Category: Musings

naming victory

when the good work of naming each animal was finished,
after it was good and garden work turned
murderous toil in the fields, naming continued
centuries of generations naming the stars, finding gods
whole pantheons on which to depend, seers
telling stories, forceful patterns writ large
across the darkened sky; powers that be, fate and such
inevitable forces borrowing human terror to cover
naked lies. names like mars and mammon, babylon
ba’al and manifest destiny; facing defeat who escapes
powers that grasp the good to wring out evil, bodies
given to mark the seasons, down to the day
of their own destruction in the melting elements

whose story will we tell?

power over death, over stinging terror, is Human
possibility, small and gentle, Baby wrapped in body and story
easily overlooked; meekness speaking bold authority
the Son of Man and then the Body: constellations of people
appearing, turning, dying, rising; vast numbers, ever growing
vapors rising in one prayer to Creator, together
they dwell, they rule, they choose what is better
Truth, it cannot be taken from them; they tell
the great dragon’s story, the fiery fate for which it sacrificed
everything; they tell the heavenly bodies wisdom and such
timeless mysteries named in flesh and bone, fit to defeat
every remnant of evil; they know the proper name of the sun
the stars and moon, they know their own name; the Good Name
spoken until there is nothing left again but good work

©2025 Jacqueline Tisthammer. All rights reserved.

Continue reading “naming victory”

Slowing

An eternity is like a day to You
Merely a watch in a long night

Each day seems an eternity to me
This watch being all I know

Meet me in the middle?
Eternity can stretch as it likes in all directions

Present; I meet You the only place I can
Presence; You are the only place I am

Here in eternity we still live day by day
Watching together for the dawn Continue reading “Slowing”

Plans

“Martha, Martha, you are worried about many things
but only one thing matters.” – Luke 10:41 (paraphrase)

All those big plans? Sing them a lullaby
Let them rest awhile undisturbed
Some I will wake at the right time
Some will slumber until they dissipate
Will you give them to me anyway?
Child, here at my feet you are becoming
For that end, the doing may wait
Continue reading “Plans”

Dear Shepherds

What was it like in Bethlehem,
after the sky ceased to shine,
there was nobody left to tell,
and the flocks needed a new pasture?
What was it like to hold such news
in your hearts, in your community;
to receive a tiny, infant Messiah?

What did you do the week after?
You went back to work, I assume,
days slowly resuming their routine.
You were changed, yet still excluded,
the messengers of God’s messengers
sliding back into obscurity.

Two years later, He was gone
to escape the coming sword;
no angels came to bring you further news.
Did faith flourish or flounder in the fields of Bethlehem,
how did you hold on to hope?

Thirty years on, do we find you at the Jordan,
washing clean in preparation?
Did you yearn through all those years,
taking up the mantle of Anna and Simeon?

You witnessed to God’s faithful fulfillment,
then found yourselves back in the fields
waiting for Messiah to grow up.

Reading between the lines, I wait with you,
holding hope in the tender arms of patience:

He came, He died, He rose; He will come again. Continue reading “Dear Shepherds”

Eyes on the Manger

I.
in case you’re wondering why everyone is lonely

I used to wonder at the way
a crowd
could feel lonely
feeling reality
without explanation

some say it’s a matter of
technology, this recent
digital life, before that
the industrial revolution, maybe
Rome’s roads drove us apart

some say it’s a matter of
words, possibility against
a lack of truth, define
for yourself what means anything
or nothing to anyone

some say it’s a matter of
perspective, who really knows
the life you’ve lived inside
looking in through the window
of their own experience

some say it’s a matter of
physics, that matter
never touches, have you ever
really touched another object
much less a person

some say it’s a matter of
sin, of protective clothing
hiding the truth, shameful
parts too much to bear
before God and man

now I wonder how this crowd
of disciplines can explain the reality
of aloneness so impartially
while the poets just bleed
words that never mean the same thing twice


II.
in case you’re wondering what more there is to say Continue reading “Eyes on the Manger”

The End of Fire Season

Autumn is my favorite season, but here in Northern California I have learned to thrive in winter, when rain dampens the threat of wildfires.

In the midst of drought, an ever-lengthening fire season, and the annual stress of smoke and nixle alerts, I am grateful for the early storms that allowed us to enjoy fall in safety this year.

This early end to fire season confused all the plants, so we basically had fall and spring at the same time. Flowers bloomed as the leaves turned beautiful colors. I’ve never seen anything quite like it!

This autumn was a breath of relief, a good gift to our communities, and this poem is my celebration of that gift.

May you and your loved ones also enjoy peace and security this holiday season!

Continue reading “The End of Fire Season”

cry yes

Back in college, I read global news every day. I was hungry to know more about the world, to be engaged in humanity’s struggles. At some point, the number of problems got too huge for me to process, and now I’m pickier about what news I read. I don’t want to be bombarded with stories designed to put me in a spiral of despair, but at the same time I don’t want to be in ignorance!

These days, the news reminds me of our great need for a solid foundation on which to build a reconciled world. The work of reconciliation between persons and peoples and creation itself is too difficult to build on anything less than the rock of reconciliation with God! At the same time, we mustn’t sit around on the foundation singing nice songs and pretending the work is done.

I didn’t write this poem for Advent, but it seems appropriate somehow. As the darkness of winter reflects the darkness of a desperate world, so each little candle we light illuminates the One who brings light to otherwise impenetrable darkness.

Entering into our flood of pain and failed solutions, the Christ child is God’s great “Yes!” in a world of human “No”.

Continue reading “cry yes”