You Order the Days, and We Are Willfully Blind

You order the days, the seasons,

You provide all of the reasons

For living beneath this sun

Toward you we all do run

(Sometimes)

And long to be with you

While upon the ground the dew

Still glistens and shines in the morning light

While all the world and all in it seem right.

(Where we live)

We all know, O Heavenly Father,

That some of your children are cruel and do not bother

To make things right and good and warm 

Especially for those who have received much harm.

(We are willfully blind)

Our sisters and brothers are still oppressed

By the oppressors still obsessed

With the best seats of honor and fame

Giving pretend glory to your name

(Our biases intact)

While the poor and the broken

Are seen by the world as a mere token

Of those that you long ago said

Would be with us always, even when we lay our heads

(Out in the margins they)

Upon the clean sheets and pillow cases

Of those of us who are higher than other races

Claiming that which we did not earn

Clutching that for which people yearn

(We do sleep well)

To be loved, honored, and respected

To feel stomachs full and no one neglected

While we trod upon this earthly sod

Until we face our eternal God.

(Forgive us if You please)

Your Face: A Few Thoughts in Response to Psalm 27

Your face is what I want to see

Your face will tell me what there is to know

Your face will inform and shape

Your face will rob me of my comfort.

So

I see your face

I look into your eyes

I feel your gaze

I long to stay here.

And

Your gaze is piercing

Your eyes are frightening

Your vision of me is revealing

Your hopes for me are disarming.

My eyesight is blurry

My vision is skewed

My perspectives are defective

My views are awry and misshapen.

When

You see me looking at you

You know if I want to remain here

You sense my doubts and fears

You hear my feeble cries.

As

I wilt beneath your gaze

I face my lingering doubts

I have deceived myself

I only think I want to see.

Yet

My delusions are comfortable

My placement of people and things are predictable

My blind spots are truth

My assumptions are reality.

Still

I want to see

I want to see more than objects

I want to see what you want me to see

I want to feel my blindness disappear.

My life is in your hands

My vision has been blinded

My world has been shaped by what I will not see

My surrender will lead me to see as you see.

I long to see your face

I long to be in your presence

I want more than anything to see your children

I desire more than I can say to overcome my own blindness.

You know what I do not know

I know that you know what I need

My life will not be the same

You remove my blindness.

I see

I see

I see

I am blind no more

To people of color

To women

To immigrants

To the poor

To the homeless

To LGBTQ

To the young

To those outside my social group

To those physically disabled

To those emotionally challenged 

Hopefully

Is my prayer

Hanging Out with Jesus Might Get You in Trouble

Hanging out with Jesus

            Or so that text seemed to say;

Those folks were pretty new to him and him to them

            So they moseyed off by themselves to get more acquainted.

Hanging out around the nets

            Or the tax collection booth or under some tree;

But now they’re hanging out with the Man from Nazareth

            Just wondering how it played out.

How much was Him laying it on the line

            Or telling stories;

How much was a question and answer period

            As they decided whether to continue the journey.

Or, were their minds already made up

            So that this hanging out together business

Was just a deepening of the relationship

            Prepping for what was ahead.

Who knew that the woman at the well was coming

            Who knew that the woman taken in adultery was next

Who knew that the man with leprosy was somewhere down the road

            Who knew that the seas raging was going to be part of the plan.

Did they know how their views of life would change,

            Did they know that what was sacred would get flipped,

Did they know that things they’d always known would get scrambled,

            Did they know that the rules would be turned upside down.

Surely they did not know that He’d weep with those who wept,

            Surely they did not know that women would support His ministry,

Surely they did not know that the privileged would be threatened,

            Surely they did not know that the blind would see and the lame walk.

Maybe they had an inkling that the poor were his focus,

            Maybe they had an inkling that justice was His middle name,

Maybe they had an inkling that they would see a different righteousness,

            Maybe they had an inkling that they did not have a clue.

The blind could see, the deaf could hear,

            The pushed to the curb invited to the inner circle,

The untouchable would be embraced,

            The ones left beside the road would be taken to the inn.

What are we to learn about the Man from Nazareth,

            What are we to learn from the way He walked,

What are we to learn from the hard-headed followers,

            What are we to learn from their time of hanging out together.

What if I were to hang out with Him for a while,

            Who would I stand up for and who would be embraced,

Would it be the immigrants, the poor, the LGBTQ, the person of color,

            Or could it maybe be those without insurance or those who are homeless.

Would I yell for justice to the leaders of the land

            Who say disparaging things about women or the disabled,

Would I scream from the rooftops against those who have sold the church

            And the Kingdom for a nationalistic agenda.

Would I march when some are sitting satisfied,

            Would I write words of discomfort to those who’ve already decided,

Would I donate to the causes of justice that trouble the privileged,

            Would I join up for those who are leading these efforts.

Hanging out with Jesus just might get some of us in trouble.