MAP & COMPASS
We headed into Wilderness well-prepared:
Backpack stuffed with socio-logic, data collected, God-words.
Trailmap blueprint for heaven on earth, the world as we know it should be.
Bi-noculars focused on detail (and dualism), seeing clearly what divides us.
Prediction apps to prophesy thunder-storms, people-polls, and other “acts of God.”
Weren’t we getting close? Only yesterday
Our goal just ahead, hiking boots dancing, another switchback or two
before the pass
And an expansive vista of the promise land opening up before us.
Instead, the ‘heaven’ of our hopes vanished like smoke
This haphazardly woven human fabric
(where systems and screens mediate relationships)
is threadbare and worn-out.
Justice? a snuffed-out wick
Righteousness? self-appointed in 140 characters or less
Neighbors? a plague of gnats to be strained out, or swatted
We’re post-truth / post-map. Now where?
You say: “Teaching will go out from Me to all the world”
But my bag is packed, my knowledge nalgene is full and filtered
There’s really no room for a scoop from the spring,
flowing milk-and-honey of an aspen grove, or
glacier-carved granite minarets
To teach the prayer of pressure and patience,
intertwined abundance, and
a deep drink of living water.
There is still so much for us to know... and un-know.
Help us let go:
Of fear that conjures demons from differences.
Of (mis)trust in tools and templates to make the world right- to make us right.
Of pride which insists we carry Your canvas-wrapped-glory on our backs.
Our enemies, too, are image-bearers.
Oh God! Let Salvation’s embrace take us all in
and reorient our heart-compass to Love.
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