forgetting that it is God who changes hearts–not man. Churches are supposed to be hospitals–places that take in the spiritually weak, feed them, nurture them and make them spiritually strong–it seems that many churches just want strong people to begin with and are fervently “weeding out” the weak. Its a shame…
What I meant by Christian churches losing their appeal to “manly men:)” is that essentially churches have ceased to offer anything. Many churches offer venues of service, but those venues are mediocre attempts to say “look-we’re doing something!”. Also the message has been diluted to the point of unusability–if one removes absolutes and truths from a message what does it have to offer? Men don’t do well with ambiguity or uncertainty, and that is the message many churches are offering. (Or the complete opposite–absolute error)
Will be in touch,
j
June 28, 2006 at 9:04 am
Helen Losse
Interesting statement: “Men don’t do well with ambiguity or uncertainty, . . . ” Interseting in light of church hictory. I’m thinking of the icons in Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, which are concrerte. And with respect to men (and women) I’m thinking of the difference in right brain/left brain thinking. To me, truth is more important than facts. I’ve said that over and over. In some ways, Protestantism (started by men) seems a rather feminine idea in that living a life of faith (rather than seeking salvation through works) requires the development of a religious imagination, not a checklist. Protestants (the kind I’ve been assocaited with) don’t encourage religious imagination like Catholics do. Protestants proof text instead. Yes, I know we don’t get the whole truth without the whole Bible, but sometimes we pick holes in the Word. Am I making any sense? Some details aren’t worth fighting over. Yet we do. For example, Instead of welcomming homosexuals into the church (and believing the Holy Spirit is perfectly capable of “fixing them,” if that’s what needs to be done), we decalre them sinners unclean and reject them. Thus, they hear our message and call us hyporirites. Well, aren’t we? “God can fix me, but can’t fix you” is what’s wrong with our message. We preach against specific sins instead of opening the door to all and trusting God to work out the details. Maybe this isn’t something men can dig their teeth into, but “we live by faith” leaves a lot of ambiguity and uncertainty, and yet “Church-Lite” is nonsense. I think churches try too hard with their youth programs. True, youth are our future, but we are our now (and so are the youth, so they should be included but not organized for). Men have been in charge in churches for a long time (women have had leadership roles in some denominations for a relatively short period of time compared to men, unless, of course, you actaully look at the book of Acts), so if things aren’t right, it’s men’s own fault (sort of life what I said about the US presidents). Women and minorities still face that glass ceiling. So if there’s a mass exodus of men, it could mean 1) they don’t share the power well or 2)they should put someone in charge who can fix the church’s brokenness. Or maybe something else entirely. But the lukewarm “we aren’t inclusive, but we aren’t exclusive either” attitude must make God puke.