What Jesus left out

,

Have you ever noticed how

Jesus left a few things out?

Like when he picked up a scroll

And started reading

Isaiah 61

In the synagogue?

He left out the vengence of God.

How he wouldn’t stick to the script?

Or stay within the rules of protocol

Or status quo?

Remember how 

He didn’t pray for God

To slay his enemies

But prayed

Father forgive them

At the cross?

He even taught us

To love not only God, neighbor, and ourselves

But also our enemies

He wasn’t afraid of stepping

On anyone’s toes or

Provoking their anger

He disrupted their narratives

And challenged their self-assurance.

He wasn’t afraid of anyone,

The truth, or even death.

He wasn’t just being contrary

Remember he loved these people

And wept over them

He must have hoped

His shaking and poking holes in

Their thoughts and prayers

Would wake them up

Move them to action

Turn them around 

To follow him.

Julie Clark © January 2024

Broken Open

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There is nothing like grief

To break open your theology

Which just might need to be broken open

It is too small

Has not made room for suffering

Which the world is full of

Has made God into a tribal god

Instead of the Creator of all

Whose name is Love

Who holds us all together

Every one of us and every living thing

Hold this grief and broken theology

Until it lands in a more spacious place

That includes all

Send no one to hell

Only into the arms of Love

Threads of Life

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Look over your shoulder

And you will see

Threads intricately woven

Into a tapestry

Of color, light, and shadow

A trail behind you

That brought you 

To this day

Look ahead

With faith and hope

That this woven fabric

Will continue throughout

The rest of your life

See the faint glimmer

Of golden threads

Dream and plan

Then bravely make

That next step

Along the path

You are already on

Sorrow and Love

Woke up to an ache in my heart 

An old friend lost her granddaughter 

Weepy all day

feeling grief for my friend

Have you noticed 

When you open your heart to grief

All the sorrow of the world 

Comes squeezing in?

And the world is full

And the earth groans

Loss and love are holding hands 

The loss of a precious one

Is too vast for one person to hold

Maybe when we grieve with others

We help carry that heavy load

What is Good News?

(A poem for Earth Day in response to the words of Jesus where he says in Mark 16:15 proclaim the gospel to all creation.)

What is Good News?

To a river

To the sky

To a forest

To the trees

To the ocean

To the birds

To the bugs

To the bees

To the lakes

To the mountains

To the critters

In the seas

To all people

To the planet

To all creatures

You and me

So let us turn 

Instead of burn

Let us listen

Let us learn

Let us practice 

Let us preach

Until renewal

Is within reach

From There to Here

There he is again

The little boy showing up

Holding his broken heart

Looking for that love

That never seems to be enough

There she is again

The little girl hiding behind

Her mother’s skirt

Not sure the world

Is a safe place after all

These wounds we carry

From there to here

From then to now

Haunt us from time to time

When they show up

Pay attention

Reassure

The child within

Yes, there is enough

To go around

Yes, love will take us through

All the way

To the end

© 2022 December Julie Clark

Collecting Hope

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Every end of Winter 

Before Spring finally comes

I find myself needing to

Bolster myself with hope

To gather the fragments 

I can find

Into a basket

To turn over stones

Looking for something shiny and bright

To scan the trees for feather or flutter

To listen to stories

Of those who have come through

A dark winter, or time

Where help arrives

Just in time

Where a secret door is found

Out of the dark passage

Where an innocent prisoner is freed

When the trauma of the world

Weighs too greatly on my shoulders

This is when i need

To grab my basket

And start collecting hope

© 2023 Julie Clark

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Thoughts and Prayers

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With the surge in mass shootings and other forms of violence that have left families and communities broken hearted and grieving I offer this poem.

Thoughts and Prayers

No thank you

If you mean 

That you are off the hook

For doing anything good

To stop this violence

No thank you

If you mean

You can let another

Year go by without

Courageously

Tackling this issue

Of gun violence

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Unless you mean

The kind of prayer 

Where you think and dream

With the Divine

A new path forward

Where you roll up your sleeves

And get to work

To put that new plan

Into effect

If you mean the kind of prayer

That looks first into your own heart

To see if you are complicit

In anyway to this violence

By turning your back 

On those who are grieving

Their loved ones gunned

Down before their time

If you mean the kind of prayer

Where you call out to God 

For mercy and forgiveness

And commit yourself

To work, to change

To make this world 

Become like your prayers

If you mean

These kinds of prayers

Then yes, please

Think and pray

Roll up your sleeves

And be part of the 

Answer to your prayers.

© 2023 Julie Clark

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Repair

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Repair 

Could we just move

Towards each other

Instead of listening

To the voices inside and out

Telling us how divided we are?

Could we remember

Laughter and friendship

Kindness and love

Sorrow and grief

We have tasted together?

Perhaps repair

Does not always need

Many words

But slow movement

Back to each other

A gift, a call

A jar of pickles

We know love is action

Not just pleasant thoughts

And feelings

These times need creativity

To create new ways

Of reconnection

Of loving one another

Our neighbors

Even our enemies

© Julie Clark 2022

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Garden Distractions

(Found this poem on my computer from last year)

I’m trying to get some work done

Only to be interrupted by 

Bunny rabbits in my yard

First a little brown wild one

Then a big fat white one

Looks like it was someone’s pet

Then as I try to set up my computer

Song sparrows in the front yard and 

Spotted Towhees in the back

How am I to get any work done today? 

My yard is in sore need of attention

I managed to convince my 9 year old grandson

Mowing the lawn would be fun.

With a push mower of course

It was fun until he got distracted with something else 

So I took over and finished it up

His little brother helped me pull some

Grass out of the flower bed

I’ve all but given up on planting

Any vegetables anymore

My yard is too damp and shady

Not enough sunlight gets through

The slugs and perhaps rabbits

Managed to chew enough of everything

Last time I planted vegetables

There wasn’t anything much left over

And tomatoes never ripen – ever

Even in my windows. 

The only things that survived 

Were the herbs

I’ll stick with them

and the flowers for now

Especially the hardy types

Oh and the sweet, tiny

Strawberries as well.