The Bible opens
With the Creator
Literally speaking the world into being
And we imagine,
That we human creatures,
In a sense, like every other creature,
Given life by God’s breath,
Fantasize and hope
And try to convince ourselves
That our words,
Too,
Will bring things into existence.
We make statements
Or pass laws
And in our vanity
Imagine that our speaking
Will make it so.
We pass laws against abortion
And imagine it will stop.
We make policies and rules
And imagine that our work is done.
I too wish I could speak
And drive oppression, violence, chaos, pain and homelessness, human trafficking, corruption
And every other evil
From our shores
And our hearts,
But I know
That this too,
Is a deception,
Even an accommodation.
We spool out confusion and distortion
And invoke our privilege when we can.
“We are innocent!” we exclaim.
“We had good intentions” we explain as our words fall to the ground.
Our evil will find an eager root wherever we allow it.
And it thrives in our cities, our neighborhoods, our homes and our hearts.
Human dignity is defined
And protected by no written laws,
And being created in the image
Of the living Creator
Is not a luxury
Or even a choice;
It is who we are
Until we forget
That we are not the speakers,
But the spoken,
Living the image.
We are the lifters,
The restorers,
The constant – and usually broken – healers.
We are the words…
—
Morf Morford considers himself a free-range Christian who is convinced that God expects far more of us than we can ever imagine, but somehow thinks God knows more than we do. To pay his bills, he’s been a teacher for adults (including those in his local county jail) in a variety of setting including Tribal colleges, vocational schools and at the university level in the People’s Republic of China. Within an academic context, he also writes an irreverent ESL blog and for the Burnside Writers Collective. As he’s getting older, he finds himself less tolerant of pettiness and dairy products.
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