poems2003B

1. Uncomfortable Holiness
2. Mistakes have been Made
3. I knew that, Lord
4. The Royal City
5.  I Thank You for the "So Far"
6. Sparky ran off ,Spark-less Life
7. Roll-call
8. Off-stage
9.  

   

   Hebrews 12:18-21
   I Corinthians 3:13

   Uncomfortable Holiness

    Holiness has about it
   an uncomfortable,
   untamed beauty.
   It is no easy chair;
   It feels uncushioned, not meant for sitting.

   It is lofty, austere--
   smoking mountain,
   shaking earth,
   snowy, black thunder,
   blasting, flashing, crashing.
   speechless awe
   shrinking us small.

   Yes, we make ourselves small,
   a very small target,
   whispering shouts of terror,
   listening to the fire,
   hoping there is more to us
   than chaff.

    lori fiechter
   10-11-03

   

   Perhaps it is just my nature to appreciate frankness and openness instead of evasiveness, euphemisms and excuses. Why does it rankle me that the word "sin" is not used much anymore. What's a sin, anyway? A fault? A mistake? Apparently, there are no transgressions of God's law anymore, only errors in judgment or action. Even Pharoah confessed he had sinned  (calling himself "wicked"), as did Achan, King Saul, King David, the Prodigal son, and Judas Iscariot.
   If we can call a spade a spade, why can't we call a sin a sin? Not his sin, not her sin, not their sin, but mine. We make head excuses, not heart confessions. Can you imagine the Prodigal son saying, "Father, I've made some mistakes." It just doesn't have the same ring to it.

   Mistakes have been Made

    The world is not so bad
   as I thought
   For nobody sins anymore.
   "We all make mistakes"
   And we all have our faults
   but nobody sins anymore.

   If there is no God,
   then is there no sin?
   No wickedness except in the basest of men?
   There is nothing wrong
   fundamentally with any of us?
   To err is just human and to sin is to err?
   We tally excuses, bad habits and faults;
   we've been foolish and hasty, careless and desperate
   but not one of us sins any more.

   Or at least, not one will admit it.

   lori fiechter
   11-08-03

    Exd 9:27 And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the LORD [is] righteous, and I and my people [are] wicked.

    1Sa 26:21 Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.
   
   Mat 27:4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What [is that] to us? see thou [to that].
   
   Luk 15:18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,

   

   I knew that, Lord

    I knew that, Lord;
   I just forgot
   as I am prone to do, a lot.
   the thing my mind claims as a fact
   does not provoke one conscious act
   of will or faith or trust at all;
   it seems my faith is dismal, small
   I knew that, Lord;
   I just forgot,
   as is my wont,
   though not my lot.

    lori fiechter, 11-07-03

   

   The Royal City

   He saw a city--
   a city with 
   walls, gates, streets, water, trees.
   solid things. real things.

   He saw a place--
   not just a vision in thin air
   of clouds and harps ethereal. 
   A city, up there,
   that will come
   down here some day.
   A place to live,
   not just pass time
   in floating by,
   in wandering across the sky.
   A peopled place
   with kings and nations stopping by
   to walk with God.

    lori fiechter
   11-07-03

   

    I Thank You for the "So Far"

    I thank You for the "so far";
   as for the rest, unseen,
   I guess I'll need to trust you,
   through zig-zags and ravines
   without a guarantee
   that You'll be logical
   and reasonable
   that You will do things my way,
   So that I can be comfortably sure and secure. 
   And I trust You, from this sofa.

   Why the pile of wood
   stacked outside my front door?
   Why the altar?
   I have no sacrifice.
   I pray You have no fire.

    lori fiechter
   11-07-03

   

    I noticed it in the eyes of the worshipers in one of the Planet of the Apes sequels, the look of   vacant, joyless worship. I hoped I wasn't looking in a mirror.

    I only caught a minute or two of the scene--the drones, dressed identically in drab, shapeless robes,  singing praises to that object up front--the Bomb. But it wasn't their outward uniformity that bothered me most; it was their identical facial expressions: flat eyes, wooden lips moving puppet-like. I wondered--do we ever look like that to God--singing our hymns and  choruses with our dull eyes and our switched-off minds?

   Or perhaps our song service looks to Him more like the gathering of young children, ages four and five, posing for a class photograph. How many faces are focused on the camera (except for those trained to love it and mug for it)? How many children are distracted--inwardly or outwardly? Who is bending down to tie his shoe? Who keeps pestering the boy next to him? Who is thinking about dinnertime?  Who is lost in a daydream? It is apparent that some of these children came quite unprepared.
   So have we. May He forgive us.

    Sparky ran off and nobody noticed

   Revelation 2:4

    The leash is still tied to the tree
   but Sparky is gone.
   LIfe is simpler without him, really.
   He was a nuisance--
   all that jumping and licking and tail-wagging.
   It is much quieter now and more orderly.
   Nothing to upset the decorum and orderliness.
   Sparky ran off; I wonder why he left.
   But it's easier without him, really.

   l ori fiechter, 10-10-03

    Monday morning syndrome, all week long

   Spark-less Life

   Malachi 1:13

    What happened to turn
   the joy into drudgery,
   the delight into duty,
   the gift into a burden?

   You sniff and snuff,
   mumble and murmur,
   complaining of your lot,
   of the weariness and the drudgery.

   Weightless love has morphed into duty
   and duty drags like an iron chain.
   Life is spark-less now and colorless.
   Was it not always so?

   lori fiechter 10-07-03

   

   Roll-call

    Present. Yes I'm here;
   Warm body in pew.
   I tried to bring my mind
   this time but it stayed home again.
   It doesn't matter.
   I know the routine.
   Open hymnal, sing. 
   Close hymnal; return to rack.
   Open Bible, follow along.
   Look up towards pulpit.
   Turn head at every noise.
   Pretend to look down at Bible
   while listening to the conversation,
   one bench back.
   Kneel. Get up again.
   Open book. Close book.
   The body obeys.
   The mind picks up its knapsack
   and takes a stroll.

    lori fiechter
   10-11-03

   

If "All the world's a stage"...

 Off-stage

 You need never leave;
Everything is here--
everything of life.
But everyone exits:
Some are jerked off the stage
in the middle of their lines;
they never even take a bow.

Others crawl painfully
all the way past stage left.
Where have they gone?
They never return.
(Except One)

There is only one play,
No rehearsal, no encores, no revivals.
(Except One.)

Off-stage?
No one knows till they get there.
Do you step into nothingness?
Can you really believe that One
who came back
and will come back again
(to disrupt the whole play)?
Is there really an off-stage at all?
Is it just another play?
All the world's a stage;
But I've forgotten my line.