Archive | January, 2021

sara, sarah’s cave

29 Jan

sarah’s cave, Genesis 23

her cave, my tent

And Abraham rose up from before his dead …

He holds her, his Sarah, once, just once. Old, ancient in his hands and knees, Abraham holds his heart, his Sara, Sarah, with hands, fingers that ache, pain filled memories come as he holds her. The times he failed her, betrayed her to others. No other man’s hands live for her now, …

‘And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites, “I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” ‘

….that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” ‘

Abraham has moved from holding, seeing, remembering his beloved to , now, after his floods of memory, to not wanting to see her again. Ever.

Trees surround Sarah’s cave. No longer to be seen….

‘So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city. After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.’

Yet.., his memories can’t, won’t be buried. Yet, perhaps he, Abraham would speak, pray,

so sorry I fail you so; from silences; to letting, to thinking deceptions; from my love without limits to my limited feelings

our tent, our cave, our live

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sarah’s tent

29 Jan

sarah’s tent

from Genesis 24, “Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. 67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.”

in sarah’s home, a palace of

rich fabrics, soft fabrics, generous

loving and painful moments, where

her child, her one & only child – Issac, was

conceived in faith, within

her old age, & with,

with Abraham’s broken,

ruined

body,

it is her tent, within

after hearing of the coming promise

she laughs inwardly at the Lord God’s promise, yet, after

hearing,

she invites

her husband to leave his tent once more, once again, to

enter hers,

sarah’s tent is all she has to

give

a son, her laugh, her poem, sarah loves Issac; her tent, home

she leaves him this, her

tent, her beauty, her life

when Issac 40 weds Rebekah, it is here & sarah, though

passed,

blesses him, her, them with

faith, a covering, a

tent

her tent

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Soul

20 Jan

a new year’s thought

so, the creator of ‘Soul’ spoke on how he formed, framed, birth it from a story by Herbie Hancock hitting a ‘wrong’ note playing with Jazz master Miles Davis,
here’s part of the quote:

“Miles took a breath and he played some notes and it made my chord right,” said Hancock. “It sounded like magic to me. It took me years to figure out what actually happened. Here is what happened: Miles just accepted it as new and he did what any jazz musician should always try to do – to make anything that happens into something of value.”

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‘breathless,’ acts 9

9 Jan
breathless


‘And Saul, yet breathing of threatening and slaughter to the disciples of the Lord, having gone to the chief priest,
2 did ask from him letters to Damascus, unto the synagogues, that if he may find any being of the way, both men and women, he may bring them bound to Jerusalem.‘ YLT


I love watching movies, TV, with my Priscilla. She concentrates so, she squinches her face up in a lovely architectural frame. And then I begin:

first, an obvious question followed by another and another. Presently, I have to raise my hand quietly, wait patiently for Priscilla to call on me with my one question for the evening.

Yes, today, now I only get one question an evening. A breathe.

Saul had no such limits. His life, his breathe, was words, murderous ones, flowing swiftly, constantly from Jerusalem to Damascus. He, as me on my worst days, could not stop talking.We live in times of copious, various and plentiful words, of numerous breathes. People speak and speak; they blog and tweet; we FaceTime and FaceBook. Our society through Instagram, Snapchat, and Tik Tok breathes each and every moment and thought as they rise.

Some of us have become so enslaved, so addicted to our phones/I pads that it would take a miracle for me, for us, to pause and rest; to slow breathes and reflect.


And we can not listen as we are always in dialogue: either internally speaking or externally, our words are constantly ‘steaming,’ breathing.

Saul had the same breathes. His purpose was to threaten and murder. He could not be quiet. I picture him ‘tweeting’ each step to Damascus. Till Jesus stops him.

‘As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone.Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything’
Acts 9: 3 – 9

Saul says no words, sees nothing, for 3 days, except this one question: “Who are you, Lord?“

Sitting in absolute darkness and quiet, Saul listens and hears. He is no longer a murderer, but a rescuer; no longer a danger but safety; no longer a Saul but Paul.

For our country, the United States of America, to be changed, transformed, redeemed, we must pray that the Sauls in our midst, those who can’t stop speaking murder, be transformed by Jesus, not us, but Jesus, to Pauls.

Prayer, deep, deep prayer, transforms people and things; institutions and individuals.


Jesus, on his cross, prayed for Sauls. He used his last breathe, he became breathless so we could breathe. So, I pray, ‘Jesus, save, have mercy on me, on my Sauls. My country.”

“Breathe new life into my country. Into me.”

Breathe.

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