he's guilty/not guilty he stands down/doesn't stand down he loses his position/is moved sideways into another less public but equally prestigious role he is the fall guy for other's moral platforms/he's the wronged hero he loses the election for The Good Guys/he was the last straw that undid a crumbling artifice he faces the media with self-defence/issues an apology and confession of (past)misconduct he is disgraced in the media/he is exonerated by an inquiry he he he he he he he. what does it matter? She is dead and voiceless. click click click click camera shutters click click click click emoji what are you interested in him in his power even better if he's guilty - a testimony to his power! because even when it outrages us, we like to know and explore the feeling of his power indulgently, vicariously even his wicked or naive or raw or young or awkward power but we hate we hate to feel even a small capillary of her of her vulnerability of her nothingness we do not want to hear or see oh and especially not to feel oh don't let us feel her story what it was like to be her we cover our ears and eyes and turn out attention back to him the vendetta keeps him centre stage the man's place the good man the bad man we don't care so long as it's the man

attention: man
March 4, 2021
womenleaders
February 17, 2021
by day steady calm solid step strong negotiator strategic solutions smiling face sophia's feast for all who waver and hunger against those who weaken justice and hanker for power with those who wound her and wonder where are the women? behind the scenes under the radar on top of the situation miles ahead of you, mate. * by night the tissue box is empty and the swear jar is full

Mercy
December 31, 2020#adventword11

those ancient people took up lavish and detailed instructions for a bespoke genre of furniture - a kind not found in ikea labyrinths - - a kind that would survive many moves - 'liturgical furnishings, fittings and finishings' bowl, lampstand, altar, ark and seating mercy chair what a thing! oh it is what i need for my weary wickedness that i might not just sip mercy from a cup no that is not enough I need a long sit down in mercy i have stood so long in the dock before relentless prosecutors with files many pages of my wrongs and completely correct i have laid so long humiliated supplicant at the feet of harsh judges keep all your Billy™ bookcases filled with justifications and arguments and explanations is there a word of mercy? oh let that word be this: take a seat sit sit here in mercy the chair of mercy * here may i learn what the Lord requires of me: to Love mercy.

Patient
December 15, 2020#adventword10

they say Love is Patient they say God is not slow in keeping his promises, only that God is patient they say patience is a fruit of the Spirit I guess if i were the Lord of all eternity, before and beyond time boundaries I could be patient too and hold out grace and wait for as long as it takes for a change of heart for a turn around but i am human and my heart keeps time 53 beats to the minute and the clock ticks even faster than that and i am not endlessly patient my wick burns down and out my eyelids fall heavy my tank runs dry my rope won't stretch out any further my fuse hits the powder i reach my limit i am not patient at least not patient...enough What are you going to do about that? God of eternity? God of all patience? Why don't you come down here and see what it's like when the sun sets when exhaustion extracts its price when three and thirty years are past when the contract is torn up when no answer arrives when bones crumble and skin crinkles and muscle-strength melts and minds muddle and wills wilt and vows void and faith fails and bonds break what then? Come and try on this finite days and hours gig then you can talk to me about being patient talk to me about waiting thirty years for your first miracle show me your friends who leave and deny show me your best stories ignored and the students who walk away with a sad shake of the head talk to me about tolerating those clueless buffoons who think power is cool show me your patient calm silence in the face of wrongful accusation show me waiting cold stone dead for a third day resurrection yes. talk to me about being patient and finite.

Comfort
December 14, 2020#adventword9

"uncomfortable situations that bring uncommon comfort" might as well put that on your business card, God strike speechless the father-priest of the prophet who will prepare the way for the Messiah uncomfortable silence leave a virgin teenager pregnant, growing scandal uncomfortable innuendo dump an expectant couple in town with no where to stay uncomfortable neediness perinatal precarity, animal accompanied contractions, downstairs down and out delivery, uncomfortable? understatement! angels announce the birth of the Saviour giving directions to....a manger? uncomfortable anti-climax question paternity and snigger behind hands even for the grown man in his own home town uncomfortable questions solo visits to the home of single women sisters for ahem, hospitality uncomfortable optics songs of the rich made low and the lifted up when the empire is doing so well uncomfortable politics rip out all our pages and start our story again uncomfortable blank pages and new beginnings how is this dear, curious Cosmos-weaver, you cast so many beautiful threads but we must bear the shift of the heddle we find change uncomfortable yet you bring a strange uncommon comfort the comfort of truth not soothing the comfort of grace not gratuitity the comfort of reality not rationalism the comfort of solidarity not sanctimony the uncomfortable comfort of birth of God and blood of God and body of God

Speak
December 11, 2020#adventword8

this is love that you speak you speak to us and you do not withold your word but you speak speak us into being at dawn speak a call of nomads and nobodies ne'erdowells speak in young soft lipped prophets and old crinkled crones you speak not waiting for us to go first love speaks up love dares speak cannot keep from speaking your speaking, God, you pour forth love in speaking so true so veritable so reliable you speak yourself so clear to us for us your word becomes flesh and lives and stays with us and love speaks love speaks us into being speaks us back into love

Glory
December 7, 2020#adventword7

some say that your glory is magnified by my earthly depravity and some say i was made to bear the image of your heavenly glory I do not know that anything of my small and soiled life can have any bearing on the glory of God but I know that your great life - God made small in tiny wordless flesh soiled - has infinite bearing on me and the soil of this earth you bear your glory upon us grace-full truth-full a fullness it's hard to bear like the eye cannot quite bear the sun and we must look down, again to the earth where your glory also is born.

Fellowship
December 6, 2020
adventword#6
Fellowship: their cosy folksy word for patriarchy also known as jobs for the boys fellowship fellow ship fellows - you know who you are you know how you are though you will silence us if we dare say there's another word tucked away, no strewn everywhere in the ancient christians writings koinonia it means sharing, participating in the one thing together commonness its a feminine noun and somehow on the stormy passage from lip to scribe to scroll to scrap to community to house to house to house to hearing to living to considering to leader to bishop to politics to empire to conflict to canon to closure to copyist to translation to tradition to trajectory greek to english this word of commonality shared life; participating together became fellowship. a bond and brotherhood among fellows (the ladies will put on a nice spread) So God...if you're coming amongst us please do something about this please would you come as a commoner share in our common life? would you arrive through a woman? would you call women friends? would you not establish yourself as a player in the patriarchy perhaps you might not own property or leave an heir to carry on your name or promise positions on your left and right not another fellowship please this time God. Please bring this longed for shared life, participating together in common in community

Rebuild
December 5, 2020#adventword5

it takes it takes time it takes will it takes being prepared to demolish the last sorry parts of what was of broken walls that held space that promised shelter of roof caved in of clearing the rubble that remembers David (rape and murder) Solomon (vanity and excess) our best men reputation and respect poetry and philosophy psalms and proverbs faith and wisdom that failed broken palace courts ruined temple altars cleared but who will we rebuild our lives our faith with? who offers help will we partner with Nehemiah Persia's Puppet with Herod Hack of Rome? or will we wait for the sower's smallest seed to grow held deep in the cracks in the stump of Jesse a ninth younger than the youngest the One bringing βασιλεια unruly as mustard

Earth
December 3, 2020#adventword4

maker of heaven and earth came to earth we need you but not just to walk upon the earth we need you God-earthmaker deep beneath sedimentary surfaces under the loam that births past the metamorphic rocks where change and stability hold one another cheek to cheek below the igneous formations of heat and movement now long past deeper through magmatic core in the molten mobile earth we need your presence in the hot heart of earth which blazes still with ancient energies long robes have prayed Veni Sancte Spiritus Et renovabis faciem terrae. "renew the face of the earth" but also reple tuorum corda fidelium et tui amoris in eis ignem accende "fill the hearts of the faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love" yes God of earth, all earth, through all earth more than cosmetics more than a makeover ancient infant God you are coming to us not down from the heavens above but from out through the earth's warm womb and if we are silent the rocks will cry out in their birth eruptions of agony and ecstacy