A Psalm for the Apocolypse

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

The Worst Thing

I think one of the worst things is to not recognize the worst things, going on in your time. Because, by virtue of it being everywhere, you are inured to it. Like the Holocaust in Nazi Germany, like Slavery in the (Christian) American South. Like infanticide in most of the pre-Christian cultures of the earth. And we say, "If I had been in the South when preachers defended slavery.....If I had been in Germany when Hitler was running for office....If I had been a Roman woman ordered to expose her infant...."

But it's hardest to see one's own culture's blindspot. The particular segment of people that your culture has decided to dehumanize, (Jews, Africans, newborns...)

This is ours.

And we can't just say its the way the world works. Anymore then the Southern Christians could say that slavery was just the way the world was. Or the Germans say that Jews just were going to be gassed and that's that, and it's better ignore this, so we can focus on bigger issues, like economic justice and making sure there's a chicken in every pot. (Not that we shouldn't care about poverty, education gaps, etc. But we need to get our priorities straight)

Lost without Cause

Now therefore, what do I have here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that My people have been taken away without cause?” 

Taken away, 
the children lost, 
for no reason. 
While we worried for them

We, harried and half asleep,
nod to the ones who creep
to nobly trash their souls
Never looked into the faces
Too busy on our phones

Truth as cheap as trash
Drowned in the blur 
of Newspaper Headings and small talk,
(World is going on as before)
Same old same old...

Fields won by battle,
surrendered without a word,
travelling in a muddle
We muddle down the road 

The Lord declares, “Those who rule over them howl, and My name is continually blasphemed all day long.
Therefore My people shall know My name;

When we sit among the ashes
wondering what went wrong
Surrounded by the bodies 
Staring at our hands

When at last the worst has happened
We have nothing more to lose
Knowing we lost our Treasure
---Sold it for a song 

When the captors inflict their jeers
We hear our lies in blackness
--Our eyes gouged out by spears---
Our own lies soft and fair
Will finally appear,
as they are...
 
Therefore in that day I am the one who is speaking, ‘Here I am.’”

The Scorn That Withers as the Fire

The lies come thick and fast
The scorn the withers as a fire
And petty groups display their cards
(showing they are the ones)
Wise, accepted, educated, respected
Laugh the crazies, the sufferrers, the mad ones
Blind and beaten by injustice, pierced with shards of hate

But the Final Time comes, the real fire comes
Burns away our creds like dross
Every deed lies bare, stripped of its skin
Motives bare as bones, every thought spoken
What then?
And in that inferno of our failure
What stands?
but you and I
Our souls inflammable, unbreakable
Naked and alone.

The only covering,
An edge of a cloth
--pulled from the hem of a robe---
Red with blood and White as Fire