Poems for Sunday, August 31, 2025
Jeremiah 2:4-13 & Luke 14:1, 7-14
The Cracking Ground of You after Jeremiah 2:4-13 I think— no, I know— we are all searching for what can sustain. You know what it’s like to be on the road nearing empty, that anxiousness simmering and panicked thinking. Too quickly, I turn toward my own makings, believing they will hold but they split leak, and collapse. I am like a grape seeking to survive apart from branches and vine. Isn’t that you? Removing yourself from Source and expecting to thrive? But— what if? What if we saw God rightly? Not as the means to whatever we imagine we need, but as a fountain that knows our thirst before the lips are dry. The Living One, whose essence is motion, creation, faithfulness, love, truth— always flowing, always continuing, always being. We are weary. I am worn out. Are you? Turn again to the One who heals, who fills, who satisfies the cracking ground of you. We are not the Source. We are more like receptacles, meant to be filled and to overflow. --- Pouring It Out after Luke 14:1, 7-14 A woman once came to Jesus with happy tears, and poured the costliest purfume she had onto his feet. She offered adoring care, expecting nothing in return. Jesus received her gift, defended her, even needed her, while others fussed about about waste and worth. Her heart full, her hands empty— this is ministry: giving without guarantee, love moving beyond obligation. God is like this. God keeps throwing banquets where the poor, the forgotten, the overlooked, I find a seat. God spills grace like perfume, and there is no charge at the end of the feast. Happiness comes when we let go of needing anything back— for God is the banquet where we feast and the table is set offering more than we need.