Overheard

College girl:
Last weekend I got drunk at a party .
Four boys forced themselves on me.
It makes me feel so dirty, you know?

Friend:
I know.

The conversation moved on then.
For my friend in the cafeteria,
Hearing this casual retelling of
Gang rape by the strangers at the next table,

What succor was there to offer?
For this girl, someone’s daughter,
For those four unknown boys, sons of someone,
All living and acting in darkness and pain?

What would you do, if the hearer was you?

Family Dinner

Studies show that family dinners
Offer benefits that outweigh the cost.
Tonight we may have disproved that.

One son stayed comatose on my back.

One son finished his meal
Before I had started eating.
He jumped around the table on one foot
Until I sent him away.
He cried on his bed.

One son, a good feeder, finished his plate,
Then helped himself to more,
Not by asking politely for seconds,
But by reaching over his brother’s plate.
Twice.

One son finished most of his pizza, then,
Overcome by too much smoothie earlier (?)
Went to the bathroom and, without closing the door,
Threw up loudly and long, more than one would expect
A young belly to hold.
Then he tried to describe the experience for us.
While we were still eating.
We sent him away, too.

One son sat in silence.

I’m glad there is more to family than family dinner.
We’ll try again.
But maybe not tomorrow.

Beelzebub

The Gospels say that Jesus cast out devils.
The Pharisees accused, “He casteth out devils
Through the prince of the devils,”
Which Jesus logically shot down:
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
That seems obvious enough.

But why would the Pharisees have made that logical lapse?

Maybe they simply wanted to connect Jesus with Satan,
One they didn’t trust with one they knew lied.

I wonder, though, if they had the same idea
That many do still, that God had done it all,
And to change a person, even to cast out devils,
Was somehow working against God’s purposes.

That’s part of the story of Job, after all:
Satan torments Job, and the friends attempt to persuade
Job that God is in it and it’s all Job’s fault.

It seems clear to me that Jesus is on the side of
Devil-free health and wholeness.
Sign me up.

Non-Sense

“Life doesn’t make sense” makes me feel better.

I would like life to make sense.

But in a world where a 14-year-old’s
Illegitimate pregnancy results three decades later in
Thirty-seven illegitimate grandchildren,
While I have lovely Christ-follower friends denied a baby,
I don’t think there are words adequate to explain this.
It doesn’t make sense.

I don’t understand why a couple of suburbanites
Would be called to start a farm.
What a foolish allocation of resources—
Financial, educational, agricultural, emotional.
It doesn’t make sense.

Some parents die decades before their children marry.
Some parents linger in a state of living death,
Consuming resources long past what is comfortable
For either parent or child.
It doesn’t make sense.

And let’s not get started on mental illness, autism,
Birth defects, tsumanis, and other acts of God,
Let alone acts of man like human trafficking, torture,
Or even the simple divorce.

None of these make sense.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen.

Grandma's Mirror

Shortly before puberty, I walked
Past Grandma’s hall mirror,
Just as I had every day
During every summer visit.

I stopped to check my hair
And suddenly realized that
There was no getting out.
This was my body and I was stuck.

At the time, this was one of the
Most terrifying thoughts I’d had.

My Grandma is now more than 80
Years older than I was then.
“Who is this old woman in the mirror?”
She wonders. “I don’t feel that old.”

The age of her spirit doesn’t match
The age of her face in the mirror.
Her spirit is still stuck in a body running down.
Terror seems like an appropriate response.

Zechariah's Answer

Zechariah asked, “Whereby shall I know this?”
The angel rebuked him for believing not.

Zechariah was certainly not alone in questioning.
Hebrews lists faithful folk who lapse:
Sarah who laughed, Moses who fled,
Barak who feared, David who murdered.

And so we come to Zechariah who asked
For a sign. And he was answered:
The organ of his asking dried up.
A sign immediate, unmistakable.

Zechariah, who had been resigned to live out
The rest of his life, suddenly faced with
A new life.

How overwhelming, to welcome a son in his twilight years
Like Abraham.

I’ve always assumed the silence was retributive,
Just recompense for asking a stupid question of an angel.
But I don’t think it was, or at least not only.
There is gentleness here.

Zechariah left his angelic meeting
With a promise of a son, a sign to prove it,

And a silence to ponder.

Without Regard

Zechariah questioned the angel’s
Good news: “Whereby shall I know this?”
Because, practically, those loins were dead.
He was struck dumb.

Mary questioned the angel’s
Good news: “How shall this be?”
Because, practically, those loins had not yet lived.
She was answered.

Don’t hide behind some easy explanation
Like she had faith and he didn’t. In the text,
They ask the same question, with the same objection:
“Pardon me? Physically, this won’t work.”

Enter in to the uncertainty of dealing with a God
Who works his purposes without regard
For our understanding or approval.
He’ll deal with you as he will.