That’s where I first saw the poem.
home had took me
to where too much time
had locke me in
in my wrong ways
and the fumbles of
a memory, and left me
where I first began
begging: "Christ let loose
these ghosts from my bones."
Men see a lot of things written on bathroom walls; mostly things not repeatable in polite company. And believe me, after a while, guys just stop seeing them. But this caught my attention the very first time I entered that bathroom ... and it kept getting my attention every time I was there. Finally, I wrote it down.
I’ve thought a lot about that poem over the years; wondering what the author meant for the reader to get from it. After mulling it over for some years, I realized he wasn’t thinking about the reader, at all.
It’s too raw. It was scrawled on a bathroom wall, not published in the New England Journal of Poetry. This guy was hurting ... deeply.
And yet ...
From the depths of his circumstance, the poet called on Jesus. He knew who could save him, and he wasn’t afraid to write that name high up on a wall where many would see the savior he claimed.
If I could find the author of that poem, I would thank him for his reminder that God can be called on in all circumstances, even when —perhaps, most especially when— things seem their worst.
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PHOTO (Men’s restroom wall at the Elephant House coffee shop in Edinburgh, Scotland): Steve Orr
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Join us for DaySpring’s Post-Polar Vortex Lectionary Breakfast this Friday. As usual, we gather at 8:00 on Zoom for such a pleasant hour. There’s Bible, discussion, prayer, and laughter ... and whatever breakfast you show up with.
Contact me for the Zoom link.
NOTE: Zoom allows you to mute the camera if you don’t wish to be seen and to mute the microphone if you don’t wish to speak
Blessings,
Steve
SCRIPTURES FOR THE COMING WEEK
Find them here: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Psalm 22:23-31
Romans 4:13-25
Mark 8:31-38 or Mark 9:2-9
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