Summer Fun continues with the Acts8 BLOGFORCE!  We’re doing some lighter subjects this summer, which started with the last month.
This week’s challenge: Write a haiku about the Episcopal Church.
To quote :
Haiku ( haikai verse)  (·) (no separate plural form) is a very short form of  typically characterised by three qualities:
- The essence of haiku is “cutting” (kiru). This is often represented by the juxtaposition of two images or ideas and a (“cutting word”) between them, a kind of verbal punctuation mark which signals the moment of separation and colors the manner in which the juxtaposed elements are related.
- Traditional haiku consist of 17  (also known as ), in three phrases of 5, 7 and 5 on respectively.
- A  (seasonal reference), usually drawn from a , an extensive but defined list of such words.
We’re not gonna insist on a particularly deep kiru, or that you use a kigo, but we do insist on a 5-7-5 pattern, whether your poem is sublime or doggerel.  Like this:
Via Media,
It sometimes gets so messy.
Ah, the liturgy.
The Rev. David Simmons, ObJN
Acts8 BLOGFORCE Wing Commander
How do I participate in the Blogforce?
You can send your haiku to [email protected] and it will be posted to our roundup next Monday, or post it in the comments. Â If you want to put it on your own blog:
1. Paste the code you can find at the bottom of your post – note that it is code so you will probably need to switch to HTML view in your blog editor. It should look like this on your blog when posted or previewed:
2. Send the permanent link and the haiku to [email protected].  This should be done by no later than 5PM Central Time on Sunday.  On Monday, the haiku will be re-posted with links.  At that point, the provided code will point to the round-up page instead of here.
The editorial board of Acts8 reserves the right to decline submissions that are deemed offensive or do not uphold the Guiding Principles.
Look during the week for more information on our next Acts8 tweetchat, which is scheduled for August 11th at 9PM EDT using #acts8tc
Podcast: |
What makes sense of things:
scripture, tradition, reason,
intertwined with love.
Nice!
Don’t forget experience!
Over on my blog (), I’ve posted my first impressions of the Episcopal Church as a college student in a suite of three haiku. Here they are:
All these books, I thought.
I don’t really understand.
Next week, I’ll come back.
A few drops of water
Trickling across my forehead.
Now baptized, I wept.
Six months a Christian,
Hands on my forehead, confirmed.
I still don’t know why.
Amen!
We’re starting a late summer candlelight Compline in my parish, my haiku in honor of the new service:
Compline on the lawn
Evening Lull, and afterglow
Wakes the night-time soul
Prayers rise as incense,
A Daily Office concludes –
Cicadas sing on.
I love this. My church has a chapel that opens to the garden and on nice days we have the birds and insects accompanying us at the Wednesday evening service.
I love this one–perfect!
The second line may be redundant, but I’m telling myself it’s for emphasis. Herewith:
So much to offer
Here and now: this time, this place
Ancient paths made new.
All are welcomed here
Eat with us at the altar
The meal is ready
Old and new haiku (I’ve got lots of them)–and some are what I call “snarku.”
Dine at thanksgiving’s
table—Eucharist feeds us
till we want no more.
Our meager gifts laid
on God’s kitchen table will
become abundance.
Unbidden, Jesus
goes to the fringes, meets us
in messy places.
God, your garden’s full
of weeds; glad your angels aren’t
using Round-Up–yet.
Yes! Dangly earrings;
high heels; marching shoes headed
upward to Zion!
Ignore the legend:
Henry the Eighth was NOT our
founder and chief saint!
“And also with you”–
programmed response; be careful
what you respond to.
One more…
Choral evensong,
gospel, hip-hop, words on screens–
cacophony! Praise!
Church in transition
Explores opportunities
To live the gospel.
Bible, Sacraments
Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds
Long line of bishops
I am so impressed with these! I will just give my first impression of The Episcopal Church when I entered at age 21:
Questions encouraged
Doubts are even expected
Is this really Church?
We walk holding hands,
hearts on fire, formed as we go,
freed for his mission.