Lord,
prepare my ears to hear the suffering
shield my heart to not take on that pain
warm my soul toward genuine empathy
enliven my mind to interpret and translate
and sharpen my tongue to speak the wisdom
of Your Holy Spirit
Amen.
Triune God
‘Nature Poem’ by Tommy Pico Review
www.goodreads.com/book/show/32311036
“NDN teens have the highest rate of suicide of any population group in America. A white man can massacre 9 black ppl in a church and be fed Burger King by the cops afterward. A presidential candidate gains a platform by saying Mexican immigrants are murdered and rapists
It’s hard for me to imagine curiosity [in America] as anything more than a pretext for colonialism” (Tommy Pico, ‘Nature Poem,’ 40).
“Look, I’m sure you really do just want to wear those dream catcher earrings. They’re beautiful. I’m sure you don’t mean any harm, I’m sure you don’t really think abt us at all. I’m sure you don’t understand the concept of off-limits. But what if by not wearing a headdress in yr music video or changing yr damn mascot and perhaps adding .05% of personal annoyance to yr life for the twenty minutes it lasts, the 103 young ppl who tried to kill themselves on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation over the past four months wanted to live 50% more” (Tommy Pico, ‘Nature Poem,’ 56).
Tommy Pico’s ‘IRL’
www.goodreads.com/book/show/30968235
“I recoil
at we. Now we
know; We feel love
when; We believed
the Earth was flat
until; We stir with
heavy feeling bc…
I wipe my muddy feet
on the loveseat of We
unless I’m talking
about you and me.
Kumeyaays knew
a rounded Earth based
on the curve of stars
or didn’t, I’ll never know.
It’s a dark part inside me.
Books are fallible, towers
of letters with the power
you give them. It’s heartbreaking
to watch your pillars fall
Watch the crops dry up
and die House set on fire Forced
to dig up yr dead To. Literally.
Dig. Up. The. Old. Graveyard.
n move w/them onto a stone hill
where nothing that grows
can live. Penned in like cattle.
Approaching scientism,
universalism, a supremacy
of any given thought
process—strikes me A
hammer of dark spots. America
never intended for me to live
So that we never intended
to include me”
(Tommy Pico, ‘IRL,’ 70).
Poem in Geez Magazine’s 2021 Advent Devotion
I’m thrilled to share that my poem was included in Geez Magazine’s 2021 Advent book: ‘Songs for the Shadows: A Season of Embracing the Dark.’
If you don’t have a plan for advent devotions already, I highly recommend snagging yourself a copy today: https://geezmagazine.org/blogs/entry/songs-for-the-shadows
My poem is called ‘The Spirit Finds Me in the Darkness’ and is a re-imagining of Psalm 23.
‘Homeland Elegies’ Book Response
www.goodreads.com/book/show/50358133
I especially appreciated Akhtar’s clear explanation of how ‘Economy’ is our National god in the United States. All people, no matter their religion, bow down in deference to Economy before their gods.
Review of ‘Who was Jesus and What does it Matter’ by Dr. Nancy Bedford
www.goodreads.com/review/show/4236110185
This short book from Dr. Nancy Bedford packs a vital theological punch. It poses the question ‘Who was Jesus’ and ‘What does it mean to follow him’ in an attempt to redirect the Church back toward the centrality of Christ, the gospel message, and what it means to be the Body of Christ. Without the centralization of Christ and what it means to tangibly follow Christ, the Church has lost its way. This text is a clarion call for our times with tangible steps for redirecting ourselves and our communities toward Christ.
Dr. Bedford provides 6 entry points into the two posed questions:
1. Who is Jesus of Nazareth and what does it mean to follow him?
2. Who is Jesus ‘the Incarnate One’ and what does it mean to follow him?
3. Who is Jesus as Prophet, Teacher, and Healer? And how to follow him?
4. Who is Jesus ‘the executed one?’ How do we follow him?
5. Who is Jesus resurrected and exalted? How do we follow him?
6. Who is Jesus in the Spirit, and how do we follow them?
This book is written to be accessible to all people and has discussion questions for each chapter. As a result, it is perfect for small groups! I highly recommend.
I’ll end this review with a succinct quote that I believe speaks to the concise clarity, beauty, and conviction of this text:
“If we say we follow Jesus, whenever it seems that the fruit of our discipleship does not lead to justice and peacemaking, it is time to reexamine our lives and those of our communities of faith. We can do so with the help of the Spirit by examining more closely the way Jesus lived (Matthew 7:15-20) and asking ourselves whether we are truly walking in his footsteps” (Dr. Nancy Bedford, ‘Who was Jesus and What Does it Mean to Follow Him,’ 74).
Amen!
Review of ‘The NIV Beautiful Word Bible: Updated Version’
www.goodreads.com/book/show/45734929
First and foremost, I need to clear the air: this is NOT a gendered book. The only place where the editors hint at a particular presentation is when the editor’s note only mentions biblical figures Hannah and Esther. And to that, I say “come on editors, do better. Resist the idolatry of capitalism and gendered marketing, please. It harms all of us who cannot fit your false expectations of hyper masculinity and feminism.” We need to resist the consumer world that says a Bible designed to highlight the beauty of scripture does NOT mean that it should be primarily marketed to girls. Boys MUST learn to see the beauty of scripture, too. If you get this version for a girl, get it for a boy, too. The Bible is for all people, so let’s stop boxing ourselves in with gendered stereotypes. Thank you and I will now step off my soap box.
This Zondervan NIV 2011 updated translation, written in Zondervan NIV typeface, is a WONDERFUL version of the Bible that is highly engaging. First of all, it does what many versions cannot: it meets the needs of visual learners. The editors of this version worked with BibleGateway to find the most searched scriptures and balanced them with scriptures that are lesser known to present 600 scriptures in colorful artistic presentations through the entirety of the Bible! 9 different artists took charge of illuminating the 600 different scriptures. They also did a fantastic job of making the chosen scriptures memorizable so that folks can engage with their Scripture reading for memorization as well.
Each page of the Bible has a couple of inches on the edge with lines for note-taking. Every few pages has this space taken up with the artistic presentation of scripture. These illustrations are gorgeous and reflect the essence of each individual scripture.
The Bible also comes with sticker tabs for each book of the Bible, if you want to have the books of the Bible marked in this way. All this to say, this version of the Bible is meant to be engaged: written on, highlighted, and covered in stickers. Have at it! Mark it up and make it your own!
The Bible also comes with a sturdy box carrying case which is helpful for being mobile. It is also small enough to carry around with you! The cover itself is a gorgeous felt floral pattern with a woody brown felt binding. Visually appealing without being obnoxious.
The back of the Bible has a table for understanding biblical weights and measures in comparison with our modern weights and measures, an index of the 9 scripture artists and which scriptures illustrations they created, and 5 pages of lines for note-taking.
It has been a joy engaging with this visually stimulating and artistic version of the NIV translation Bible and I look forward to utilizing it and learning from it in the months/years to come!
‘Prophet:’
to claim one’s self in
Christ: to imagine God’s King-
-dom into being.
Be Still…God is Our Refuge
God, you call me to
act for justice and mercy.
But teach me stillness.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I like to do. I see following God as action. Faith as a verb. That is true. But what does it also mean to also ‘be still’ in God’s presence? To find stillness in God as my refuge (Psalm 46)?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
God,
I am called to act,
to do:
to advocate
to collaborate
to demand justice
to show mercy
to love profusely.
But what does it mean to be still?
To know that you are my refuge?
To find refuge
and strength
in the stillness
of God’s presence and power:
God’s love.
Lord, hear my prayer.
Amen.
A Pigeon and God’s Presence
I scratch and crawl
through fatal attempts
at prayer perfection;
seeking the right words
and phrases to crack
the code of Divine Engagement.
But then, a glance
out the window –
the vibrant blue sky and
the awkwardly fluttering pigeon –
I found God
looking at me
deeply and desirously
with an audible hearty chuckle.
The pigeon landed on a telephone wire
and shit without shame
sure of its belonging and being.
And I laughed,
deeply and uproarously,
prayer punctuating the giggles
as I felt God’s gentle caress
to not take myself
too seriously.
But to rest in the seriousness of
God’s love and desire
for me; in my
most basic needs and desires,
without shame,
as with the bumbling and shitting pigeon,
God is present with me.
Deacon Grant 