The sight of Michael after many months

His smile was miles large when he spied me

and I loved him when I saw him

when I hugged him

and pressed upon his cheek

And he kept smiling when I left

when I asked him to greet her

his Max with whom he dwells

for he smiled as if I meant something to him

something I can't elucidate

except within the smile that knew 

we meant something to each other

if only at this moment for a moment

for tomorrow may bring another tale

It is today that counts 

and smiles bear the proof

*Thoughts of Gregory Wolfe:

-Conservative Christianity does not have a monopoly on sentimentality.  There are myriads forms of it out there.

-The great theologian, Cardinal Henri de Lubac, once wrote: "There is nothing more demanding than the taste for mediocrity.  Beneath its ever  moderate appearance there is nothing more intemperate; nothing surer in its instinct; nothing more pitiless in its refusals.  It suffers no greatness, shows beauty no mercy."

-Perhaps, at its best, sentimentality strives for something approximating the theological virtues of hope and love.  But in refusing to see the world as it is, sentimentality reduces hope to nostalgia.  And in seeking to escape ambiguity and the consequences of the Fall, it denies the heart of love, which is compassion.  Unless compassion means the act of suffering with the other in their otherness, it becomes meaningless.  Well-intentioned as the purveyors and consumers of sentiment may be, they still want the luxury of an emotion without having to pay the price for it. 

*So I Say GOODBYE

                                                                            Nov 20

I'm going in2 this not knowing what I'll find

but I've decided 2 follow my heart and abandon my mind

and if there be pain I know that at least I gave my all

and its better 2 have loved and lost than 2 not love at all

In the morning I may wake 2 smile or maybe 2 cry

but first 2 those of my past I must say good bye

-Tupac Shakur

From this fanfare of joy

rising from the rich o'er the poor

the strong o'er the weak

will come a roar of praise

the underlings alone can mouth

a day of renewing acclamations

of huggings and embrace

when the down'll be up

and the high-flung thrown into doubts

wond'ring "How could this be

when all my labors were for You

although they suffered for love of You

when all my claims were for staking You

for giving You reign o'er the terrorists of earth

o'er the realm of the Fiend;

How could this be?"

Ah, praise there'll be

that heav'n will ne'er tire to hear

cause all the rich and the strong

the grand upon the earth

will be drawn into the arms

of the victims of their might

of their pains to rid the land

of the dregs of Adam's sin

The Sin will have been them

brought through the Gate

by the forgiveness of the pained

and the love of the Lamb

*Thoughts of Gregory Wolfe:

-When we are too tender about something we can easily become too violent in seeking to defend or preserve it.

-The essence of Kinkade's sentimentality is the packaging of nostalgia.  It's an oxymoronic idea, but it has become a major part of our cultural life, as Florence King has noted: "True nostalgia is an ephemeral composition of disjointed memories...but American-style nostalgia is about as ephemeral as copyrighted deja vu."

-The majority of his expressions of faith are fairly conventional, solidly within the evangelical mold, but his theological defense of the world depicted in his paintings is that "I like to portray a world without the Fall."

-...Christ's message was not to pretend the world isn't fallen but to take up our crosses and follow him through suffering and sacrifice.  To create a body of work illustrating a world without the Fall is, for a Christian, to render Christ superfluous.

-...Jesus took every opportunity he could to counter sentimentality.

*NIGHTMARES

                                                                                      Dedicated to those curious

I pour my heart in2 this oem

and look 4 the meaning of Life

the rich and powerful always prevail

and the less fortunate strive through strife

MISTAKES R MADE 2 be 4given

we R 2 young 2 stress and suffer

The path of purity and positivity

has always ridden rougher

Your insatiable desire 2 find perfection

Has made your faults magnify

curiosity can take Blame

For the evil that makes u cry

It isn't a good feeling when u disobey your heart

The nightmares haunt your Soul and your nerves R

ripped apart

-Tupac Shakur

What is it I'm searching for?

Is it You

or me

or both at one time?

What do I hope to find in figures

in flesh

in the myriad images copying each other?

I'm not sure.

Blindly I scour to find You

or me

or both at one time

the same.

But how can this be

that at the one and the same 

are we?

Is there a bond of blood that binds us bound?

Some pretend that people don't search

pick through alleys or garbage to find

some treasure tossed

some faint remembrance of a foggy past

some fabric of life worn thin

neath clothes of splendor

smelling of the sourness of shit

the stench of human failings

that ev'ry human smears upon itself

even neath other-worldly wear

cloaking the body 

though leading the parade. 

"O Lord!", they shout

cursing all the failed ones of love

en-helling them

with attempts at riddance

howe're they must

and bring about 

the unveiling of their designs

to be gods above the devils

seven times more

the children of hell than they.

Now I know what I search

and who.

It's You in some way

and I

always

that hidden, smothered self in muck

that sad and shameful me

standing naked before the Sun

undisguised and taking heat

for the sins I've homed

and the hope I've sown

assured that one-day

Truth will set me free

even if from prison I gaze

upon scars etched while falling.

I've found Life

and am breathing free.

George said

nothing is coincidence:

neither pain nor hurt

nor greeting nor move

nor ev'ry movement of sin

nor grace flying behind you

It's no coincidence

but God in mys'try

behind each event:

there to hold and love

forgive and push ahead

to wherever God's pushing

for the good of each

and each one's freedom

and each one's saving

including one's own

however that happens

including against one's will

*Thoughts of Gregory Wolfe:

-The Zen scholar R.H. Blyth once noted: "We are being sentimental when we give to a thing more tenderness than God gives to it."

-...Oscar Wilde hits closer to the mark: "a sentimentalist is one who desires to have the luxury of an emotion without paying for it."

-When we are too tender about something, we can easily become too violent in seeking to defend or preserve it.

*There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.

-Aristotle