Clear the Table

Life is like a table scattered full with Lego

A calliope of reds, and blues and yellows, and greens and blacks and whites

More than enough to create a masterpiece

With age the pieces are gradually and gently pushed from the center

To open a space to build

Those who pay attention to the shapes and patterns of the parts

Can use them to take the fragments and create coherency

As the pieces drop and the table top is cleared

Just the right piece is left when needed

So clear the table and expect perfection

Jon Rudy

16 Apr 2009

CITY IN THE TROPICS

Streets bleeding the stuff of the breathing

sewage, water, mango skins, banana peals

Mingle as one to form the soup of our existence

Afternoon rains, on the good and evil

wash the air clean of diesel and plastic

Making room for the scent of flowers

Sweltering heat as if the whole planet perspires

in this one in a myriad of cities with its mega malls and barrios

Sweat drips from the pores of the global economy

By Jon Rudy

Dec 11, 2001

Upcoming Seminar

The Good News of Christ Confronts a World of Violence
for pastors, church leaders, teachers, parents, young adults and students

facilitated by Jon Rudy

With violence fast becoming a universal framework for working out all sorts of disagreements, this seminar will explore how a missional church can overcome the violence which is a fundamental concern for people hearing the preaching of the gospel.

We will explore the violence of our culture, look to Jesus as the starting
point for engaging violence, examine Old Testament theology as it pertains to violence, and focus on assumptions of change. We will also explore how Christian nonviolence, relying on the Holy Spirit's transforming power, gives witness to the Kingdom of God here and now.

Change

greet the change
as the morning dew
something that wets the feet
and sparkles with iridescence
to delight the eyes
until the morning sun
with it’s persistent heat
and ageless arc
burns it away by noon
and we are left with bittersweet memory
anticipating its return
at the next crossing
of day to night
and night to day

Jon Rudy
30 July 2003
At the end of homeleave

Three Generations...

Three Generations of Death, Three Generations of Hope
Jon Rudy
January 22, 2004
Mae Sot, Thailand





A drab grey canon sits outside the high school
testament to the madness of a world at war
proud of her projectiles of death
symbol to our children might makes right

An windowless highschool built as a fallout shelter
proclaiming the lunacy of the world
form meets function in extreme efficiency
message to youth; “you have no future”

The video gaming sport of death
shoot the enemy, watch him explode
profit on playing with virtual weapons
subtle training for a warrior nation

* * *

Our grandfathers resisted the draft
meek opposition to the face of global conflagration
heritage that said no and yes to death and life
paving the way by their witness

Our fathers marched in the streets
speaking truth to insanity
hammering bombs as an act of creation
doing time in jail for protest; the crucible of hope

As a father will I resist?
the slow march of soldiering youth
toward the rigidity of thinking
that guns make peace?