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New Day Dawning KingdomTide 06
The seeds of unbelievable
sleep lightly in the sack
while the fallow ground of reason
lies upturned upon its back
Awakening inconceivable
lightly scatters on the ground
generations germination
subterranean resound
the rains of almost ready now
they linger in the clouds
awaiting final funerals
of the self assuring prouds
Sky's in search of farmers
who will till with humble hand
a kingdom only given
in the soil of earthy land.
The photo was taken of sunrise yesterday at the CliffView Retreat Center where we spent the past 24 hours with our Community Life Team. The poem captures my sense of hope for the coming season of worship and community life at our seminary.Labels: poetry
posted by John David Walt | at 8/26/2006 09:51:00 AM | 6 comments
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Sabbatical: Stencilled Fulfillment Emptied of self
Breams full new capacity
Pouring out love’s
Invisible wine
Opened up hands
Unmeasurable giving
Breaking life’s bread
So lovers can dine
Bread and New Wine
Stenciled fulfillment
Unleashing moment
Eternity’s Time.
It's over. Sabbatical done. This is one I wrote on the porch one evening this summer. As I searched for a title, it occurred to me that this idea of Stencilled Fulfillment is the essence of what sabbatical is to eternity.
Labels: poetry
posted by John David Walt | at 8/19/2006 09:20:00 AM | 7 comments
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Kindergarten Kindergarten
closes the Summer of summers
ending the era of
2,219 salad days.
“Summer is over and gone,
over and gone,” sang the crickets.
Now opens a gentle door
to conformity’s system
begins with crayons and glue sticks,
#2 pencils and piggish pink erasers;
passes through lunch boxes and lockers,
ends with computers and credentials.
This kinder kind of interlude
so-called childrens’ garden
gathering a generation
ostensibly for preparation
the 12 year test of 6;
home stand over
long road trip on
and though backpacks boast ready supplies,
the keys to the Kingdom hide
in childhood’s short eternity,
buried on the playgrounds of promises kept
in the recesses of time.
I guess I've been working on this one about six years now. Just birthed into words last night and this morning. David started Kindergarten today and though I have great confidence in this school and in his teacher, I also must feel like many other parents, wondering if this really is the way. Despite, conventional school's long established record and despite even my own "successful" experience, I guess I'm a skeptic. So, as usual, I work it out in words. anyone see what i'm talking about with these phrases? anyone identify?
btw, for you E.B. White fans, that cricket quote is attributed to Charlotte's Web. ;-)
Photos: that's Tiffani giving David the pre-K cut on Kindergarten eve in the front yard. I call the next one "It's My Hair!" Warmed my heart that David requested I style his hair this morning in the tradition of what is known around here as Daddy's "Stand-up Hair." how about that!
Labels: poetry
posted by John David Walt | at 8/15/2006 02:12:00 PM | 12 comments
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Rhyme Scheming Poet’s first attempt at rhyming
seems wooden feeling forced
the words they hold together
but mysteries divorced
Poet's second shot at rhyme
breathes beneath the surface air
inhaling depths of sense unknown
exhaling joy like prayer
a wistly playful turn of phrase
in ordinary’s field
unearths the happiest treasure
how were it so concealed
Then resting on a tombstone
sees horizon’s hidden sky
her versing through infinity
grants bravery to die
brilliant broadband streams of heaven
porous sparkling through her skin
freighting cosmic understanding
in scratchings of a pen
I've been out of pocket the past few days working in power-drive. I did manage to write a couple of poems, though, in the margins. I love the rhyming poets. Frost and Dickenson make it look so easy-- until you try it yourself. That's when you realize their true Jedi-Knight status as poets. So that's where this one came from.
The photo-- Meet the Teacher night at David's new school. He begins Kindergarten on Tuesday. Hard to believe and a happy-sad moment for us here in FARMStrong House. More to come on that next week. That's David and his friend, Jackson Lewis, who will be in the same class. Nothing like having a friend near-by on that first day and through that first year. Jackson's parents are here for seminary. His father is serving as an intern on our chapel team this year. The teacher is Mrs. Adams and she seems great. In the process of this, it occurred to me that my Kindergarten teacher was also named Mrs. Adams. She was about 60 years older than this Mrs. Adams though. ;-) Next week, in reflecting on David's first day, I intend to share some reflections on my first day of Kingdergarten. Should be fun.
Labels: poetry
posted by John David Walt | at 8/12/2006 11:13:00 AM | 6 comments
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Samuel's Scent something about a baby
makes you want to inhale
forever
Heaven's incense
resisting censer's captivity
a smell not reproducable
minted once per lifetime
a scent captivating all sense
the sunrise you never want to end
dissipating upward into the world of clouds
dissolving downward into diaper fumes
unforgettable and yet
unrememberable
until smelled again.
I wrote this one last week in the midst of cousin camp while sitting on the front porch one evening. Fitting to release it tonight on the occasion of Samuel's coming home from the hospital. He's doing better.
Labels: poetry
posted by John David Walt | at 8/08/2006 10:21:00 PM | 4 comments
Samuel comes home later today. . . . . Looks like Samuel's coming home today. Infectious Disease doctors are calling it a Staff Infection--- more specifically, the technical term is "Arkansasstaffalitis." ;-) Thanks Cousin Camp!! We'll get you back!!
Anyhow-- word is all of us have to take some kind of treatments now as the Doc said we are all likely infected??? So stay away from us.
More to come. posted by John David Walt | at 8/08/2006 01:10:00 PM | 1 comments
Monday, August 07, 2006
One More Night (hopefully) I took the gang down to see Samuel and Mom this evening. The Dr. came in and said he wanted to keep him longer. The swelling hadn't gone down as he had hoped. All the blood counts, tests and so forth look fine. He ran off six or seven meaningless scientific words of what it could be and in the midst of that I understood "cat-scratch fever" yet he said that was doubtful. Anyhow, I just got the crew in bed here-- which is no small feat. The upside of this is I am much more "up to speed" with the intense nature of Tiffani's days. But you already knew that one Tiff day is equal to 6.5 of JD days. ;-) Wrapping up-- they want to call in an infectious diseases doctor to take a look at Samuel tomorrow tro get his counsel. Hopefully they will send us home with an oral antibiotic tomorrow and we can start recovering from Cousin Camp 06. We're working with NetFlix on an early dvd release of the "short" film by that same name. More to come. Stay tuned.
And please keep praying. I'm more and more convinced that to really pray releases supernatural love in the world which does miraculous things among us. posted by John David Walt | at 8/07/2006 09:40:00 PM | 2 comments
KingdomTide 6 The seeds of unbelievable
sleep lightly in the sack
while the fallow ground of reason
lies upturned upon its back
awakening inconceivable
lightly scatters on the ground
generation's germination
subterranean resound
the rains of almost ready now
they linger in the clouds
await remaining funerals
of the self-assuring prouds
sky's in search of farmers
who will till with humble hand
a kingdom only given in the soil
of earthy land
Labels: poetry
posted by John David Walt | at 8/07/2006 01:43:00 PM | 0 comments
Cruciformation My friend
a so called pastor,
says people
can't change;
not don't
or won't
but can't.
I say. . . .
practical athiesm
never remembers
death by crucifixion
happens not like
lethal injection
(painless numbing of life's nerve)
rather chemotherapy
killing everything in
radically descending gradations
choreographing Christmas
from cancer.
Labels: poetry
posted by John David Walt | at 8/07/2006 01:38:00 PM | 0 comments
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Samuel Update
Cousin Camp is officially over. The two sisters and thier groups left this morning at 9am.
Now that they are gone, I am going to unofficially credit them for bringing an Arkansas bug into Kentucky. ;-0
David, Mary Kathryn, Lily and I spent the afternoon in the pediatric ward of Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington.
You can see from the picture that Samuel appears to be doing well. They are putting two pretty major antibiotics through that IV. That's a little gauze wrapped cast on his arm to keep him from messing with the IV connection. Note also the little bandage around his neck covering the still-draining wound. The now bursted, still draining cyst/boil/whatever it is/was looks pretty bad. A pediatric nurse named Laurel provided excellent care for us through the night and day. We had some interesting conversations as she graduated some years ago with a ThM from Harvard Divinity School.
So Samuel's condition is stable but guarded. They are really laboring to stay on top of this infection, ridding it from his little body (17 pounds). He's little but quite a little ball of energy.
Thank you for your continued prayers on his and our behalf. He and Tiffani are staying tonight and tomorrow and we will evaluate from there with the Dr.'s on what next. posted by John David Walt | at 8/06/2006 05:16:00 PM | 3 comments
Samuel Update-- 911 Tonight we had to take Samuel back to the Emergency Room where they put him under general anesthesia and cut into the cyst in order to drain it. He's doing better now. Looks like he will be there a couple of days to get antibiotics through the IV hook up. Pretty scary. He seems to be doing well. Please be praying for him that he will be completely delivered from this infection quickly with no complications or unwanted side effects. Thanks so much. posted by John David Walt | at 8/06/2006 12:16:00 AM | 5 comments
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Cousin Camp goes Swimming
More to come on this. . . . .
This is Cousin Camp's final day together before the long pilgrimage back to Arkansas. We're headed out the door to Boyd's Orchard posted by John David Walt | at 8/05/2006 09:45:00 AM | 0 comments
Friday, August 04, 2006
Cousin Camp Field Trip As promised, some photos from our 3 day. . . . . I mean Day 3 Field trip at Cousin Camp. That's the whole gang posed in front of the assembly line (with the exception of Mary Kathryn who had already found her way into the penalty box.
This being her first visit to a KK Installation, Sister Missie said this was, in fact, the only reason she came. And she backed that up with both her wallet and her prodigious do-nut eating skills. ;-) For a minute I thought she was Tiffani the way she was making friends with ALL the Krispy Kreme employees. She must have set a new record for the most hot donuts you can actually get for free. There's the whole line-up warming up for diabetes
and that's Savannah giving the KK Salute. 
Following "second breakfast" we made our way to the Lexington Children's Museum, a veritable fun-house. That's Mary Kathryn and Savannah, who so far are leading the "my best friend is my cousin" race, having fun in front of one of the mirrors.
This children's museum is one of those rare outfits that only puts the diaper changing stations in the MEN'S restroom. Needless to say, being the only MAN in the group I made no less than 8 trips to this dubious facility to change the stinky little things. (photo unavailable)
This next one is Sister Missie, who spent much of her Children's Museum time laying in this Turtle Shell while the rest of the kids pushed her around. Must have been the donuts!
One more for the road. That's Chase Cathey at his finest hour of the day. . . . . . the first one. ;-) (only kidding!)
Samuel update-- cyst not seeming to change much. he seems unaffected. pray the medicine will do its work and for the Holy Spirit to heal him as we continue to agree in prayer together.
We are headed out the door for the Cousin Camp Swim Party at the Equestrian Woods Pool. Did I mention that it's Shark Week on Discovery Channel-- and we have let the older kids watch waaaaaaayyyyyy too much of these water trauma inducing features. Needless to say should be some interesting fun at the pool. posted by John David Walt | at 8/04/2006 09:17:00 AM | 4 comments
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Camp Chaos
Camp Walt, a.k.a. Cousin Camp is quickly becoming Camp Chaos. Remember the math. 8 kids under 10 with 7 of them 6 and under. There's Chase (18mos) who we can't keep off the perilous stairs. There's Eliza (2) who loves to push the buttons of her counterpart Lily (2) chocolate face. Savannah and Mary Kathryn, fast friends, are engaged in a perpetual "dance-off." What a vlog couldn't do. Then there's Eliza who we can't keep out of the snacks.
So Cousin Camp headed for the Mall today and the Build-A-Bear rip-off stand. $400 later we now have multiple new stuffed animals to add to the stuffed animal heap. Oh yes. . . . these have hearts, names and birth certificates. David chose a dog he named Sparky. Little did Tiffani know that dogs wear not two but four shoes. . . . . . . and roller skates. Suffice it to say we had the better part of the bill today at Stuffed- Dog-Stuff-Mart.
Update: Samuel visited the Ear Nose and Throat Dr. today. Doc ran a cat scan and told us to stick with our antibiotic. We will watch it for a while and determine if some kind of surgery is needed. Can't do surgery until 18 months. Thanks for your continued prayers. You can see from the photo that this looks pretty bad.
It doesn't seem to effect him though. It's having a strange effect on his hair (see photo) as well. I knew Savannah and Mary Kathryn were up to something over there in the corner. 
We closed out the day with a T-Shirt design contest. As you might imagine, it got pretty messy.
Did I mention that our Lily (2) has chosen to potty train this week????? Camp Chaos continues-- we're headed out the door for Krispy Kreme. posted by John David Walt | at 8/02/2006 10:19:00 PM | 2 comments
The Future on Screens OK FARMStrongers, for the other three of you who aren't so in to "COUSIN CAMP." Some food for thought.
I've been thinking lately about the increasing practice of Churches to use screens as a primary feature of their worship. Screens. . . . . . they rule our lives don't they? From television screens to computer screens to cell phone screens to PDA screens to Ipod screens to Movie Screens and on we could go. Screens dominate our lives and they are somewhat inescapable. Even in kids shows. Note the presence of screens. Veggie tales ends each show with Qwerty, a computer, who tells you how God's Word supposedly applies to your three year old life. There you are watching a screen inside a screen. (computer screen inside your tv screen). Isn't something just a little bit off with that? Go to concerts these days and instead of thousands of cigarette lighters lifted into the dark sky, it's illuminated cell phone screens. Either most people that go to concerts have quit smoking (doubtful) or technology is replacing fire as the primal symbol of a transcendent encounter.
Interesting Connection to fire-- In his most recent book, Sisomo, The Future on Screens, Kevin Roberts makes the case that screens are the camp fires of our time.
But come into any large church and there they are-- two of them-- glaring at you, scrolling information from the get-go. . . . stuff you need to buy, go to, be part of, sign up for. The screens at church are telling you what to do just like the screens everywhere else. Sure they are telling you different things but still it's screens doing the telling. Next the screens tell us what to sing. . . . . which seems to be ok. But what challenges me is when behind the song texts are fast moving video images. It just seems so. . . . . . . . distracting. The screens seem to be working against the primary calling of worship which is attention. Yes, at times I've seen it done quite well, where the imagery draws one deeper into attentive worship. More often than not, there is not much rhyme or reason to the imagery. Be it nature, sacred symbols or pictures of Jesus, they are just constantly changing.
So announcements over, songs sung, screens off. . . . right? Not on your life. What happens next is all at once a symbol of the fierce pragmatism and grave danger of our age. The preacher steps up to the pulpit and proceeds to preach his sermon, only most of the people don't actually look at the preacher. They watch him or her on the BIG SCREEN. I ask myself the question. Why is it that I want to watch the screen instead of the person even though I am close enough to see well? What's that about? I am troubled because
1. Screens aren't human
2. Screens magnify the speaker way beyond their actual size-- which implicitly enhances a massive power imbalance which in the hands of the wrong kind of preacher can become oppressive. . . . and even in the hands of the right kind of preacher.
Could it be that screens can make the right kind of preacher the wrong kind of preacher? I'm increasingly thinking that something about screens defies the very essence and character of the idea of incarnation. At the heart of the idea of incarnation is embodiment. I love the way John opens his first sermon: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us." 1 John 1:1-2
Now imagine if it said, ". . . . . The life appeared on a screen; we have seen it and testify to it. . . ." In the immortal words of Larry the Cable Guy, "I apologize Lord!" It's unimaginable. The essence of Incarnation is the human form embodying the Divine. As it was with Jesus, so it is with those who follow him.
Last spring in a conversation with Marva Dawn while she was preaching on our campus, I asked her thoughts on screens. I had read her book "Reaching Out without Dumbing Down" where she comes down pretty hard on the church's baptism of technology. Anyhow, Marva makes the point that the Hebrew tradition is primarily auditory. . . . . . about hearing. . . . . while the Baalist tradition was primarily about the visual image. That one put a splinter in my brain that I've still not been able to dig out.
I will always remember being at a LARGE Passion Conference in January 2005 where they had the LARGEST AND MOST SOPHISTICATED SCREEN I've even seen in any setting. It did everything but fly. Anyhow, on the closing morning of the conference, Louie Giglio, the leader of Passion, remarked in a quite confessional and repentant tone that at one point he found himself worshipping the screen perhaps at the expense of God. Fascinating.
Isn't there something to be said for a "small" "human" figure speaking a True Word with a frail voice. I know I know. . . . you say communication is 90% non verbal and that people need to be able to clearly see the speaker in order to get what they are saying. But there's no way some of the large crowds could see Jesus facial expressions and make eye contact with him. We so quickly forget that the power is in the Word(s) not in the style or skill of the messenger. And when I am watching the screen the preacher is robbed of my direct, interactive non-verbal cues in response to the message. This, in turn, changes the nature of the encounter doesn't it?
Now this isn't just a MEGA Church issue. You see, we are witnessing a church landscape where everyone wants to emulate the MEGA Church and all its acoutriments. Just last Sunday I was in a little small town church whose sanctuary must have had 15 television screens suspended from the ceiling scattered through the worship center. It felt a bit like I was in a sky-box in a basketball arena. To their credit, they didn't project the preacher onto each one of them. They were there for the song texts (appropriate use) and a short info-mercial midway through the service (questionable).
So people come to Church and yet they watch it unfold on screens. It's no wonder we are seeing the widespread use of satellite locations where the preacher is not even present in the building. Increasingly in MEGA MEGA Churches, the preacher preaches in the biggest location and his image is beamed out via satellite to multiple other locations with eager worshippers avidly awaiting his image to be projected on the screen. Doesn't this seem to defy the essence of Incarnation. What's going on here? I think the best argument would be the unity of the Body. . . . . . . . but does that strike you as a weak rationale. Doesn't this make the source of unity the "preacher?" Just asking questions here. Looking for wisdom. Why not train up other preachers?
My emerging verdict is that screens can have a helpful dimension in assisting Christian worship though distraction is a constant danger. BUT when screens begin to substitute for human, embodied presence and interaction they in fact dehumanize worship. And in such an ironic fashion, we are robbed of God. . . . . . choosing instead to be ruled by technology.
Didn't someone make a movie about all this?
We'll give Wendell Berry the last word-- from a poem of his entitled "How to be a Poet"
Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.
and yes, i'm aware of it. all of this has come at you on a . . . . . . . . . . #$@! posted by John David Walt | at 8/02/2006 02:57:00 PM | 7 comments
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
COUSIN CAMP goes bowling. . . .
After an insanely hot day of fighting flies on the Redneck Riviera, we decided to make our way to "The Strike Zone" in nearby Nicholasville. Yep-- the bowling alley. Now Nicholasville is no ordinary town. It's a virtual NASCARville. In other words there is a 95% chance you ARE a redneck if you live in Nicholasville. Now, before you locals take offense, consider my prior posts where I am beginning to reckon with the reality of my own progeny succumbing to red-neck-hood. That's Erica (sister #2) with quite the form. Below is Chase (1) her son. And also Allie (Missie's oldest). Lets just say it would have been better if I had my vlog going. There's a little strike zone celebration going on in the other pic. That's Eliza in the foreground.
But the best moment came when Eliza, like a bull coming out of the chute-- only a few rolls into the first frame, barrelled down the lane. And then we all held our collective breath as Missie (sister #1) went after her. Anyone remember how slick those bowling lanes are? Let's just say it was one of those moments we wish we had the video rolling. A moment of painful hilarity.
Speaking of Redneck. . . .Consider this next photo. You'll have to upend your monitor to make it out. But those are deck stairs. On the end of the string are tied milk bone dog biscuits. Look carefully and you can make out David between the steps. While I'd like to attribute this trick to the influence of the Arkansas cousins, I'm afraid it's David's genius. I caption it "Deck Fishing for Dog."
Cap this all off with a visit to the emergency room tonight. Just after supper Tiffani noticed a large swelling growth on Samuel's neck (8 months). it was shocking. We spent the rest of the night in the ER in Lexington. He's going to be fine. It's some kind of cyst that will likely require surgery. We'll know more later this week. So remember us-- esp. Samuel in your prayers. Cousin Camp must go on! posted by John David Walt | at 8/01/2006 11:41:00 PM | 2 comments
CAMP WALT continued. Day in Pics
on the redneck riviera a.k.a. the back yard posted by John David Walt | at 8/01/2006 12:44:00 PM | 1 comments
Today...