From the civil rights movement to nuclear disarmament, WS Coffin' s voice encouraged active Christians everywhere.
The school displays creative art talent during convocation next week, so I submitted some poems. Here they be. Following is the reflection I submitted for each piece.
Who sees that I AM?
Eyes watching, hearts loving
seeing only fragments of my whole being,
occasionally glimpsing the light of I AM,
the glue between the bits, like a glowing,
living and viscous medium holding me together.
Yet who or what can see through the web of talents,
strands of traits, and jagged pieces of flaws
to the single thread that is who I AM?
Psalm 94:16-19
Your love for us overwhelms me at times, O God.
Steadfast and enduring,
as enduring as a river through a canyon.
You slowly chip away the hardness in our hearts,
sanding down the hard edges of our personalities,
until only your love remains—
a flowing light, bursting out of our souls
and radiating off our skin.
And all this begins with a reminder
of your steadfast love.
Mother Earth
I knew I loved her at a young age.
She held me as a baby swimming under water,
reveling in the womblike comfort I had almost forgotten.
She caught me as a child when I fell from the sky,
learning the hard way that even I had limits.
She led me to fantastical worlds and places of peaceful solitude,
away from a reality of chaos and discord.
She sat with me in the
sunsets of sorrows
and sunrises of serenity.
Her caresses dried my tears
and held me through despair.
The very sight of her brings me joy beyond measure.
Returning to her is coming home.
Who sees that I AM?--September 2004--Responding not only to the description of God as pure being, I’m also reflecting on what is inside me that is the incarnation of the transcendent and immanent. Transcendent because it is eternal, invisible, and easy to forget that it exists. Immanent because we are always surrounded by that which we cannot see, can barely imagine. It is what sustains life, sustains the very fabric of the universe.
Psalm 94:16-19--August 2003--Just before I entered seminary, I attended one last monastic retreat at the Mount St. Scholastica Benedictine monastery in Kansas, where I had been receiving spiritual direction for 2 years. Lectio divina, in private and in groups, is one of the practices I learned there. Upon reflecting on these 3 verses in such a manner, this prayer of thanksgiving emerged. As seen in this poem, even before taking Professor McCann’s classes, the Hebrew word hesed (steadfast love) was at the core of my experience of God.
Mother Earth--September 2004--Most people who have been around me long enough begin to realize how deeply rooted my faith is to my relationship with nature. To me, nature is not just a gift from God, it is part of God’s manifestation, incarnational presence, here on earth. The companionship, nurturing, and solace I find surrounded by the very essence of the Creator is breath-taking, intense, and everlasting. For me, Mother imagery of God resonates better with this experience and I express that here.
(please ask me first before using any of my poems... or any other writing, for that matter.)
