Deep Calls

David is such a significant figure in scripture. He is so important that whole of his story is spread throughout the books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles and, of course, Psalms. Jesus calls himself, "The Son of David." Isn't it interesting that the very important King David's story begins, as it were, "Once upon a time there was this boy that no one thought much of. A boy so insignificant that he was left out and forgotten by his own family, forgotten even when the most important spiritual leader in of all Israel drops by for dinner."      So, David gets up one morning...early as usual, like "it is still dark" early. He goes out as he always does to tend the sheep. Grabbing his harp on the way out the door, he faces what, for all the world, looks like every other day: walk the hills, tend the sheep, kill a bear or perhaps a lion, (yeah...we'll talk about  that  later), sing and play the harp a bit, tend the sheep, walk the hills. Back at home,...

     I am now turning from the story of Ruth and Boaz to the story of David. His story is crazy long in scripture. To read it all you must look at lots of books: 1 and 2 Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and, of course, Psalms.      I warn you, I will probably hop-scotch around a bit, rather than write a nice, neat chronological study of David "from ____________ to _______________". I have found already as I pondered him that my thoughts are kind of all over the show.       See, I love this character. He is by NO means perfect. He does some really really really screwy things and makes some really really REALLY bad decisions. But ~ the thing that completely redeems him in my eyes is that he wants, pursues, and lives his life (as much as that life is revealed to us in scripture) in a vital, vibrant, intimate personal relationship with God. He doesn't try to be "good" -- I mean, he is good ~ quite often in the story. But whether he is making good de...

     The last chapter of Proverbs contains a poem about "a virtuous wife." It begins:                    "The saying of King Lemuel -- an oracle (or prophecy) his mother taught him."       Commentators say a lot about this fictional king--perhaps he was a king of one of the surrounding nations; perhaps the elder brother of Agur, king of an Arab tribe in Manna; perhaps it is an older form of Nemuel, or Jemuel, Simeon's oldest son. OK...maybe. But I think not. When I looked up the meaning in Strongs it said,                   "OT:3927 Lemuw'el (lem-oo-ale') or Lemow;el (lem-o-ale') from OT:3926 and OT:410, belonging to God." I think it is a euphemism for Solomon.  The advice from Lemuel's mother is:                   "O my son, O son of my womb, O son of my vows,         ...

 I love this last chapter of Ruth. I am sure Boaz did not sleep a wink after Ruth left. I can see Boaz strolling to the gate of the city early...perhaps as the sun just begins to rise, his eyes full of light as the first rays of the sun crest the horizon.  - - - - -       Boaz walked briskly through the darkness to the house. "Micah...Micah, get up ~ come quietly ~ I need to talk to you."      "Boaz? What is wrong ... what -- it isn't even light?"      "So, what is Elias's wife's name...Mirrim, Mari?? ...isn't his wife with child again? They have, what, two sons, three?"      "Uhh, yes, Mirrim, yes it is Mirrim. And yes, Yaffa tells me that Mirrim thinks this will be a girl, finally. Why? ... OH!  Elias !" Micah chuckled. He pulled his cloak around his shoulders and came to stand beside Boaz. " Elias...sooo , isn't he the nearest kin to Naomi?"      Boaz suddenly tu...

      "I don't understand ~ what do you mean 'kinsman-redeemer'? Was he related to Elimelech? Why has he not asked you to move on to his estate, if he is kin?" Ruth fretted at Naomi's words as she dished up the dinner she had made.       "No. He is not 'kin' like that. He is Elimelech's kinsman, but a distant relative...they come from the same clan. No. 'Kinsman-redeemer' ... it is a role, um a tradition from the law. You see, Ruth, God owns all the land ~ all of it. He has given it to families based upon which tribe we are from. He did it when we first came to the promised land."      "I thought you said Elimelech had land and you were going to sell it . . ."      "Yes, but you see the land should stay in the family. Even if I sold it to some other family, some other clan, at the Jubilee it would come back to the family. You see? It is God's ~ I cannot sell that. It is more that I sell the right to use i...

There are many things we don't know about Boaz: -- We don't know why this rich, successful, kind, generous man was single and, it seems, without any children -- We don't know what went on behind the scenes as the story transpired. -- We don't know if it crossed Boaz's mind to be kinsman-redeemer. We don't know, but here are the colors I am painting to fill in the spaces between the lines      Spring melted into early summer. The barley harvest was finished, beginning in Abib   {our March to April}   and finishing in Zif   {our April to May} .   There had been a 60 fold increase and much rejoicing. The wheat harvest was drawing to a close and it too had been abundant, beginning in Sivan   { our May to June}   and finishing in Tamuz   {our June to July} .  The days were warmer and warmer -- some hot. Boaz stood looking out at the fields one morning, breathing prayers of gratitude to God for t...

      " Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."  ( Ruth 1:16-17)      Have you ever been to a wedding where these words were part of the wedding vows? I have . . .  SEVERAL times. They are wonderful vows ~ so passionate, so all-encompassing. They speak of love that is relentless, committed, faithful. Just perfectly formed as vows for a wedding. These words come from the book of Ruth in the Bible. The thing is though, they are not, in that book, spoken at a wedding. While they are spoken by Ruth, she did not say them to Mahlon - her first husband who died in Moab - nor to Boaz - the second husband that she married in Israel. They were not marriage vows. They were words she spoke to her mother-in-law, Naomi.     ...

     Like many of you, I am sure, I have found myself saturated by the news and stories of this COVID19 pandemic that has taken over and transformed our world these last weeks. It has only been weeks, but the Coronavirus has turned our schedules, rituals, and most of our "normals" in life on their head: most people work and go to school at home, parties and weddings are canceled, dinners out at restaurants are a thing of the past, even how we make trips to the grocery store has changed. One of the places that has been changed is the normalcy of church. Our gatherings are remote--all online. It is being done well, sermons, devotionals and prayer sent out online. But even there the virus is front and center.   While I think our pastors are going a great job and I am genuinely grateful for the messages of hope and faith, I realized for the sake of my sanity, I need to read and think about stories that have nothing to do with COVID19 and our reactions to a pande...

           WONDER     "I wonder--"      With haunted eyes peering out across the hills, he asks me, or no one, "what do you think became of them?"           I know who he means. I have wondered too, at times, as I lay plates on the table that they left in payment for their stay. Since the slaughter, I have wondered about them often in this bleak, grey season, grey with sackcloth, grey with ash. They were such a sweet couple. I won't forget them, that's for sure!            I wasn't there when they came. So much to do with the travelers and the Romans in and out. And Eli -- I could not believe it! He put them in the stable! Said he didn't even see she was with child ~ the LUNK!! He just thought they looked tired, and just as he was about to turn them away, he thought of the stable. Huh! He could have put those camel drivers i...

     I have begun to do a daily Bible reading plan. You may have heard of it -- CBR. I read a chapter in the Old Testament, and a chapter in the New Testament. It is community based, that is a group of us read and then, using whatever social media format or app we choose, we share short comments/insights with the group. Short. It is a good idea for this program, but my thoughts are often, well, not short. I find I need a place to put "all the other stuff" that I think -- all the questions, and connections, and musings that are, well, longer than short.       I may, or may not, post daily. This is mostly for me, but if you find yourself reading this I suggest you read the scripture passages to give yourself context. Oh, and this is a sort-of "jump in the already moving stream" endeavor. Right now we are in the early books of Isaiah, and the early chapters of Acts.  Here goes ~

A warning …           It is not enough to be in the same space. I am a master of masks and double mirrors. To find my path . . . ? (but why would you wish for such a thing?) You must perceive, recognize the ghosts Who haunt my resonant yesterdays, Spectered memories of how things really were. You must see beneath the tattered rags Of the mundane days I wear as camouflage. I will not invite you in. Subterfuge and artifice are my mother-tongue. The passwords are, ah, how does one say? – “ Caché [1] ~ le dessous des cartes [2] ” – Too far inside for anyone to find. Recondite and esoteric mysteries and memories Coat the inside of my world like concertina wire. You make a perilous and jeopardous request. The corpses of the cats should have been warning enough. [1] hidden [2] inside information

Avenge-meant I didn’t. All of us know, all of us: From the seasoned, wise sage with interlocking limbs inhabiting his high hill, To the truculent terrorist two-year old, tossing tantrums into hurricanes – It is the scientific fabric of the universe postulated—sure as hell--by Newton – We know that recriminations are the exhale that air the contrapositive. We crave the settled and appropriate finish, The backhand that whawps the volley back across the net; Is not merely expected, it is needed. It is justice’s congruity, parity, The balance and the birth, the yin and yang. It isn’t that we need it, The universe herself screams for it…or tries to, Yens to, convulses till she swirls in blue exigency. There is a void – and nature abhors a vacuum – Until the scorching aphorism rebounds. Existence becomes a torture chamber of anticipation. As when a cup is imbalanced precariously upon an edge, The when becomes the focal point of unrealized presentimen...

A TRIANGLE OF SISTERS Two brought in,             One kicked out; Two beauty striving,             One beauty full; Two mother-led             One mother-lost. But What happened when she left? Without the base They had only each other to stand against. What do you do when what you hate is gone? When no breakfast is coming, will you simply starve? Can you put on airs in a vacuum? If an insult falls in a stairway, but no one is there . . . . Well, you get the idea. They lost so much more than the Prince.

STAMPEDE The green hills are Yellow-licked With new mustard. Bees and butterflies Flirt with flowers. A flock of clouds Wind and gust across the sky. Hawks, like siblings, Play tag to fill a summer sky. But I . . . I am encased In metal and leather. I stampede ahead With all the rest, Racing forward As if there were a finish line.

MORS, ILLIUS MEMORIA [1] Just ten shallow breaths Each one weaker than the last One cry and then gone. That last tiny breath In gale force blew out my life Blew out all my light With both hands I took The edge of darkness and then Sat down in that shroud Tortured by the light All light now too much to bear Dark became my life Taurig [2] and troubled Stormy-dark and sunless soul Bereft of delight Vacant and alone Travail becomes memory I am empty now I am here but gone In the wake, I sleep and wake Breathe then breathe then breathe [1] DEATH, HIS MEMORY [2] gloomy, mournful, cloudy