Neglect Not the Gift That Is in Thee, Which Was Given Thee by Prophecy, with the Laying on of the Hands

How good
(how pleasant!)
is the Lord's anointing
that makes combustible His prophets
either at Pentecost or at the stake.

But my beard runs down
with only ordination's oil,
and my neck is collared
after only Aaron's robe.
What know I of persecution?

Lord, if I must be torn apart,
may it be as heaven split
for flaming tongues--
the kindling of Your Spirit.

That God Was in Christ, Reconciling the World unto Himself

No one knows the hour
when the trump resounds:
the voice of jackhammers
crying out in the wilderness.

Prepare ye the way of the Lord!
for God will excavate the earth
(leveling plain of hill and vale)
as though by crane will lower heav'n
upon the one foundation laid.

Lo, God’s Kingdom is a brownfield project--
the old lot off highway east-of-Eden
made the future site of New Jerusalem.

Evensong

Behold the bun in Mary's oven:
grain offering of the Kingdom coming.
Christ was in a manger borne
to take and eat on Christmas morn.

O Bethlehem, thou house of bread,
house thou the Bread-of-Heav'n instead--
truly God and truly manna.
Bread-of-Life! descend! hosanna!

Thou Hast Not Withheld Thy Son

Father, Abraham had many sons--
but not even Isaac, promised child
(bearing wood up Moriah's mount)
could play the lamb Himself provided.

Father, Abraham has many sons--
for even Jesus, promised child
(bearing wood up Calvary's hill)
did play the Lamb, Himself provided.

Though I Speak with Tongues of Men and of Angels, and Have Not Charity, I Am Become a Sounding Brass

God's voice commanded kosmos;
His speech patterned Pangaea;
He spoke man to be His spokesman--

yet how can man's words
(the world decaying into wold)
bear image to the everlasting Word?
For the serpent may have lied,
but Adam blamed:

shattering continents by inconstancy.