COME TO JESUS

Jesus never spent 40 days at a Holiday Inn.
Give me back my dangerous faith.
You remember, the one
where the church A/C is cranked up full
but the preacher can still make you sweat.
Make me hungry once again
for the only food that fills me -
a torn off hunk of bread and a swig of wine.
And when I'm done, I'll grab the altar cloth
and wipe away the dribbles on my grey beard.
Let me sit right next to folks
with stubbed and bloodied toes in raggedy sandals
that release a cloud of dust
as we stamp our feet in time to the choir’s Amens.
I’ll just sit here in the shadows
where I know deep in my heart
that the light still shines on cloudy days.

TRUST

Trust is faith’s experienced sister,
a mortal creature, born of earth,
strong as sinew, flesh and bone,
but fragile as a hasty tongue.

Faith requires breath and light,
communion with the Other;
an irrational response to love
eternal and forgiving.

But Trust demands a constant touch,
as Doubt has potent power,
to poison a neglected heart
and breed a plot of pain.

So shall we send Doubt on its way,
through Faith which heals our wounds?
Or, does Trust as an earthly bane
resist Faith's sacred balm?

"Eloi, Eloi, lema sabacthani."

Ancient words caress my ear,
they relieve my battered soul.
I'll live within my Lord's refuge,
until my heart's remade as whole.