The Good News of Springtime
The joy of salvation is here now
Under the currents of clouds and rain,
Electricity running like a park jogger,
Gleaming—glistening—with
Sweat of a kingdom builder.
The pound of a hammer swung
For the kingdom is
The chime of slavation
The stab of the spade in good soil
Is the chink in
The strength of darkness
The pop of the cork for communion
Is the processional
For the great feast.
We are the kingdom builders now alive,
Light shining before others—a dawning sun
Wiggling its fingers into the dark crevaces,
Abating the shadows of oppression,
Giving the gift of joy and abundance.
Words always look better on paper, so I put them here for you. Something that has been of interest to me is starting to blog more with writing: a picture of my writing and then the text to follow. It’s an idea of sorts of how to bring the glory of pen and paper dragging kicking and screaming back into digital realities. Is a blend a compromise or something beautiful…I don’t quite know yet.
Thom- beautiful words. I read them twice and promptly printed them out to put on my wall. thank you. I love seeing written words next to printed words. you should do it more often… I should start doing it too. peace.
I forgot to add my current favorite quote: “Gardening grows from our deep longing for salvation, so that beauty fills our lives.” The words are from Vigen Guroian. Have you read any of his books on gardening and an Orthodox life? I haven’t yet, but they are in my queue.
I have a faint recollection of Vigen Guroian. I think I heard about him from one of my Orthodox friends. I think the Orthodox, and many evangelicals now, are onto the spirituality of gardening. Salvation, our healing, comes in gardening, whether the physical work or the metaphors of gardening in Jesus’ parables. I think that it is a warning to many that as humanity and many Christians seek knowledge and technology to become better and "save ourselves" this leads to bad things in the end, just as the first parents ate from the tree of knowledge. Building the kingdom does not seek after knowledge, which puffs up, but wisdom, the wisdom of gardening, of traditions, of living in communities full of beauty and wonder.