Beyond Worship
Some hours, Lord,
I have inhaled Your fragrance
sipped You like refreshing liquid
gazed upon Your radiance
listened to Your numinous singing
felt Your gossamer touch.
But what if I understood
Your thunderbolt, butterfly thoughts
comprehended Your future designs?
Would I have You, Yaweh, become
a finite figurine easily grasped?
Would I have this?
Then whom would I worship?
Puzzle
We are odd
shaped pieces
round, rough
edged. We glide
or jut into each
other, trying
to wedge in.
Repentance
rearranges us,
parts becoming whole.
We find our place
amidst friction
forgiveness
lovingkindness.
A jigsaw puzzle
we, the church.
Fragrance and Fog
how smell can dig into long ago places
we hardly know we carry inside
like cinnamon bread, potpourri, a leather shoe
how smoke from a bonfire can wreathe a person
move beyond the silhouette into darkness;
like fog, its opening a mystery
how smell and smoke can be held
in a censer, fragrant clouds wafting
throughout one place to a larger beyond
a witness to the ways of God; teach me
O Lord, to be Your thurifer
