IN PRAISE OF PASSING SHOWERS

IN PRAISE OF PASSING SHOWERS
for Pastor Phil Nesvig

He was reading those psalms.
He had just sent a note to his friend,
the pastor. Responding, the pastor asked,
What do you mean? The mess you’ve made
of your life in the pew? He hadn’t remembered
saying that, couldn’t deny it now. The pastor had
sent him a passage from Luther: Let us recall our former
misery and the darkness—gather in the harvest…God’s word
is like a passing shower of rain which does not return. Salmo 8:
that was his psalm for today, his meditation he would carry.
O Señor, has puesto tu gloria sobre los cielos. Por causa
de tus adversaries has hecho que brote la alabanza
de labios de los pequeñitos para silenciar al enemigo.
He found translation in English not to take him far
enough, his own poverty necessitated translation
one step more re-moved: Su dominio, la aves
del cielo, y todo lo que surca los senderos
del mar. All that swim the paths of the sea.
Would his friend think that strange?
Could it be that the suffering
in the pew came from
places never felt
from pulpit
or choir?

Jim Bodeen
3 November 2017



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