Here me, people of this digital nation. The Lord no longer speaks in this land but rather is spoken for by so many impostors. Two thousand pages has no potency against one hundred and forty characters. Your country is desolate, your cities churned with gridlock; your fields purportedly stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste when overthrown by strangers. Hear the cry of the the exalted one, "move on", "nothing to see here". Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils.
In the year that Princess Leia died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet and with tow they were flying. And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean hands, and I live among a people of unclean hands, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touch my hands and said, "See , this has touched your hands; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." Then heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" and I said, "Here am I. Send me!" He said "God and tell this people: 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'" Make the heart of the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn and be healed."
The exalted one sang great praises to himself. He called himself of the people but he was not. He decried the marsh and bog from whence he came, and which truly remained his lair. The people took him, or rather their understanding of him, and upon that understanding they foisted their frustration, their hate, their fear and their pride. They called him leader, teacher, protector, slayer of the establishment. But he was none of these except maybe the last in only that he undercut the powerful and replaced them with the dim and the avaricious, the destroyers and the border guardians. Foreigners fled the land or hid under rocks and the unstripped fields went unpicked. Those of the land screamed and thanked God that this was their time. All turned inward. Prophecies made against Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya and Palestine. In the East, a sleeping giant is prodded while the fox's in the hen house, the cows out in the corn
You counted the buildings in Jerusalem and tore down houses to strengthen the wall. You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the Old Pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago. The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep and wait, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! "Let us eat and drink," you say, "for tomorrow we die!"
"Lies! Conspiracy! Hoax!" typed the exalted one. Science, data and consensus mattered little in comparison to his opinion and his denial. The bull and the bear set loose upon the land. The generators of an intolerable heat unleashed upon us. Inheritance to all our children.
See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants-- it will be the same for priest as for people, for the master as for his servant, for the mistress as for her servant, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor. The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The LORD has spoken this word. The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the heavens languish with the earth. The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.
Many remained who clutched the light and held it close. Divided and leaderless, they despaired in a community of loneliness. They sought reason amidst madness, truth within fallacy, justice rather than judgement. In that time there was no quiet in which to think as so many shouted. In that place there was nowhere to demonstrate doubt or compassion as so many postured. Heroes defamed as cowards, skulking spies embraced as friends. There was no up and no down, only anger and confusion.
The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come". Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
The wounded longed to hear a believable voice sing "Comfort, comfort my people" but no voice came from above. In time, they remembered what they had forgotten, that this comfort must be generated from within themselves, collected within the community and heaped upon those who had sought to crush them. After all the reflection, doubt and anger had been washed in tears of regret, there was nothing to be done by those who clutched the light but to walk unafraid and see their way out of the darkness.
Courage, faith, hope, love and charity in 2017.
In the year that Princess Leia died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet and with tow they were flying. And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean hands, and I live among a people of unclean hands, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touch my hands and said, "See , this has touched your hands; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." Then heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" and I said, "Here am I. Send me!" He said "God and tell this people: 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'" Make the heart of the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn and be healed."
The exalted one sang great praises to himself. He called himself of the people but he was not. He decried the marsh and bog from whence he came, and which truly remained his lair. The people took him, or rather their understanding of him, and upon that understanding they foisted their frustration, their hate, their fear and their pride. They called him leader, teacher, protector, slayer of the establishment. But he was none of these except maybe the last in only that he undercut the powerful and replaced them with the dim and the avaricious, the destroyers and the border guardians. Foreigners fled the land or hid under rocks and the unstripped fields went unpicked. Those of the land screamed and thanked God that this was their time. All turned inward. Prophecies made against Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya and Palestine. In the East, a sleeping giant is prodded while the fox's in the hen house, the cows out in the corn
You counted the buildings in Jerusalem and tore down houses to strengthen the wall. You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the Old Pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago. The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep and wait, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! "Let us eat and drink," you say, "for tomorrow we die!"
"Lies! Conspiracy! Hoax!" typed the exalted one. Science, data and consensus mattered little in comparison to his opinion and his denial. The bull and the bear set loose upon the land. The generators of an intolerable heat unleashed upon us. Inheritance to all our children.
See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants-- it will be the same for priest as for people, for the master as for his servant, for the mistress as for her servant, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor. The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The LORD has spoken this word. The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the heavens languish with the earth. The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.
Many remained who clutched the light and held it close. Divided and leaderless, they despaired in a community of loneliness. They sought reason amidst madness, truth within fallacy, justice rather than judgement. In that time there was no quiet in which to think as so many shouted. In that place there was nowhere to demonstrate doubt or compassion as so many postured. Heroes defamed as cowards, skulking spies embraced as friends. There was no up and no down, only anger and confusion.
The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come". Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
The wounded longed to hear a believable voice sing "Comfort, comfort my people" but no voice came from above. In time, they remembered what they had forgotten, that this comfort must be generated from within themselves, collected within the community and heaped upon those who had sought to crush them. After all the reflection, doubt and anger had been washed in tears of regret, there was nothing to be done by those who clutched the light but to walk unafraid and see their way out of the darkness.
Courage, faith, hope, love and charity in 2017.