new year's eve

“My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,
    and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
when I think of you on my bed,
    and meditate on you in the watches of the night”  Psalm 63:5-6

as we celebrate

the end of another year,

may we nibble on hope’s bread,

drink deeply of life’s water,

dance the Spirit’s steps,

and sing as we watch

peace and justice embrace

and grace drifts gently down

to journey with us

in the coming days

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

sing us songs

 “From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,

    of glory to the Righteous One.
But I say, I pine away,
    I pine away. Woe is me!”  Isaiah 24:16

when i would choose

misery as my guide,

and not mercy;

when i would feast

on a slice of bitterness,

and not the bread of goodwill;

when i would make my bed

with fearmongers,

and not curl up in your lap,

sing me the songs of hope,

God of my heart,

sing me the songs of joy.

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

mercy!

“Once you were not a people,
    but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
    but now you have received mercy.” 1 Peter 2:10

you turn your workshop

into a bedroom for us, and

and put an extra place setting

on the kitchen table, while

we put more bolts on our doors

and locks on our pantries;

you cradle us in grace

and forgive us for every

dumb thing we’ve ever done,

yet we hold tight to our grudges,

and remember every slight

every whispered (or imagined)

Lord, have mercy

(once again, please)

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

alive and well

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”  1 Peter 1:3

in the mother

who reassures her son

that everything will be fine

(even though he forgot

to turn on the oven after

putting the turkey on the rack);

in the teacher

who patiently goes over

the math problem

for the nth time with

the struggling student;

in the stranger who stops

by the side of the road

and waits with the stranded family

until the tow truck arrives,

hope is alive and well,

dancing all around us

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

awesome sauce

“Come and see what God has done:
    he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.” Psalm 66:5

in the teenager who rakes

the older neighbor’s lawn

while they are away;

in the little child

who hands a flower

to the refugee classmate;

in the stranger who

walks into a store

and pays off all the

Christmas layaways;

we discover that sometimes

awesomeness

comes in unexpected

moments

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

gateless

^“Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.”  Revelation 21:25

you take the gates

that could have been

slammed shut and,

setting them on sawhorses,

make your Table of grace

and inclusion large enough

so everyone (and you mean

EVERYONE) can gather

and rejoice in their life together

with you

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

distressing news

“’and they will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.’ And they were greatly distressed.”  Matthew 17:23

distressed?

of course, we’re distressed,

having to spend

so much time trying

to explain (as well as

understand!)

your resurrection rather

than living out this

good news

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

ancient

“And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’” Revelation 21:5a

when

my bones creak louder

than the floorboards at night,

my eyes become so cloudy

i risk losing the words i love so much,

my ears seem to be stuffed

with more and more cotton

in each conversation,

my fingertips, toes, and feet

tingle as i move through the day,

remind me

you are making all things new,

even ancient me

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

drop by drop

“You withdrew all your wrath;
    you turned from your hot anger.”  Psalm 57:3

when your anger was so hot

it even burned your

fingertips, you

tossed it into the deeps

of mercy’s crystal sea

until,

as it cooled into droplets of

grace,

you pulled it out

and sprinkled it upon us

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

mammon

“No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”  Luke 16:13

as we check our portfolios,

count on the raise,

shuffle our funds into

the accounts with

the best interests, we

become more and more

convinced that this is

one of those verses

where you are misquoted,

or at least had words

put into your mouth . . .

Lord, have mercy

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

where?

“The disciples said to him, ‘Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?’”  Matthew 15:33

of course, we
cannot offer hope

to those in despair,

give a drink of peace

to the broken,

welcome all those

who are despised, when

we turn our souls into

saharas of scarcity, and

our hearts into dust bowls

of compassion

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman 

gifting

“Offer right sacrifices,
    and put your trust in the Lord.”  Psalm 4:5

in trust,

we seek justice

for the forgotten,

we share hope

with the grieving,

we pour out compassion

on the broken, all

greater gifts than

what we put in

the offering plates

once a week

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

and yet

“And yet, because your mercy is great,
    you did not forsake or destroy them.
You are a gracious and merciful God!” Nehemiah 9:31

you could hold a grudge,

but gift us grace;

you could stay constantly frustrated,

but choose to remain patient;

you could close your ears,

but always listen to our brokenness;

you could be as hard-headed as we are,

but you melt your heart

and pour it unto us over and over.

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

mouthy

“it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” Matthew 15:11

when we could

offer words that heal,

we break hearts with our anger;

when we could

whisper of peace,

our words became weaponized;

when we could

condemn injustice,

we give shout outs to bullies;

when we could welcome the forgotten,

we tell them to go away

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

sinking

“Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’  Matthew 14:28

if it is you (we proclaim

loud enough so all can hear),

call us to end injustice,

to wipe out poverty,

to offer compassion to all,

to create peace rather than war,

but

when you say, “okay, have at it,”

our knees begin to knock

our feet begin to shuffle,

our hands begin to sweat, and we

sink beneath the waves

of our bravado

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

rowing

“When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.”  Matthew 14:14 

when we could pay off

school lunch debts,

build more homeless shelters

than fancy sports stadiums,

work for environmental integrity

than buying larger carbon shoes,

we prefer to stay in the boat

gently row, row, rowing away

from the shoreline

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

peace

“He grants peace within your borders;”  Pslm 147:14a

you would send caravans

of peacemakers to us, so

we might find comfort and hope

in the Community you are creating,

but we take our fears which mean more

than any thing else to us, and

continue to build walls

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

path

“Happy are those
    who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
    or sit in the seat of scoffers;” Psalm 1:1

when we come to the

threadbare road leading

to the abyss of foolishness,

may we notice the faded,

hand-painted sign to that

uneven path called faith,

lined by bushes filled with grace’s

plump and juicy berries,

trees shading pilgrims with hope,

and fresh pools of cool water

for the thirsty and weary.

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

examen

“These things I remember,
    as I pour out my soul:”  Psalm 42:4a

i remember

the little kid splashing

with abandon in the puddles;

the teenager standing between

the bullies and the trans kid;

the grandmother teaching

other retirees how to whistle,

and i fall asleep, pouring

my soul into your heart

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

echoes

^“Give ear to my words, O Lord;
    give heed to my sighing.”  Psalm 5:1

words are easy to toss

in the direction of your ears,

but

the rumors of

my wandering faith;

the trickles of compassion

that harden in my frozen heart;

the murmurs of anger

i harbor towards others;

the tinkles of discordant hurts

that i cannot turn into lullabies;

i can only hope you hear their echos,

even as i try to silence them.

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

seek ye first

“Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”  Luke 12:31

all of our energy, time,

stress, and faith are spent

in all the wrong places and people,

and so we miss finding

your Community of grace

in the grandparents who still

hold hands after 60 years,

in the little kid who fills a neighbor’s

empty bowl with his own candy

on Halloween, so others won’t

be disappointed, and in

the immigrants who show us

what hope, love, and persistence

look like

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

defuncts’ day

“After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.” Revelation 7:9

i open a book, and

my mother is at my side,

tracing her finger under the words;

i hear a certain song

and that college custodian

has picked up a friend’s guitar

and plays ‘Wildwood Flower;”

i see a group of folks

standing up for the voiceless,

the forgotten, the demeaned,

and there is Robert in their midst;

out of the corner of my eye,

just out of reach of my hand,

whispering to my parched soul

when i most need a drink of hope:

that multitude of souls

who are still with me

even now, ever now

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman

all saints

“Open the gates,

    so that the righteous nation that keeps faith
    may enter in.”  Isaiah 26:2

as you open

the gates to

your community, we find

the expected ones

waiting to enter, but

you hold up your hand

so

the broken and the bedraggled,

the grieving and the gobsmacked,

the forgotten and the foolish,

the weary and the wiseacres

may go in first

© 2019 Thom M. Shuman