kenotic (Trinity Sunday)

overflowing
   with imagination,
you emptied yourself
and creation sprung up
   in wonder and hope,
   in bewildering beauty
     and meandering mystery;

overflowing
   with grace,
you emptied yourself
and Jesus was born,
   in reconciling brokenness,
   in solidarity with
      the poor and forgotten;

overflowing
   with hope,
you emptied yourself
and the Spirit flows forth,
   walking with us in every moment,
   teaching us the wisdom
      to be your children.

overflowing
   with love,
you empty yourself,
   so there is space
   in your heart for
us.

(c) 2016 Thom M. Shuman

rebirth (Pentecost - C)

  in the soft
   breath of a
   child, waking us
         to see
         the ducklings
     on the pond;
in the hot
   panting of the
   dog, rolling around
        on the grass
        with us,
      teaching the
      joy of play;
in the rushing
   questions which
   throw open the
      shutter of
      our fears, tossing
   around our shadowed
      assumptions;
in the shallow
   rasps of a
   loved one, being
      cradled gently
      in grace's forever,

come, Holy Spirit,
come.

(c) 2016 Thom M. Shuman

end times (Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21)

you will come

not with tight-fisted vengeance,
      but with more than enough
               grace
         for each of us;
not with words of vitriol,
      but with the sweet honey
            of hope;
not with death's dust,
      but with water
      for all parched
            by life;
not to lord it over us,
      but to draw us
      close to your side
            forever;

come!

(c) 2016 Thom M. Shuman