Come and Take - Christian Castro

Where there's a hole
something's gonna leak through
nothing's gonna fill it up
though we search and search
and search

Where there's a thirst
something needs to fill it up
but it will never be enough
though we drink and drink
and drink

There's a water that will slake
there's nutrition that will fill
come and take and take
and take
There's a water that will slake
there's nutrition that will fill
come and take and take
and take

And once we've had our fill
we need to put aside our past
let go of all that drains
though it hurts it hurts
it hurts

And if we turn to Him
He will never let us down
He will always have our back
though we fail and fail
and fail
 
There's a water that will slake
there's nutrition that will fill
come and take and take
and take
There's a water that will slake
there's nutrition that will fill
come and take and take
and take

Isa. 55:1-7

But God: Advent Series - Tim Knipp

Sparkles and glitter,
twinkles and evergreen...
only a suspension
of disbelief
(willful blindness,
naivete)
can ignore 
the chasm
between
bright adornments
of the season
and  
the day-by-day
slog 
through the mud
that is reality.

Cancer and 
confinement,
traffic tie-ups,
continual disappointment,
parental migraines - 
the traps and tussles
of everydayness...
it is more, much more
than we can at times
endure.
We can no more control
the incipient onslaught 
than harness  
the hurricane;
but
we can fall flat,
deflated,
defeated,
and yet believe.
We can be devastated,
abandoned,
deceived,
and yet believe.

It will not
necessarily all
work out,
yet to Him I will look.
For all around me
are broken puzzle
pieces whose
design I cannot
fathom.
But God
who can raise the dead,
can cause bare bones
to become enfleshed;
but God
can plant seeds
into infertile wombs
- watch them sprout life;
can expel demented demons,
stroll on the sea,
expire on a cross
and beat death
in hand-to-hand combat.
The unbelievable
follows in His wake
like stardust 
trailing
a meteor -
see it sparkle
like tinsel!

Yes, the world is laced
with sorrow,
but sprinkled 
also with fragrant hope
and golden goodness,
one taste of which
lasts a lifetime.
Yes, we continually
falter and flail,
but God...
but God...
What a Being 
this is!

 2 Cor. 1 & 11

Imagine Serenity: Advent series - Christian Lindbeck

This world will shake you,
split you,
break you.
It will delight you,
and afright you.

Roiling inside us
are currents
and eddies -
emotions that battle
and pummel.
As we approach 
this season
we carry a backpack 
of expectations,
dread and cynicism,
where tiny bubbles of hope
rise delicately to the surface
and pop.

Let us speak peace
as a whisper of hope
and not reprimand.

In the humbug
and pressure,
in the rush and fumble-
let us imagine serenity;
let it enter us as breath
and infuse
us with Truth -
deeper truth, 
truer truth.

This we know.
This we know.

When the whirlpools begin,
back up the view
until the swirling speck
seems inconsequential
in comparison
to the ocean of Truth.
Then dwell awhile.
Enjoy the view.

And as your head lifts,
and your load lightens
just a fraction,
hear the heavenly strains
behind the brassy jingles,
see angels
in disguise
and step forward
into the peace
of His most 
generous
gifts.

Ps. 94:18; Ps. 42:45; Phil. 4:6-7; Ps. 71; Prov. 12:25; 2 Tim. 1:7; Ps. 103

Let us Sing: Advent Series - Tim Knipp

Coldly clinical
and detached
have we become -
shamed of sentiment
and callously claiming
selfishness
as good for survival.

Alleyways whisper,
"this is all there is,"
as trash containers overflow
with forgotten excess
and vermin scuttle
cynically into black holes.

Yet up above the filthy haze
glitter stars
that refuse to diminish
and deep inside
I feel a pull as real
as gravity,
a humming behind
the clanging marketplace -
a hint of the true song.
Listen. Can
you hear it?

Though the story 
has been co-opted,
stylized and marketized,
slicked out to sell;
yet it retains
its germ of Truth.
Look beyond the glitz,
see with the artist's eye,
let it flare out "like
shining from shook foil*"
to declare
His handiwork.

Let the patchwork of mess
and clutter
suggest patterns and 
textures,
delightful in juxtaposition.
Let eyes reflect
His face
as we look, 
and laser-like,
skip past the dinged
exterior to zero in
on light.

Then we will sing -
as we look for His treasures,
liberally sprinkled
so none escapes
His touch.
Every shadow is vibrant
with deep tones
that resonate
inside our aching chests
calling forth
an oceanic cry,
linking us with
the Father who gave
His beloved Son,
who knew separation
and loss 
for us.

And let us sing
in how we frame our worlds;
in how we choose our words.

Let us see divine beauty
in every blade of grass,
in moments caught in passing.
Let us see
and let us sing. 

*Gerald Manley Hopkins, "God's Grandeur"

Col. 1:16-17; Gen. 1:27; Rev. 5:6-13 

Full Stop: The Big Story - Christian Lindbeck

The grand finale
will bring the story
full circle -
from tree
to tree.

In that face-to-face
moment,
our eyes will embrace
Him in the flesh;
His breath will mingle
with ours
and we will change -
chameleon-like.
His presence willlike falling dominoes
upon injustice,
ending it - full stop.
Those who scoffed
will be left empty-handed
behind a keyless door,
thicker and wider
than eternity.
No more chances.
Full stop.
All wickedness will bear
its own poisoned fruit,
and devour itself 
like a hyper-active cancer.
Those who have misused power
will watch it dissolve
beneath them
as they fall into chasms
of their own making;
those who stole innocence
will drown in defilement -
all who turn away
will be left
on the other side.

Then, His hands will swirl
through astonished air
and the universe will
be reinvented,
unbroken and of 
original intent:
glorious,
playful 
and good.
All our best days 
combined will not begin
to compare
and we will be unleashed
to enjoy this gift
as He always intended.

I know that I plan 
to pirouette through stars
and soar over
turquoise oceans
on my first day.
And that is only
the beginning.
 
Black holes 
and spinning galaxies,
heart beats
and hummingbirds
defy comprehension;
yet they thrum
about us,
obvious and undeniable.

What do you risk
by not considering
the true nature
of this Story?
What will you gain
if it is 
indeed
true?

1 John 3:2; 1 Cor. 13:12; Luke 13:24-25

Rev. 20:11-12; 2 Pet. 3:9; Phil. 1:23-24

Post-Rising: The Big Story - Christian Lindbeck

After and before:
Jesus is the axis
around which history
spins.

As the desert pause
began His work,
so He pauses again,
post-rising,
before emptying out
the flood of His essence - 
an oasis
called Pentecost -
whose torrents would
gather up multi-colored
multitudes and channel them
onward and over
centuries and millenia
to ultimately
wash up at the feet
of a Lover-God.

Post-rising -
that climactic moment,
orchestrated by a 
people-adoring deity
who threaded His only Son
through the needle
of Death
for us,
His beloved.
As any lover,
He longs for us,
to be with us,
to rescue us,
to prove Himself,
to draw us
ever closer:
one flesh pressed
breast to breast,
breathing as one.

Inhalation - 
inspiration:
the drawing in 
of something outside
of self.
Animation -
giving life to dead flesh.
The Holy Spirit
writhes and seeps
through blood vessels
and bone cells,
parceled out to
a quadrillionth infinitude.
The same power
that spun a universe
confounding in magnitude
resides
in me.

Post-rising,
Jesus re-morphed
to become the 
Fatherson One,

who disseminated
the third One;
strewn liberally,
prodigally,
to take up life 
in those who love
this baffling 
Trinity.

Post-rising,
we, thus inspired,
work to walk like
our Lover-God:
to catch the light
and bounce it -
blinding some,
enticing more.
We acknowledge
brokenness
and lament it;
we seek to right
wrongs - even
and especially those
done in Christ's name;
we give voice
to the oppressed
and speak truth
to power;
we find needs
and meet them
without judgement
or shame;
we come again
and again to 
our Source
for refilling
since we are holey
holy ones
and nothing but
dry bones without
Your breath in us.

Post-rising,
we need to wonder,
what holds us back
and hinders this work?
What fakes us out
and tugs us from the path?
And how can we - 
how can I -
get closer to my Lover-God,
to breathe His breath -
in and out -
to the rhythm of 
His heart?
To listen,
rapt and humble
to His besotted
whisperings?

Acts 2; Gen. 1; John 1; Rev. 22

John 16:7; 1 Cor. 6:19; 2 Cor. 5:8 

Everything Changes: The Big Story - Tim Knipp (John 12, 19-20)

No turning back now -
we're past the point of no return -
we've burnt the bridges
behind us -
everything has changed.

Knowing it's the last time,
He comes once more
to Jerusalem,
choosing as mount
a dusted donkey.
Palm fronds and accolades
quiver the air
but a defiled temple
soon resounds 
with rebuke
and riotous clamor
bounces between
pillars.

Knowing they will
remember and repeat 
His words, 
He redefines
the ritual dinner,
unveiling His fulfillment
of every promise
in bread crumbs
and shared wine.
He says,
"Watch Me. I'll show you 
the Way"
as he kneels
to wipe foul feet.

Abandoned,
convicted,
tortured and 
abased;
then loaded down
like the beast he rode in on,
carrying a wooded beam
and the burden
of broken mankind -
twisted shards
that cut His flesh -
He dies
a grisly death.

His lifeless body
lies lonely in the tomb
til death looses its grip
and Mary hears 
her name from the lips
of an unfamiliar
gardener and 
knows Him
for who He is.

Everything changes.

He offers the ultimate 
quid pro quo:
your failure for 
His life; 
your impossible dreams
for His improbable
Truth.

What was inconceivable
becomes rational
and the most obvious
of answers
as the jagged puzzle 
pieces
of history
fit smoothly into place
revealing the
face of a
God who
will never stop
pursuing us
and who has
made a way
for us to find
our way
home.

This Man-God: The Big Story - Christian Lindbeck

Exposition.
Rising Action.
Climax.

And here we are,
at the apex 
of the plot triangle;
what all the rebellion
and exile have led to,
what all the love letters
have alluded to:
the ultimate expression
of who this God is,
unfolded through hints
and dropped clues,
bread crumbs
leading
to
this.

The Holy One
entered the flesh
of a created being,
to mold a new creation -
a man-God,
born in earthly mess,
umbilically bound
to His mother,
slipping wetly
onto soiled straw.

The maestro of Time
conducted 
through a four-hundred 
year gestation -
a minor pause -
a quivering string
reverberated
and built slowly
to the momentous
crescendo,
exquisitely timed.

And so we turn
to regard Him,
this human
in every way -
who defecated
and belched,
grasped Mary's hair
in miniature fists
and yawned
with untoothed 
gums.

Yet, this being
we recognize in
new, unblemished flesh
is older than time itself -
an irony that fractures
our expectations
and implodes our
realities.

And though He lived
each day,
confined by minutes
and hours like us,
yet unlike us,
He did not sin
in word or 
in deed.

When still unadulterated,
He baffled the PhDs
with a fully embodied
understanding 
of spiritual tomes,
able not only to articulate
but delineate and 
demystify 
the sacred texts.

Our hero-author
recolored and rewove
Truth, re-centering power,
wielding
without abusing it.
Even those who walked
beside Him
wondered, "WHAT??!!??
as He bent physical laws
like pretzels
not for entertainment 
or publicity,
but as parables
and compassionate
relief of 
sin's curse.

Even Death did not destroy
this man-God,
this love letter,
this 3D illustration
of the Father's 
lesson plan.
"This is what I meant,"
He says, "this is
the Way.
Come, walk
in it
as I intended
all along."

Immeasurable Devotion: The Big Story - Tim Knipp (Deut. 4:5-6; Judges 21:25; 1 Sam. 8:7-8, 19-20; 2 Sam. 7:16; Hos. 4:13)

After forty years

we are on the move again,

making our way
to promised territory.

"Follow My ways
and set a standard
among the peoples
of the land
so that they may turn
and know Me too."

But we are a fickle folk -
so easily seduced
by other gods
and shiny trinkets.
We took our liberty
as license
and descended
into decadence.

Wanting to change our ways
but still enamored
of our neighbors,
we asked for a human king.
We pouted
and demanded,
saying, "Why should we
stand out
and be ridiculed?
Let us have a king
and the nations
will give us honor."

We got what we asked for
(and deserved)
in Saul,
a king, cowering
in a corner.
Yet when David ascended 
his throne,
he received a promise
that his family line
would produce 
the truest king
of all
and though there 
was much to admire
in David, 
still he stumbled
more than he stood.

Solomon changed
the downward trend
of feckless kings -
commoners thrived
and nations gathered
to hear the wisdom
emanating from
our sage king.
Yet such wisdom
is not without flaws 
and arrogant entitlement
tainted David's seed
for generation
after 
generation.

Eventually a civil war 
fractured us
as down through 
the years
we wavered -
now obeying
and seeking repentance,
now falling into sin
and degradation.

Messengers arrived
with dependable
regularity,
speaking in love letters
spelling out tough truth,
outlining our faithlessness
and spotlighting 
our injustices
as they writhed in 
dark corners.
He pleaded with us
to come back to Him,
to find again
His way.

But we plugged our ears
and were exiled
once again,,
scattered 
and shattered,
an example only
of incompetence and failure -
nothing anyone
would follow -
worthy only of scorn and derision.
We, who were to be the
rescue squad,
left dangling over a cliff -
helpless helpers,
in need of our own
rescue.
Pathetic.

Still we cried out
to the God we know
has a plan,
though we have tried 
our best to sabotage it,
and though we
cannot see a way,
yet we cling
to the promises
and hope in 
who He is:
a lover who has
pursued us
with unflagging,
unabashed 
and
undeserved,
immeasurable
devotion.