Category: Hope

30 Days in Gennesaret: Day 29 Ship’s Log II/Stranded

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“After they had crossed the lake, they landed at Gennesaret. They brought the boat to shore and climbed out. The people recognized Jesus at once, and they ran throughout the whole area, carrying sick people on mats to wherever they heard he was. Wherever he went—in villages, cities, or the countryside—they brought the sick out to the marketplaces. They begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed.” Mark 6:53-56 NLT *

Ship’s Log II

Left Gennesaret at dawn.

Too many stories to tell.

We just drifted past a lad

walking on water.

Was that the six-year-old?

I am sure it was he.

 

Stranded

Shattered

got here too late—

accustomed to my sanctuary of pain.

Jesus and his disciples have left

the shore – boat outline

receding in the distance

 

“He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might

he increases strength.”

 

There is a question

dropped like a pebble on the sand,

“Who do you say that I am?”

jfig     4/2020

 

**Isaiah 40:29

***Matthew 16:15

Recently, a young man asked me, “You have been a believer in Jesus for a long time. What ‘advice’ would you give to a younger follower like me?”

In your lifetime, Jesus will many times ask you this question, “Who do you say that I am?” This is an invitation…

Be honest with yourself, and with Jesus, when you answer. Life-changing conversation will follow.   jfig

Mark 6:53-56 Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
** ***Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

You can access scripture passages here: https://www.blueletterbible.org/ This is a terrific site from which to access multiple translations, commentaries and concordance info.

Dear Reading Friends: Thank you. It has been so meaningful to have your company on this 30 day journey. One more day… Thank you for reading, for commenting, for pondering and following along. Over the next 30 days, I plan to stop in and see what you are up to. In all things heavenward, Godspeed. jfig

 

30 Days in Gennesaret: Day 26 Resonate

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And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him
and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. Mark 6:54b-55 (ESV)
accident action danger emergency
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Resonate

Today I cried in my car

the radio said

15% of $ raised will pass

person to person,

buckets of silver encouragement

handed down the line

to be poured on the fire of sickness and death.

I could almost hear a spiritual singing out of the slavery

gifts no longer earthbound.

I cried because I know the person at the head of the line

fighting the fire

giving his all

 

Yesterday I cried in my throat

the county food bank picking up slack

of 5 ‘shutdown’ small banks

expanded mobile delivery

no child goes hungry…here

I cried because the effort

blew off the edge of the spreadsheet

shot heavenward

in a silver streak of visioned compassion

 

Last week I cried in my chest

foster parent added one more small wiggly body

to nurture like a fragile sprout

tho will take a while to grow

leaving question marks

what does it cost…

I cried because

I have raised a child – clumsy as it was

it takes more than one has in storage

 

I cried in a puddle in Gennesaret

because the people ran

ran the butcher and the potter

ran the farmer and his daughter

not just for their own

but for all the ones Jesus would own

by the bursting of his heart.

I cried because his heart

burst the confines of sickness

no death here

precursor to the grave

which could not hold him bound

 

Was it respect

with which Christ folded the grave-cloths

dismantling death’s power

but not the grace of having suffered?

Our all is earthbound

but when brought to Jesus – Gennesaret-like

human by human

penny at a time

minute offerings take flight

those ones that feel the coined weight, share the suffering

those ones marked all soar heavenward

toward eternity.

 

jfig     4/2020

 

photo of kid playing with kinetic sand while watching through imac
Photo by Julia M Cameron on Pexels.com
The title, I know…?
Today, listening to stories on the radio, of ways in which people are stepping up to HELP midst Stay Home Save Lives efforts, I just started crying. People are trying so hard both to cope and to care. Giving everything they’ve got to teach at or from home,  to serve frontline or across the lot line, wrestling with questions of safety.
This crying is not new. When our children were younger than they are now, they participated in the Jr Ski to Sea Race, a multi-challenge relay in Bellingham, WA. Every year I watched kids from all over Whatcom county, with varying levels of physical agility to apply, put great heart into this fun, crazy race, I would be moved to silly tears by their all-out effort, their enthusiasm. The same thing happens when I watch a cross-country meet.(I know – some people cry at the movies, I cry at the moving…)
During this reflection series, I have studied different words in the Mark 6:53-56 passage, comparing translations. Often the nouns and verbs change slightly, but this one word ran stayed consistent across multiple translations and then in meaning for more, with the use of the word hurry. When the townspeople recognized Jesus, they went all out, to get their hurting friends and neighbors to Jesus. Perhaps that is why this passage intrigues me so. Jesus gave his all on the cross. He also gives his all here, in Gennesaret, healing each one… The townspeople gave their all, running to bring the sick from among them, running until they had brought them all. Should we let this move us?
On all these occasions, perhaps what moves me to tears, is this giving of one’s heart in compassion toward a person or toward life itself. Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” John 10:10b
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in  and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. Mark 6: 19-21. Perhaps what catches our hearts in our throats when we see the goodness of others giving their all, is the image of Jesus, captured in that moment, in Gennesaret and in the here and now. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
What have you seen Jesus do, or others do with his heart of compassion, that moves you?
Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

30 Days in Gennesaret: Mixed Metaphors Day 23

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RW pic compassion celebration
Compassion Celebration: gleanings

Mixed Metaphors

Isaiah 61 has a plethora of mixed metaphors

sprouts, bridegroom, priests

everyone gets new clothes

as many as touched him

Gennesaret met with

extravagant benevolence

Jesus disembarks

strews healing around

prayers like confetti:

Praise and honor

glory and power*

unfurl the banner

market spice

not just anyone

can unleash such compassion

celebrate

we have a Jesus

who heals

jfig     4/2020

RW pic seahorse fern

 

Healer Jesus, we recognize that there is nothing indiscriminate in your extravagance, but that you invite all—all of us anywhere to receive from the storehouses of your grace and mercy; and in the marketplaces of Gennesaret, your healing. We acknowledge that you came to be about your Father’s business—that business of healing the scourges of sin, raising the dead, and giving LIFE in abundance. Restoring the beauty which you created. We are blessed to call upon your name in hope and longing for your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Help us to do our part; reach up the shallow distance to your threads, come to the table and bring others with us. Today we are flying your flag and singing your praise. Amen

 

You can read the full text of Isaiah 61 here: “Isaiah 61:1 (NIV) – The Spirit of the Sovereign.” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 26 Apr, 2020. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/niv/isa/61/1/s_740001&gt;.

*You can read the full text of Rev 5:13 here: “Revelation 5:13 (NIV) – Then I heard every creature.” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 26 Apr, 2020. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/niv/rev/5/13/s_1172013&gt;.

photo backstory: Compassion Celebration. Sa had recently returned from the Peace Corps, teaching physics in Africa. (in Portuguese!) Overstretched and overfull, she was willing to share all the goodness with cousin Bfig.

30 Days in Gennesaret: Imperatives Day 22

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In writing this morning’s poem, I realized that I have come to hold some of it’s ‘observations’ as facts.; when , in fact, they are observations.  Aaah, the lovely thing about Jesus; He holds each story unique. May you feel the power of his reading of your story, and writing you into his own. J

Imperatives

I. we run toward healing

concept of ‘fix’ clutched tightly in hand

imploring

 

healing, the way things were before

before divorce, before cancer

before loss

 

before diagnosis of mental illness

if only we could heal ourselves

I should, I must

whooshing up the chimneys of one’s soul

cyclone-like

 

when the fire has burned itself out

hospice begs one consider another question

healing?

breathing better, or peacefully

allowing to breathe one’s last *

 

II. in Gennesaret,

healing comes

in meeting the Healer

face to face, masks cast aside

 

in ‘condescending’

to receive. Jesus could

heal a man (delicate subject)

while having breakfast over the ashes

 

if you are invited

say yes

one must let go of the clutchings

to take hold of the fringe

    jfig     4/2020

 

cooking pot near burning wood
Photo by @rrinna on Pexels.com

I reality, I have been ‘writing’ this poem for years, pondering the imperatives we bring to God when we ask for healing. The woman who was bleeding: what happened in the twelve long years leading up to the moment in which she finally reached out and touched Jesus’ robe, and He felt the power of faith go out? I recognize that thoughts of peaceful and breathing midst our current picture of Covid 19 seem mutually exclusive. If you are experiencing pain and personal loss as a result of Covid, I cannot begin to speak into your story in the moment. Only Jesus…

If you would like to explore further:

John 21:1-19; Luke 8:43-48

 

30 Days in Gennesaret: Looking for Lentils, Day 20

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The poor, the old, the infirm were common to the marketplace in Jesus’ day. So were people who looked industrious – spinning, sculpting, bartering. And laborers arriving each day, looking for work. It is easy to overlook the pain another might be in, unless he/she chooses to tell us. Some shout it loudly but without clarity, for many to hear; others say nothing at all. While it is easy for us to make quick judgements, what was perhaps most unique in the presence of Jesus was that he knew, and still knows, the pain each of us is in, with or without our telling. I believe he invites this intimacy of story. On this day, however, the people invited Jesus to talk first, “Let us just touch your robe, simply that will make us well!”  Their humble, though ramped-up asking of permission, must have started many an interesting conversation. Jesus responded. I wonder if the villagers not only saw Jesus, but also their neighbors differently that day.

RWpic Jerusalem market
Jerusalem Market by Elizabeth Figgie

Looking for Lentils

Husband, we are out of lentils

I traipsed early this market day,

before the sun went steep.

 

The market wavered before my eyes

miraging people who usually

‘take up space.’

It was not the glaring sun, no, that gave them new dimension

but the shadow of Jesus. I am certain of this.

Lentils I have forgotten.

 

I thought to buy goat

Oy, that dry old butcher is so gruff (though his lamb the most tender)

He was not there, his carcasses left hanging.

His young wife Abishah is sick – they say

for more than a year. Six children…

He left town at a run…is what they say.

We will feast on goat another time.

 

Looking for iron…the tool for your plow.

The Skeptic’s in his usual corner…

Offers plenty of opinion, he does, with his high prices.

Well-smithed, his tools! But unfeeling is he…

Today,  he was joking

instead of kibitzing.

 

I went to market looking for news

well, gossip really

My friend sits with the potters;

gossip I got. She said

“I only sold two pots today…two pots!

Still, I’d take rampant joy over coins any day.”

Joy…perhaps she is lonely like me.

All those pot-makers… Who knew?

 

Jesus – how can he make things so different?

Melons and baubles dropped obsolete.

Olives an afterthought.

On display today—

patience, kindness, goodness.

 

That rascal Enosh carried Merari

all the way from far hill. They say

he found him, fallen in the ravine

on his way to barter grain.

Enosh usually has time for no one.

I wonder what changed…

 

And Rahab’s daughter, she is often out of town.

Aloof

She rarely comes to market…

at least not this one.

She waited here with the rest of us

quiet, no harm in that,

after we heard Jesus was on his way.

 

Blind Ezer’s parents – every market

they kneel and pray

At day’s end, I saw them walking

walking minus their usual basket of chicken and fruit

Ezer was not with them.

First time I have ever seen them standing tall…

 

And the children. Husband, the children

You know how they play in the giant sycamore?

Nothing… they were all hanging on Jesus today

dancing at his skirts.

“Jadon, Jadon, our friend Jadon. His leg is shrivelled…shriveled like a stick.

Touch him…touch him, Jadon!!! I bet you could run real quick…”

 

Enough stories, husband, I’m tired now

To market I will go, another day.

Kindness and goodness all around

I will look for lentils…

unless Jesus is in town.

jfig     4/2020

RW pic pain messages
art generously permitted by Elizabeth Figgie. http://www.elizabethfiggie.com

 

 “And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.”

? for reflection: How are your current circumstances changing the way you view others? Yourself?

? How might inviting the Healer Jesus into the picture, change your perspective?

“Matthew 14:34 (ESV) – And when they had crossed.” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 21 Apr, 2020. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/esv/mat/14/34/p1/s_943034&gt;.
Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Art used by permission from ElizabethFiggie. http://www.elizabethfiggie.com

 

Message from the Woods

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Little Miss Sweetness and I took to the woods. Some of us are occasionally creeping out to isolated places concerned that to not do so might bear worse consequences than our exposure to the elements. We brought back a message for any who need to hear it.

RW pic H
h is for ‘hello’

h is for hello: We are your woods, growing still because some wise individuals collaboratively discerned that you would need us. May you have wise individuals still. You are not here; we have noticed. That is okay. We are practicing being: being green, flashing our native color, and growing, after  winter’s semi-hibernation. And we are taking an arguably needed sabbath rest. We are all in this together…

Do not worry. You will return to the woods once more; the Douglas fir and hemlock will be waiting, sentinels for your return.

 

RW pic ll sand
love letters in the sand

love letters in the sand: the nematodes and copepods are dancing;

we will be so*excited!!!to see you~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Today was just hard—

In spite of having what we need of food and projects and space, I felt blue – that unsettling mix of thankful and sad. It was sad, to see cars in people’s yards with fresh ‘for sale’ signs. Demoralizing to see a SWAT team at the foodbank in a rural county. It feels heavy to hear of friends’ struggles to homeschool for the first time without the benefit of distance, the perspective that one’s children will survive. In reality, many of you have been teaching your children from day one. They will bloom because of and in spite of you. They will benefit from your efforts, but they will survive in large part because of God’s mercy, and his bold creative design that gave us curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. Our brains LOVE having problems to solve.

On the other hand, our hearts were built for nurture – of bodies and other beings.

RW pic message from the woods
the nurture tree

 

I wonder how many living, growing things this stump has nurtured – seedlings to saplings to trunks. An army or two of ants. Squirrels, lichens, ferns. It appears that we have been taking nurture for granted: teachers, transit drivers, nurses. When I was growing up (about a hundred years ago) the school cooks made sweet rolls for the teachers on meat and gravy day. Now the cooks and librarians are packing lunches and shipping them on the short bus to a neighborhood down the road. I wonder if school levies will pass more readily now; teacher salaries go up? Truck drivers, and maintenance workers and the kid at the pizza shop. Volunteers, and anyone who whistles or sings. In January, there was an article in the Week magazine, “Bad bosses: Will they ever reform?” This month, my friend’s boss is giving her unmandated hazard pay, because she is grateful for her staff, and wants to nurture their being…

My friend Nancy says, never waste a crisis. We are learning that some of our collective strength is found in the least celebrated places, and in our willingness to try something new; in being creative, and being brave. Everyone I know is tired, because we are all working hard to feed the cells of society; sending pipelines of aide up and down the stories of real, or imagined, class.

We are also being more honest, about when we are frightened and lonely and sad. We are wearing cloth and paper masks, but we’ve taken off some of the invisible ones we used to hide behind. Donning gloves, but looking for new ways to touch each other.

RW pic bleeding heart
bleeding heart

I believe in us, in the Creator’s God’s design that imbedded his image, creativity and nurture and sacrifice.

‘You will return to the woods once more; the Douglas fir and hemlock will be waiting, sentinels for your return.’

They will have grown. perhaps so will we.

jfig    4/2020

To my regular readers; I apologize for the radio silence. Poem 20 has been a challenge, both it and the fig fam needs refuse to stay within the necessary margins for concentration and productivity…everything keeps popping out at the seams. Just want to let you know that I have not given up on the poems or you.

30 Days in Gennesaret: Easter Tim’s Poem

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Tim’s Poem

My husband is a man of succinct words, much preferring the efficiency of a short video clip to the expansiveness of pages. But he listened quietly when I told him about 30 Days in Gennesaret, and Jesus healing the sick; how the scene intrigues with its words ‘all’ and ‘marketplace’. He listened about the juxtaposition of pandemic, and how the thirty days of April provide a creative vehicle.

Then he said,

 

Yes,

and then came Easter

and Jesus healed the whole world.

 

tfig     3/2020

IMG_5101

The construction of this cross was prompted by the creative mind of Carlo Furlan, and the willing hands of Tim Figgie. You can find Carlo’s music here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/CarloFurlanMusic/

30 Days in Gennesaret is a creative reflection project focused upon the scene of Jesus healing the sick in the region of Gennesaret. The scene is described in Mark 6: verses 53-56. In the passage, it states that all around the region, people brought their sick to the marketplaces. And Jesus healed them when they touched his cloak. For the next few days, this word marketplace will seed our poems.

30 Days in Gennesaret: Day 10 Six Feet Day 11 Forever

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SIX FEET

Maybe this year, we will not crucify Him

Six feet

Step back

Reassess

No mob, nor riot

Shouting “Crucify”

 

Step back!

Maybe this year, we will not crucify him

Distancing ourselves

From our fears

Character unknown

In such proximity.

 

Perhaps we will

Interrogate ourselves

Willfulness or honest conviction?

Which draws me

To the bedside

Of another’s pain?

 

Attend: Dare I exploit

Frail posture of another

For power

Or gain?

Maybe this year

We will not crucify him.

jfig   3/20

 

Dear Reading Friends, I thought I would not write a poem today. Instead, I found myself writing two – one for tomorrow – and being invited to reflect on these words from Jesus. I share them with the humility of needing them as much as anyone.  jfig

” This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”    Luke 22:10

“Why are you sleeping,” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”    Luke 22:46

“Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”    Luke 22:48

The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.”     Luke 22:61

They asked then, “Are you the Son of God?”

He replied, “You say that I am.”     Luke 22:70

A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and your children. For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”‘ For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”     Luke 23:28-31

“Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.     Luke 23:34

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”     Luke 23:43

“Luke 22:1 (NIV) – Now the Festival of Unleavened.” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 10 Apr, 2020. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/niv/luk/22/1/p1/s_995001&gt;.

 

Lord Jesus, I am astounded that your gaze finds so many faces in the crowd, my face –   even as you are dying. You tell me the truth, don’t you? No one else invites me to be so honest with myself, and yet receive compassion. At this wide open altar of your making, I lay down – exchange – my fear and arrogance, for your words of invitation and truth. May they become the pillars on which I stake my living.  In your precious name,  Amen

Forever

One never imagines

Suffering an invitation

Yet here it is

His pain carrying mine

across his back.

 

His agony in the garden

beckons—

Living,

to choose dying

“Stay with me.”

 

And as our best efforts crumble

He stays with us

Forever.

jfig     4/2020

pic imprint2

 

“Luke 22:1 (NIV) – Now the Festival of Unleavened.” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 10 Apr, 2020. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/niv/luk/22/1/p1/s_995001&gt;.

30 Days in Gennesaret: Day 8 Helper, Helper

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Helper, Helper

My soul yearns

to see this thing done—

healing painted over

my friend’s story

in glorious color

She likes pink.

 

In despair I bow my head

touching the stone named

How can this be…

and hear Jesus whisper,

“It is not she who needs the miracle,

my child.”

 

Deep inside that web of heart and soul

where sustaining hope

and willed goodness try to seed

and flourish,

my seeds – often

are earthbound.

 

We need Jesus

who ever cultivates

the hope of eternity.

Eternity—

that country where ‘help’

is defined.

jfig     3/2020

 

Mark 6:53-56 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout the whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever the heard he was. And wherever he went – into villages, towns or countryside – they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed. 

“Mark 6:53 (NIV) – When they had crossed over.” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 8 Apr, 2020. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/niv/mar/6/53/p1/s_963053&gt;.

At times, the weight of another’s pain, feels more than I can bear. This poem alludes to the positive motives in that desire – goodness, hope – but I have sometimes felt the need to see others well for reasons of fear, exhaustion, boredom, the need for reassurance that Jesus truly can heal, that there is hope. Mercifully, God never loses sight of where we are going on this journey called faith.

Ephesians 1:11-14; John 4:13,14; I Peter 1:3-5

 

30 Days in Gennesaret: Day 7 Hope is Lean

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waiting…we are not very practiced at it nowadays. Jesus healing in Gennesaret does not (I think,) preclude any waiting that may have occurred that day, or even for long seasons before. This poem is a perspective on waiting midst suffering, for healing to come.

Hope is Lean

Hope is lean

Her oiled sinews stretch

Straining toward belief.

Precipice after precipice

She clings.

 

Hope is lean

Conditioned.

As hardship disciplines

She perseveres

While God sculpts charity.

 

Hope is lean

Earth’s fleshy questions litter about;

she scavenges for precept

some days haggard, hungry.

Bold precept remains,

Midst empty wrappers

Of fear and uncertainty.

 

Questions remain.

They, too, grow lean with examination.

Deceptions strip away

Expose this truth:

It is God who clings.

 

Still, desperation beckons

Tests one’s strength.

Gutsy—hope resists;

The recklessness of despair

is a deep crevasse.

 

Hope is lean

Suffering’s muscled core.

It is Almighty God who clings.

jfig   11/19

close up photo of plastic bottle
Photo by Catherine Sheila on Pexels.com

 

1.Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.  NLT

3-5. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. NLT

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.