Poetry

Goodnight, I love you, See you in the morning

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by Jonathan

Night fell, as it does
The sky turned, the sun set
And a mother died.

A mother is the first home
A calm, a warmth, a safe haven

Nourishment pours from a mothers heart
And we are filled

But sometimes even mothers get sick
And sometimes their comforting arms shrink in the maze of an oncology suite.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a beautiful funeral
The week after a mother died
They all showed up, told their stories, and cried

And life goes on, as it does
Other homes are built
And more stories are told

But this one, this story
Is mine
And even decades after her last night
I remember

I remember her love
I remember her heart
And I remember anew the last words I spoke in the dark to a mother

Goodnight, I love you, See you in the morning.

The Window {a poem}

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They gather here for their daily bread,
and a drink,
Unaware that behind this window is another.

There, a portal opens to an El Salvadorian summer,
a Central African power outage,
a thick Indonesian night.
Paris.

Does he not care more for you than the birds of the yard?

There is such beauty in the large, grand things;
the great arc of justice or rainbow.

But there is beauty too in the miniscule;
the bird on wing,
the hosta’s veiny leaf.
The heart at rest.

Not even a cardinal can fall but that he takes notice and sees.

The world is loud and gaudy, demanding we be afraid,
and drown.
Thanatos lives here.
But there is more.

The rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous.

I will not fear, for through both windows I see the Father at work,
tending,
mending.

I see the living among the dead.

___________________________________________

The Client {a poem}

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The client,

Courageous,

Opens the room, not knowing what lies beyond, trusting that hope is somewhere in the darkness.

In session, the client sometimes knows where he’s going and goes there striding. In session, the client sometimes discovers where she’s been and falls to her knees.

Other times, the tears just fall and the Kleenex box empties and the minutes run out. Next week is obscenely far away.

The client,

A person with a story,

Desperate

Longs for relief of long buried pain or grief or silence. Who will bear witness? Who will see this?

Unbearable history, yet borne.

Unspeakable pain, yet screamed.

Unwitnessed trauma, yet seen by many.

The client,

Resolute

Slowly turns into the pain and finds a heart filled with compassion and curiosity and kindness. There is mercy here, and light.

There is a future.

The client,

Courageous,

Opens the room.

The End of All Things – a new song for Easter

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I am so excited to share this new Easter song with you all. It’s based on a poem that originally appeared at A Life Overseas about five years ago. It is my hope that it might be a deep encouragement to you, wherever you are, on this Holy Saturday.

— Jonathan Trotter

Listen to the full song on YouTube.

The End of All Things

By Caleb Paxton and Jonathan Trotter

Darkness and grief

Shadow and death

The hope that had been

Hangs low without breath

–

Weak and alone, absorbing our pain

The one who was Love endures for my gain

–

“Forgive them,” he prays,

“Jews, Romans, all”

Redeeming us there from our sin and the fall

–

“It’s finished!” he cries

“For my daughters and sons”

Death lay before him but the work it is done

–

Hallelujah! The kingdom has come

Death could not hold all the life of the Son

Hallelujah here and now at the end we’ve begun

–

Three quiet days come and go without Word

The King is nowhere and faith seems absurd

–

Behind the scenes now the love of God stirs

And the plan before time finds its time and occurs

–

The broken world groans

The stone starts to move

The Lamb that was slain

Roars out of the tomb!

–

Hallelujah! The kingdom has come

Death could not hold all the life of the Son

Hallelujah here and now at the end we’ve begun

–

Hallelujah! The kingdom has come

Life is before us, the victory is won

Hallelujah here and now at the end we’ve begun

Doxology

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For a few generations now, the Doxology has been a family favorite. It is simple, easy to sing, and old (over three hundred years). And you know, the older I get, the more I appreciate simple; the more I appreciate ancient and solid and historical.

I also appreciate new and fresh. I love songs that are beautiful, singable, and memorizable. So I jotted down some new words (that are ancient truths) and put them to an old tune…