Category Archives: Poems

The Water’s Fine… Really?

Posted on by Rev. Eric Anderson
Breaking waves on a black rocky beach.
Breaking waves in Pohoiki, January 2019.

I see you waving, Jesus.
I see that mischievous grin.
I see those clenching teeth
behind the dancing laughter.

“Come in!” you cry.
“The water’s fine!”

Uh, huh.

I know that water’s cold.

A poem/prayer based on Luke 3:15-17, 21-22, the Revised Common Lectionary Psalm reading for Year C, 1st Sunday after the Epiphany, the Baptism of Jesus.

The image is the beach at Pohoiki, on the island of Hawai’i. The beach formed from black sand created by the 2018 Puna eruption as hot lava entered the sea. Ocean currents deposited the material here. Photo by Eric Anderson.

I Could Use a Star

Posted on by Rev. Eric Anderson

Twinkle, twinkle…
Where’s my star, O God?
Where the heavenly beacon
guiding me across my unmapped life
to wonders and to glories?
Where, in all Your heavenly wonder,
is my star?

And perhaps God replies:

Look up, my child.
Look within. You can perceive it.
Seek and find.
My star for you has led you
to this place and time.
It has led you over sea and mountain.
Look, my child. Where your footsteps
run, that is where I led you.

And I reply:

Twinkle, twinkle…
Have I truly followed
this ephemeral guiding star
of Yours? Do not my footprints
wander more than stride?
And where, in all Your wonder,
is the Christ to worship?

And perhaps God laughs:

You wandered? Does that mean
you did not follow the guiding star?
The magi, after all,
first went to the wrong city.
Yet truly you, as they,
seek first awry. For you will find
the Christ is always with you:
always with you in your heart.

A poem/prayer based on Matthew 2:1-12, the Revised Common Lectionary Psalm reading for Year C, Epiphany.

The image is the Bethlehem Star that has adorned Church of the Holy Cross during the Advent and Christmas seasons for many years. Photo by Eric Anderson.

The Proud

Posted on by Rev. Eric Anderson

IMG_3925 (1)I confess uncertainty, O God,
in coming to you with this ancient prayer
of Mary’s, scattering the proud.

I look upon this world and see
a glaring need for scattering the proud.
Perhaps a table turned or two.

Yes, scatter all the proud, O God,
as Mary saw, unless: one of
the proud you’d scatter would be me.

A poem/prayer based on Luke 1:45b-55, the Revised Common Lectionary Psalm reading for Year C, Advent 4.

The image is “Saint Jean Baptiste prêchant devant Hérode Antipas” by Pieter de Grebber.

Any More

Posted on by Rev. Eric Anderson

JohnPreaching_Musee_de_Lille_P._F._de_Grebber

“Brood of vipers”? Now isn’t that a little harsh?
I only bite a little, and I hardly bark at all…
any more.

What shall I do to demonstrate
that I will neither bark nor bite
any more?

Give from my abundance? Sure,
I’ll give the coat away I don’t use
any more.

Don’t overcharge my creditors?
That’s easy! I don’t even bill my clients
any more.

Don’t line my pockets by abusing
my position? Easily done! So John, got
any more?

No? No more? You’re pretty gracious
for a prophet. I won’t fret about vipers
any more.

Now, Jesus, with his softer words,
he’d ask more. He’d say I’d know no safety
any more.

He’d say to leave my family, all
familiar things, and have no home
any more.

I guess that I won’t call you stern
and terrible, sweet Baptist,
any more.

Ah, John. We are alike, we two. We chose
to follow Jesus, and we are not the same
any more.

A poem/prayer based on Luke 3:7-18, the Revised Common Lectionary Gospel reading for Year C, Advent 3.

The image is “Saint Jean Baptiste prêchant devant Hérode Antipas” by Pieter de Grebber.

The Way of Peace

Posted on by Rev. Eric Anderson

IMG_4846What do I know
of a “way of peace,”
O God? I know
of competition,
games and grades,
measuring my salary
(comparing it with others’).

I know who wins.
I know who loses.

What do I know
of a “way of peace,”
O God? I know
of violence and power,
stern coercion,
strict adjudication
of all faults and crimes.

I know who wins.
I know who loses.

What do I know
of a “way of peace,”
O God? I know
poverty and wealth,
health and illness,
racism and sexism,
tear gas on the border.

I know who wins.
I know who loses.

What do I know
of a “way of peace,”
O God? I know
these many ways
of strife, and grief,
and harm, and death.
And one thing more, perhaps:

If everybody wins,
If not one person loses…

That is the way of peace.

A poem/prayer based on Luke 1:68-79, the Revised Common Lectionary Gospel reading for Year C, Advent 2.

Photo of a Hilo sunrise by Eric Anderson

Besieged

Posted on by Rev. Eric Anderson

IMG_4831

O would I have the courage, Holy One,
arrested and confined by order of
a king whose patience I have tried again,
again, again; awaiting Babylon’s
revenge against this king I criticize;
now scorned by the religious leadership
who prate of Your assured deliverance
when I have thundered of your certain wrath —

O would I have the courage, Holy One,
to do as Jeremiah, change my tune,
and speak of righteous branches ripening
beyond my straining sight, to speak of hope
while watching the fulfillment of my words
in armies, soldiers, fire, blood, and death.
O would I have the courage, Holy One,
to testify to hope within the gloom?

A poem/prayer based on Jeremiah 33:14-16, the Revised Common Lectionary Hebrew Bible reading for Year C, Advent 1.

Photo by Eric Anderson

What is Truth?

Posted on by Rev. Eric Anderson

DSC_0238If You should say,
“I come to testify
and tell you what is true,”

And were I to say
just, “What is truth?”
and walk away,

I would know
nothing more of truth
than I had before.

So why, O Lord
of truth, do I do
exactly that?

A poem/prayer based on John 18:33-38a, the Revised Common Lectionary Gospel reading (though it actually stops at verse 37) for Year B, Reign of Christ Sunday.

Photo by Eric Anderson