Fifth Day

Amos 7.1-3

7

This is what the Sovereign YHWH showed me:

I saw a swarm of locusts

at the time when the second crop started to grow,

a swarm of full grown locusts,

after the ruler's harvest was over.

2 After they had devoured the foliage of the land,

I said, "O Sovereign YHWH! forgive us, I beg you!

How can Jacob survive, being so small?"

3 And YHWH relented -

"This will not happen," YHWH said.

“The [Black]Outs : Listen”

by Steffan Triplett (b. 1992)

found in Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color (Nightboat, 2018)

Today’s Art Practice

What You’ll Need

From Your Home:

• A marker or other writing utensil. (the charcoal stick from your envelope could work in a pinch)

From Your Envelope:

• Page from the Bible

Directions: Today's poem is an example of Blackout Poetry. The concept is: beginning with a page full of text, the poet eliminates words so that the leftovers create a new poem.

Today, you are going create your own blackout poetry using the page of scripture in your envelope.

Remove the page from your envelope, what part of the Bible did you get? Choose which side you are going to work with, and when you're ready use a marker or other writing instrument to mark out words.

Often times, you need to start before you have a clear vision of the poem you are going to create - it's all part of the process.

*For those participating in group discussion around this series, this would be a great project to share with one another.

This playlist can help you keep track of time. Once it is stops playing, 20 minutes will be over at that point you can choose to continue wandering or move on to something new.

Let’s Pray…

Hard Words

from Book of Worship: United Church of Christ

Because we have seen pain without being moved,

because we forget your love with solemn pride,

because we pass by happy before poverty and sadness,

Lord have mercy,

Lord have mercy,

have mercy on us.

For speaking of love without loving our sister or brother,

for speaking of faith without living your word,

because we live without seeing our personal evil, our sin,

Christ have mercy,

Christ have mercy,

have mercy on us.

For our tranquility in our affluent life,

for our great falseness in preaching about poverty,

for wanting to make excuses for injustice and misery,

Lord have mercy,

Lord have mercy,

have mercy on us.

Amen.