What will you do? A reflection on Psalm 98 and the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard (for 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

 

“Let the sea thunder, and all that it holds,

the world and all who live in it.

Let the rivers clap their hands,

and the mountains shout for joy

at the Lord’s approach, for He is coming

to judge the earth…”  --Psalm 98:7-9

 

What fascinates and delights me about this psalm is the excitement of the earth at the approach of God’s judgment.  This feel counter-intuitive. So often we are reminded, even exhorted to fear God’s wrath and beware His judgment which will –we are assured-- fall upon us like a thief in the night.

 

Recently I have been reading Jeremiah and the early chapters are all about the corruption of Israel and the coming of God’s justice; it is all warnings and woe with no hint of joy at His approach. And the key question, it occurs to me is this:

 

“But when the end comes,

what will you do?” –Jeremiah 5:31b

 

Will you clap your hands and shout for joy, or will you flee to the hills, grind your teeth, wail in fear and curse the very earth in dread and desperation. It seems to me a question of the utmost importance. For how we respond will reflect our heart and our hope—our true desire—perhaps even our fate.

 

If I clap for joy it doesn’t mean I have lived a blameless life or that I have ben faultless in my choices or actions, not even that I am not one of those corrupt officials the prophet cries out against.  But, it will reveal that even in the midst of my corruption what I really long for is the glory of God, that I am so glad that His justice is coming to put an end to even my own sin. The frustration and horrors of my own weakness and my own choices, my own selfishness and the frailty of my own flesh have overwhelmed me, but now God is coming to judge the earth and put an end to the nightmare I have made of my own life—the nightmare I could not escape on my own—and so I will clap with joy and sing out in gladness at the coming of the Lord –even from the depths of my sin—for I knew what I did was wrong, but could not stop myself on my own.

 

Is that a possible outcome, Oh Lord?

 

I hope so.

 

It seems to me, in some sense, that I see a glimpse of this in the fate of the “good thief.”

 

Now, how would you—Mr. Sutter—connect this to today’s Gospel: the parable of the laborers in the vineyard?

 

Is it possible that how they received their pay was the actual lesson of today’s Gospel?  The first laborers, who worked the longest, receive their just pay (God’s justice) with resentment, focusing not on what they themselves deserve but on what others have received. Is that not itself a kind of Hell?  To see only what others have received and see only in that an unfairness, a cause of misery regardless of what you yourself have been given? It is Hell to always be looking with envy and bitterness at the blessings of another, and never see the grace given us, blinded by resentment to the blessing (and mercy) that has been generously bestowed upon us.  That ingratitude, not God's wrath, is the true spark of Hell's miserable, endless flame.

 Sometimes it still surprises me, how much more than dreams my life can be.

 Note:

It seems undeniably true that writing is how I think and that I don’t really know what I think until I write it.

 

Thank You, Lord

let Your grace

rain over me

              keep me safe

              from temptation

and far from the quiet sin

              of envy.

 

What a father teaches

 I recently had a poem published by the Texas Poetry Assignment. The poem is entitled "What a father teaches." It is mostly true, told with a little bit of imagining. My father did talk to me of the blue jays and how they cared for me. I was one of their own.  And my father was a shoe man, a salesman almost all his life. Until he started his lawn care business when he retired.  At 90 he still mows a few lawns (mostly for neighbors).  The poem was originally part of my "Blind man" series, but has now found a life of its own.  

Some thoughts for Lent on insufficiency and the body's theology of need (plus a poem)

The body's theology, is a theology of need, of insufficiency. This is my meditation for Lent; the fact that built into each and every one of us is a need for someone or something else. As a society, we tend to mistake need for a negative thing. But, the fact is that whatever it is I need, whether it is a kind word or a cup of coffee, help changing a flat tire or just help getting out of a chair, that need is an opportunity for someone else to set aside their own plans, their own needs or desires, to lay down their own life for the sake of another. When we see someone in need, we are given an opportunity not just to serve another, but to become more fully ourselves. We are being given an opportunity to share our gifts and become more fully who we were meant to be.  But, even more than that—we are being given an opportunity to enter into the presence of God.  “Whatever you do for the least of these (the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, the prisoner, the needy), you do for Me.” Matthew 25:31-46. My need, my insufficiency is part of my humanity—it is built into my very flesh--- and somehow in the mystery of God’s grace, that is a blessing we can never escape. And so, I have written this poem as a reminder for myself that brokenness and need are at the heart of  the body’s theology. 

A theology of need

 

Sufficient in

our insufficiency;

this is the body’s theology;

 

an emptiness

within our every effort

where another may find

 

space enough

to be

 

enough;

 

each of us

an empty cup

waiting for

a broken pitcher.

 

To fill a void with our own

is to finally find our home,

 

a place where we belong.

 

This

is the body’s theology.

 

The saints are never

wrong.

Mission Impossible : the Poet’s Protocol

 Mission Impossible : the Poet’s Protocol

 

Every day a miracle unfolds;

it is your job

 

—should you choose to accept it--

to bear witness

 

to it; the truth of it;

don’t let it escape;

 

the truth is a gift 

that will spark like flint

disappear 

like smoke;

 

self-destruct in five seconds

if you let it; but don’t.

 

Take up your pen

(or steal one

 

—if necessary); write

NOW!

 

The world is depending

on you.

 

Grab the inspiration

and get out fast;

 

it may be a trap!

 

The first theologian

 

was a woman

who came seeking

 

nothing

 

for herself;

a day of walking

 

in the heat, in the sun,

she came

 

for her daughter

she came

 

like something wild out of the desert

she came

 

eyes almost blind with fear,

face streaked with sweat

 

and dirt matted hair, she came

crying out

 

until the voices whispered

like demons of her own

 

driving her away

By what right

 

did they say these things

call her a dog

 

to drive her away;

but she would not leave

 

until she received

the nothing she had come for;

 

and when he turned,

it was not to her

 

he said: It is not right

to take the children’s food

 

and throw it to the dogs;

but she knowing only

 

her daughter’s need

accepted even this as gift, 

asking only: How then

are the dogs to be fed?

 

And there it was, 

that he turned and sighed,

Your faith is great. It shall be

done for you as you desire.

And there it was,

the nothing she asked

 

becoming the gift

her daughter received.

 

A theology of need

This is a poem that I can't stop working on. It was published last year (Iris Literary Journal), but I keep going back to it. This summer, I workshopped it at UST with the poet James Matthew Wilson (and several wonderful writerly friends).  I think they helped me see it with fresh eyes. 
The idea for the poem and the main image of brokenness as a blessing came to me while I was volunteering as a chaplain's aid at the hospital.  What I began to sense as I visited patients and sat with families, was that they --in their struggle, in their fear, in their need-- were being transformed into sources of grace.  Often there was nothing I could do but sit by someone's side and hold their hand and listen to their tears, their memories, their laughter--or just the quiet discomfort of their breathing.  And yet, when it was time to go, I always felt that I was the one who had been blessed by the visit. As if  their sorrow, their trial, their need had opened a space for grace to enter into my own life, my own heart, my own soul.  

I find this to be an idea that haunts me.. It may be strange to say about your own writing, but it is true.   

A theology of need

  

Insufficiency

is the body’s theology;

 

an emptiness within

our every effort

where another may find

 

space

 

enough

to be enough:

 

an empty cup waiting

for a broken pitcher.

 

To fill a void with our own

is to finally find a home,

a space where we belong.

 

This is the body’s

theology.

The saints are never

 

wrong.

 

A poem for Holy Saturday 2022

 This poem comes from my book Stations (Wiseblood Books).  

It seems a fitting meditation for this Holy and mysterious day.

Station XIV:  Jesus is laid in his tomb

Wrapped and balmed, anointed

we lay the chill flesh upon the stone;

 

his mother now, released, weeps

silently beside her son

 

awaiting our withdrawal.

It grows dark.

 

And when the stone is moved in place

and when they all have gone,

 

I feel the silence of the unmoved earth

and press my face against the stone.

 

:

 

Make clean my heart, Oh Lord,

that it may be your tomb.

Make clean my heart,

that you may find your rest in me.

A Father's Day Poem

It makes me slightly giddy to think of my dad retiring from retail at the age of 70 and starting his own lawn care business.  Recently --at the age of 87-- he has talked of retiring from his mowing business too.  I think his garden and his porch  are calling...Or maybe it's just the ducks that stop by for bread every morning... Being a Dad involves a lot of responsibility. 

My Father's business was being (a Father's Day poem)

My father sold shoes

for forty seven years

before retiring at 70 

and buying an old truck 

and a couple of lawnmowers 

and now he mows lawns every

 

morning (except Sunday) and comes

home in the afternoon to hose

off the mowers before

 

taking a shower and settling

on his porch with a cooler

and a six pack of Miller Lite.

 

From his chair he can watch

the finches darting

in and out of the shade –splashes

 

of sunlight amongst the leaves,

upon the trellis and along

the porch rail. Sipping 

cold beer, he sighs 

at the world he made

for himself out of almost nothing

but gratitude and quiet 

confidence. And when the warmth 

of evening settles he remembers 

the feel of a woman’s foot

after a day of shopping.

 And reaches into the ice for another beer.

Cooking tofu on the porch in an electric skillet

Sometimes when I am doing a thing that takes me from writing, giving up my "personal time" to do something for another, what I find is that I am still writing. Just not on paper... A saying that is often attributed to St. Francis is this: Preach always; when necessary, use words.  I guess the same goes for writing a poem...  

Cooking tofu on the porch in an electric skillet

 

after marinating it

overnight in a bath

 

of soy sauce, maple

syrup, garlic, chili

 

powder, ginger, and rice

-wine vinegar,

 

I sit here in the damp heat

delicately turning each soft slice

 

ginger and garlic sizzling into the air

trying carefully to singe the edges

 

turning each slice with care

to see that it burns only enough

 

just the way you like

because after 2 weeks of radiation

 

singing the inside of your stomach

with such delicate care

 

it is all you ask for

though the smell

 

of cooking makes you sick

 

When I come inside

plate of browned

 

dominos (we used to call them) still hot

(just the way you like)

 

with delicate care you will

take one and smile

 

(and that will be too much)

And even as you push the plate away

 

you will thank me for them

all

 

 

Here is the RECIPE for the marinade and cooking the tofu... If you are interested in a little vegetarian delight. 

 

A poem inspired by The Immaculate Conception

Here is a brief poem inspired by the Feast of the Immaculate Conception  (Dec 8).  And a note from Encyclopedia Britannica explaining what that term means:

"Immaculate Conception, Roman Catholic dogma asserting that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was preserved free from the effects of the sin of Adam (usually referred to as “original sin”) from the first instant of her conception."

Immaculate Conception

 

 

Undeserved by anything

except the fact

 

that you were chosen;

virus like

 

it infects everything

you are,

 

everything touched

becomes suspect.

 

Because you are

it is to be

 

expected.