The 60-Second Sabbath

The Eternally Wounded Christ

The risen Christ
    remains a wounded Christ,
emerging from the tomb
    as something other--
not a human as we know humans--
    able to appear/disappear at will,
to walk through closed doors,
    to be hidden even though present,
to be present even though hidden.

But in it all,
    Christ remains wounded,
a gaping gash in his side,
    hands and feet with holes
into which you can stick your fingers,
    a ring of piercings across his forehead and scalp.

This is our reality.
    We'd hoped for a resurrection
that closed the holes,
    healed the gashes,
resulted in a pure, smooth, strong body,
    but this, instead, is what we get--
a wounded, risen Christ.

Why, in my life,
    would I ever expect
to escape my own bleeding brokenness?

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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Abecedarium

Who am I, really?
    Does one ever know?

    ambler
        banterer
    conjurer

        (perhaps)

    dispenser
        embellisher
    forager

        (yes)

    gatherer
        harvester
    interpreter

        (quite likely)

    jabberer
        kick-starter
    lingerer

        (seems so)

    mutterer
        nourisher
    outlier

        (could be)

    pilferer
        quencher
    relinquisher

        (yup)

    slumberer
        trespasser
    unclencher

        (for sure)

    voyager
        wonderer
    xoriflender*

        (indeed)

    yawner
        zip-a-dee-doo-dah-er

        (who knew?)

There, I've done my A B Cs?
    Who, my friend, might you then be?

*Xoriflender: I made this up, and since I made it up, I may define it: xoriflender = one who makes up words.

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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Beatitudes

To find trust,
    I must be willing to trust.

To find love,
    I must be willing to love.

To be held,
    I must be willing to weep.

To be awash in the Light,
    I must be willing to open my eyes.

To find faith,
    I must be willing to surrender.

To soar above,
    I must be willing to leap.

Trust, love, weep,
    open, leap, surrender.

Blessed are they...

 

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
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Here Comes Everybody!

In his book, Finnegan's Wake,
    Irish author James Joyce
describes Christianity this way:

    Here comes everybody!

It would be hard to find
    a more concise, cogent summary
of what we, the Church,
    are truly about:

    Here comes everybody!

Everybody.
    Every single, frickin' body.
All, without exclusion.
    All, without exception.

Bodies of all types and stripes,
    all curves and colors,
all deeds and creeds:

    Here comes everybody!

Here they all come--
    one enormous, triumphant,
motley, sweet-smelling parade:

    Here comes everybody!

Cheek to cheek,
    hand in hand,
heart to heart:

    Here comes everybody!

Dear, dear God,

    Here comes everybody!

    Hallelujah!

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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A Gift to the World

And so,
    heaven packages up
a chubby little boy named Dirk
    and sends him to earth:

        a gift to the world.

He is sent 
    with a simple task:

        make it a better place;
            bring the reign of God.

He keeps trying,
    hoping to leave behind:

        more kindness than cruelty,
            more bridges than barriers,
        more acceptance than anxiety,
            more hope than hard feelings,

        more dignity than damage,
            more affection than affliction,
        more compassion than conflict,
            more inspiration than indifference,

        more light than loneliness,
           more insight than ignorance,
        more surrender than self, 
            more clarity than confusion,

        more Jesus than judgment.

 He takes comfort in knowing
    that in God's great economy of grace,
there are, finally,
    no scales, no weighing in,
no merits, no winners,
    no losers,

just another chubby little boy
    held by love.

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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The Liminal

Are you familiar with the term
    liminal?
It comes from the Latin word
    for threshold.

Liminal spaces are those
    where the boundary
between this world and the next,
    between the physical and spiritual
is particularly thin,
    and one wonders--
appropriately--
    if the boundary may, in fact,
not exist at all.

Liminal spaces
    are sacred spaces

Liminal moments are those
    in which past, present and future
seem to merge,
    when we are--
even if momentarily--
    in touch with something greater,
perhaps sensing and seeing
    the essential oneness of things--
of you and others,
    of God and creation.

Moments when you
    are suddenly aware
of the grandeur of God,
    or the all-embracing love of the Divine,
or the beauty of all other people--
    these are liminal moments.

Liminal moments
    are sacred moments.

Liminal spaces
    and liminal moments
obliterate the divisions
    of "right here" and "over there,"
between the sacred and secular,
    between you and God.

When have you found yourself
    (and hence your soul)
in a liminal space?
    a liminal moment?

And how were you transformed?

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
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On Becoming an Anti-Racist: Part Twenty-One

Racism is both

    a mental illness
        and
    a moral illness.

We are all infected.

To the extent we harbor
    unexamined beliefs about people of color,
    judgments about people of color,
    an unwillingness to listen to people of color,
    the fear of developing relationships with people of color,
    even the slightest feeling of superiority over people of color
we are both

    mentally ill
        and
    morally ill.

But we can be cured:
    mental illness calls for
        therapy/counseling;
    moral illness calls for
        confession,
        a turning toward truth,
        a returning to God.

Both cures are hard,
    but then,
        following Jesus often is--
            relinquishing ego and privilege,
            re-evaluating who we are,
                what we have been taught,
                what changes God calls us to make.

We all can be cured;
    do we crave the cure?

Note: And the same can be said for our beliefs/attitudes about the LGBTQ community, people of other faiths, etc.--and yes, even white folks.

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
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Sacred Space

A friend tells me,
    "In your home,
you need to create
    a sacred space,
a space that you reserve
    for spiritual moments."

And I thought,
    Oh, my dear,
there is no space in our home
    that is not sacred space,
no space without
    its spiritual moments,
for there is no space in our home
    unoccupied by God.

From the kitchen to the bathroom,
    living room to study,
bedroom to laundry room,
    garage to patio--
God is there,
    the ground beneath us is holy,
the space is sacred.

Wherever we are,
    God is:
we are holy people
    living in holy space.

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
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Looking for God? (Again)

Looking for God?

    Go deeper.

    Have courage
        and go deeper,
            turn inward.

    To face your own brokenness
        is to find God.

    To face your own brokenness--
        damage, pain, grief, loneliness, insecurity--
            is to find God.

Recall Jesus' parable
    of the publican and the Pharisee (Luke 18:9-14):

    Who encountered God?

        Was it the Pharisee,
            careful keeper-of-rules,
            upstanding champion of righteousness?

        Or was it the publican,
            welcomer of knee-shaking self-awareness,
            brave embracer of yawning need?

    To face your own brokenness
        is to find God.

    Be courageous,
        go within,
            find God.

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
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Looking for God?

Looking for God?

There is good news:

    God is here and everywhere,
        hidden in this leaf,
            this lamppost,
            the homeless man holding his tattered cardboard sign,
            the soup warming on your stove,
            the laughter of your child,
            your own tears.

    God hidden, here and everywhere.

    God is here and everywhere,
        revealed in this rock,
            this candle,
            the battered wife holding her frightened, confused toddler,
            the pear ripening on your counter,
            the purring of your cat,
            your own fears.

    God revealed, here and everywhere.

Here
    and
        everywhere.

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

Have you ordered your copy of Contemplative Vision: Photography as a Spiritual Practice? 
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