Month: June 2012

…and he said to him, “follow me”: a Litany

On By robertalanrifeIn Christian spirituality, Christianity, faith, life together, liturgy, sacramental living, spiritual formation, worship4 Comments

This litany grew out of a class I took as part of my master’s program….

 

How good it is whenever we leave all false agendas, desires, plans, schemes, thoughts – selves behind and obediently follow the Master without hesitation.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good to imagine a world where those without hope are given hope because the community of Jesus follow the leading of their Master and Teacher and bring this hope in all they say and do.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good, to host the Presence keeping company with sinners, tax collectors, lepers and the outcasts of society.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good to ever have ears to hear the voice of Jesus calling to us, urging us to follow him wherever he goes participating with him in bringing the new wine of God’s kingdom to light around us.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good to live before God every moment with godly sorrow for our sin, fully embracing our many and varied brokenness in honesty and authenticity.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good to celebrate with all whose repentance brings new life and an accompanying deep life change even when such celebration causes raised eyebrows.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good never to allow ourselves to succumb to religious peer pressure that traps one in the smothering flames of imposed, ungodly parameters of faith life and thereby lessen the gospel message in compliance with it.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good never to succumb to the same judgmental spirit which produces and perpetuates religious peer pressure. “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good to taste the old, complexly rich and fragrant wine of our forebears while working in the vineyard alongside our Master Winemaker.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good, to “stand in the place where you work” looking left and right to find those of ill repute and the despised with whom to drink new wine.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good to stand in the place where others are, be the voice of Jesus calling to them, saying “follow me” and teach them how to catch others in the net of grace.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good to be those who hold the redemptive instruments of grace at the bedsides of the broken together with our great Physician.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good to bring encouragement to all whose “bridegroom” has been taken from them either by sickness, death or malfeasance.

…and he said to him, “Follow me.”

How good…

How good, indeed.

Praise be to the Lord of all lepers, losers, limpers and lovers!

…and he says to us, “Follow me.”

Shine

On By robertalanrifeIn Prayers & Liturgy, Waxing PoeticLeave a comment

I’ve shared previously of my love for Christine Valters-Paintner’s wonderful website “Abbey of the Arts”: http://abbeyofthearts.com/

This poem represents my contribution to her latest Poetry Party. Come, join in the fun!


Shine, like the brightness of one’s forehead

Where things thought become things seen.

 

Shine, like the eyes of a child

Newly opened to a world of worlds.

 

Shine, like rays of heat

From the sidewalk of our common contentments.

 

Shine out like shook foil

As Hopkins reminds us.

 

Shine, like our righteousness at noonday

As the prophet reminds us.

 

Shine, where all else

Has refused such invitation.

 

Shine, until to shine

Is all that is either possible or necessary.

 

Shine, as the one before us

Shines.

On By robertalanrifeIn Words...always words2 Comments

Although really a prayer it is done in poetic fashion, not unlike the Psalms…just lesser.

robertalanrife's avatarinnerwoven

Lord, a heart lies in anguish’d ruins,

haunt of those whose boots are stuffed full

of the detritus found only on lonely hillsides

and mucky marshes.

 

There is no comfort in comfort;

comfort itself is a mockery, a shadow.

My soul is o’er grown with the sadness of sin,

untimely and magnetic North to this sorry South.

 

Finding is, to me, just another losing

of what was never found, nor seen;

the secondary reality of a desert’s shimmering heat

rising above an already parched, dead land.

 

Beasts of memory and regret feed

on the bowels of my discontent,

and I am emptied, disavowed of what might

otherwise provide hints of hope, of life.

 

The heartsickness of a harrowed soul

is its own reward to the one who is lost;

wretched reminder of yesterday’s loss by

the infected, troubled mind.

 

Is there to be yet a…

View original post 138 more words

a contemporary psalm of lament

On By robertalanrifeIn Christian spirituality, Christianity, faith, spiritual formation2 Comments

Lord, a heart lies in anguish’d ruins,

haunt of those whose boots are stuffed full

of the detritus found only on lonely hillsides

and mucky marshes.

 

There is no comfort in comfort;

comfort itself is a mockery, a shadow.

My soul is o’er grown with the sadness of sin,

untimely and magnetic North to this sorry South.

 

Finding is, to me, just another losing

of what was never found, nor seen;

the secondary reality of a desert’s shimmering heat

rising above an already parched, dead land.

 

Beasts of memory and regret feed

on the bowels of my discontent,

and I am emptied, disavowed of what might

otherwise provide hints of hope, of life.

 

The heartsickness of a harrowed soul

is its own reward to the one who is lost;

wretched reminder of yesterday’s loss by

the infected, troubled mind.

 

Is there to be yet a darker dark

in this once proud cave,

suspended from the slippery ceiling

of this crowded, empty space?

 

How long?

How long, O hidden one,

must I only think I see what troubled images

broken mirrors bring of half a man?

 

Does your heart still break for the broken and breaking brood

of souls, unwhole, and garden walls, both shattered and unsure?

Do your light and lilting footsteps no longer fall

upon once green grasses; once ripe gardens?

 

I can’t remember your name.

Do you remember mine?

If this be my last will and testament,

so be it, if only others may not find me thus.

 

If your face be turned away,

may it be for the sake of a clearing breath,

a yearning sigh, a readying glance,

that in returning…

 

sees me again.

Haiku prayers

On By robertalanrifeIn Prayers & Liturgy, Waxing PoeticLeave a comment

The contemplative, Japanese poetic form of Haiku is one of many ways to seek inner solitude by way of simple, syllabic word constructions. They were designed to be composed and penned quickly, easily and deeply and then…tossed away like brittle leaves in an autumn breeze. There, they are caught by other breezes and float upward to God. The 5,7, 5 pattern is quite enjoyable and easy to learn. Try it and share some of your own.


I’m here to listen

To the beating heart of God

And hear the silence

 

Perfect in beauty

Shrouded in the mists of heav’n

You reign, exalted

 

Never ending one

See what no one else can see

Come, sweet intrusion

 

Come, save me, O God

Release me from my prison

That I might praise you

 

When separation

Comes to lonely, seeking souls

You share our longing

 

How can I untie

What knots of sin lie beneath-

That you, alone, see?

 

Guide with compassion,

Lead un-wholly hearts to cry

And, finally, see

 

Can you see them now

In suff’ring, never-ending?

Great One, release them

 

Never have I seen

The shining face of our God

So full of yearning

God is there – a litany

On By robertalanrifeIn Christianity, faith, life together, liturgy, sacramental living, worship2 Comments

As a contemporary liturgist for some years now it has been my job to help congregations experience their God and express their spiritual journey in corporate worship. Sometimes that has meant developing new ways of saying old things. The following is a short litany I’ve used on many occasions, sometimes as an aid to prayer, sometimes as a call to worship, other times simply for common reflection on the nearness of God. I pray that it is inspiring, or, at least…useful in some way.


When day moves into night and the seasons each stake their four quarter claim,

God is there.

When sadness, death and pain becoming the defining characteristics of our path,

God is there.

When God puts a new song in our mouth, a song of praise to our God,

God is there.

When words no longer come and shutters are drawn on lonely minds,

God is there.

When youthfulness reigns in life and limb and lingers in our days,

God is there.

When communities succumb to individualism and self-talk,

God is there.

When the common grace given us all finds voice among us and I  becomes we,

God is there.

Through all our days, our joys, our pain, our defeats, our triumphs, our lives,

God is there. 

 

God is here.

Poets who inspire

On By robertalanrifeIn Waxing PoeticLeave a comment

I love finding other poets, poets who inspire and create pictures both wild and beautiful of the cosmos. This girl is one of those…

http://melodylowes.com/2012/06/12/the-wind-is-a-restless-soul-tonight/

On By robertalanrifeIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I love finding other poets, poets who inspire and create pictures of the wild and beautiful cosmos. This girl is one of those…

melodylowes's avatarMeanwhile, Melody Muses...

The wind is a restless soul tonight;

It rattles and shrieks in the tormented trees.

It teases the lamppost and makes her cry;

It chases the tail of the frantic breeze.

The panes and the lintels and frames are rattled;

They answer with sundry creaks and groans.

Shingles have all of their feelings flustered;

They vent their frustration in muffled moans.

Grasses and greenery join in the dance;

Cavorting and sighing, with frenzied wave,

They add to the motioned contortion; they prance,

And, all up in arms, with countenance grave

They heave, and they protest to bowing so low;

Creatures on edge, with tails fluffed on end

Slink around corners and sulk in moon’s glow,

Alarmed at the way in which all the world bends.

The wind is a restless soul tonight.

It enters my bedroom, infecting my rest;

My soul wanders with it, and, sensing its flight,

Allows it…

View original post 5 more words

possibilities…

On By robertalanrifeIn Life of Rob, Waxing PoeticLeave a comment

It was 4:00 am and, at the tail end of a recording project, I was desperate for a title track. I had already named the CD, “be that as it may.” Whimsical? Yes. Obtuse? Perhaps. But it was exactly the title that had reverberated in my head for months. That was what it was to be. However, I only had one more day of recording left both on the clock and on the dollar. I was frantic.

Then, a “chance” look across the table of my producer’s kitchen helicoptered my eyes to a picture. It was an image that would provide the muse from which the title song was about to come…in the space of 20 minutes. A solitary figure of a girl, not quite a woman. A girl longing for womanhood. She looks pensively, a little fearfully, into an attic mirror  afraid of what she might see; of what she might not see. She is a girl yearning for something else, something yet to come, just like she whose mirror it was in front of which she now sat might have thought years before.

The print spoke more than I could possibly write. It haunts me to this day. The following is the lyric from the song she inspired (and is downloadable on iTunes, by way of shameless plug).

be that as it may

Words & Music by Robert Rife

©10/16/98

Like roses hung from cellar walls,

Hints of words unspoken fall –

Suggestions of the fragrant fall,

Be that as it may.

When she’s sure there’s no one there

A young girl in a mirror stares

Welcomed in the arms of grandma’s rocking chair –

Be that as it may.

 

Be that as it may

Don’t let it be that we would stay

In waters of a winter’s day,

In the warmth of heaven’s glow we’ll say –

Be that as it may.

 

Hand to face, the touch of love

In bashful eyes, the look of love;

Gives to aching hearts a gentle shove,

Be that as it may.

 

Hiding in their living room

The fire’s warm but ends too soon;

At least it leaves two hearts in a swoon,

Be that as it may.

 

Be that as it may

Don’t let it be that we would stay

In waters of a winter’s day,

In the warmth of heaven’s glow we’ll say –

Be that as it may.

 

Life is like a cul-de-sac

We think we’ve grown, we’ve just come back

To where we were but with a few more facts,

Be that as it may.

 

Be that as it may

Don’t let it be that we would stay

In waters of a winter’s day,

In the warmth of heaven’s glow we’ll say –

Be that as it may.

Be that as it may.

Be that as it may…

Triangle Poems III

On By robertalanrifeIn Waxing PoeticLeave a comment

I can’t seem to shake this triangle poem infatuation. They’re impossibly fun. This is installment three…

Fiddle Faddle

Crunchy bits stuck between teeth,

my jaws ache from chewing,

The bowl sits empty

and I am sad.

How I wish

I’d saved

some.

Cowgirl Stomp

Boots at the ready to dance

and jeans too tight to move;

hair so big it leans

but legs so long

and nimble –

dancing

still.

First Love

When first this heart was stolen

from its haven of dark;

began a journey.

Latent this love

came wanting,

warm and

still.

First Love Lost

When first a mind is stolen,

then starts a tale of blind

and foolish dullards;

bent on seeing

things that may

once more,

nudge.

Highland Women

Lain atop these grizzled breasts

are shoulders built of steal

with muttoned buttocks

and ham-like calves;

envy of

highland

men.