for text version, click here.
Psalm 153 (text version)
for the Visual Poetry version, click here.
My neighbor’s garden is so lovely
my cousin’s yard so large and lush
my dear friend’s view a stunning mountain
my uncle’s life with friends so flush
And they call to me like Asherah
they whisper songs to me like Baal
their words full of such sweet deception
they pave the slippery slope to hell
Oh Lord, why this incessant lust
that fills my soul with discontent
why can’t I stay the course you’ve given
why must my path be always bent
Adulterous heart, you are deceitful
and to wandering you are prone
chock full of stone and hard cement
not a pure thought to call your own
You say Your plans for me are perfect
and that Your ways are glorious
that You’ve placed me in this space
picked out before all time for us
But I don’t want to be here
I’d choose almost any other place
I want the ease, I want the beauty
I want a whole lot more blank space
And so I hold this cup, please take it
I lift it to my mouth and groan
My bones they tremble as I sip
oh please, oh please can I come home
Yet not my will but Thine be done
it is the safest course I know
and I also know You’re with me
and just how much to You I owe
You say Your plans for me are perfect
the work before us will be good
and since You only speak things that are true
I will repeat them as I should
So I’ll give my heart this lecture
and I’ll say words that are true
until my soul at last remembers thirst
can only be quenched by You
Psalm 136, Reimagined
Psalm 136, Reimagined (text version)
for the Visual Poetry version, click here.
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.
His love endures forever.
to the One who dreamed up the sun, started its’ engine, and caused it to rise this morning.
His love endures forever.
who chose and numbered the years during which we draw breathe, created and sustains the land upon which we trod, and holds our very world in His hands.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord, who carefully selected the exact people among whom we live.
His love endures forever.
to the One who chose to allow our abusers to walk the same paths in the same times as our most dearly beloveds.
His love endures forever.
who knew the number and location of every wound that would be inflicted upon us before our great grandparents were born.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord, the creator and source of profound, restorative healing.
His loves endures forever.
to the One who knows what will heal us and does not grow impatient during the times, full of rage, when we choose not to walk toward Him.
His love endures forever.
who makes extravagant, over-the-top beauty spring up from the most unimaginable stretches of painful wasteland.
His loves endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord, who allowed the fires in which we sometimes burn.
His love endures forever.
to the One who walks beside us and holds our hand as we scream.
His love endures forever.
who is neither impatient nor vengeful as He eagerly waits for what He hates to burn off of us.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord, who imagined the mountaintops on which we occasionally meet Him.
His love endures forever.
to the faithful One, the sure and strong tower of refuge in any storm and every calm.
His love endures forever.
who does not change like the constantly shifting shadow of our multiplied infidelities.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord, who does not treat us as our sins demand.
His love endures forever.
to the One who knew the full sum of those sins before we committed or confessed the first one.
His love endures forever.
who stands outside time, yet walks beside us as we are constrained and discouraged by its’ weight.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord, the restorer of blind eyes, repairer of broken walls and very spring of life.
His love endures forever.
to the One who creates out of thin air new years to replace those the locusts have stolen.
His love endures forever.
who daily bears burdens, props up weary arms and dumps blessings all over our heads.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord, the giver of all good gifts.
His love endures forever.
to the One true God, the Father of lights, the fountainhead of Joy and of Peace.
His love endures forever.
who stands in unapproachable light, yet reaches down to grab our tiny, grasping fingers.
His love endures forever.