SOURCING THE WORD

Ephesians 4: 16 The Card Game Exploring the Bible Verse

SOURCING THE WORD

Source for the cards comes from

the free play of thought

from Ephesians 4:16

from carrying the verse

handed to me in the oral tradition

by the old Icelandic pastor

45 years ago. Harald Sigmar, his name.

He was helping me with my truth telling.

Speak the truth in love, Jim.

I got it there, then, carrying it

as part of my practice,

as best I was able. In the mountains

a month ago, two pastors from Texas,

Austin, Dr. Mark Washington, Michael Coffey,

one AME, one Lutheran, arrive

at the hermitage with, but

I’m getting ahead of myself.

Source, as I said, comes from

the free play of thought,

which is the breakthrough image

of Vasily Grossman’s Russian novel,

Life and Fate, the novel arrested during

Grossman’s life, and he never saw his epic

in print. Free play of thought.

Speaking the truth in love.

An earlier source, William Tyndale’s

1534 translation in English reads,

Follow the truth in love. Have at it.

Tyndale, skinned alive, opened the way

for the Committee resulting in the King James translation.

Take your pick. Choose both.

They brought this project,

Washington and Coffey, they call

the Ephesians Project. Talking

about race in America. In churches. Talking

with love. Speaking, following.

Can we talk about it? They had slides,

evolving ones, and as fast as I was taking notes

I couldn’t get it all, and found I could

take notes with my Iphone. Those images!

Those images, I thought, on arriving

home, we could make a post card

of Ephesians 4:16 itself with verse and question,

Have you had the opportunity to speak truth in love?

Did you? No? Why not? Karen did that

and turned up the color, printing the card

the color of the Bleeding Heart

hanging in the basket over your porch.

Vibrant and passionate post cards.

Poems written on the back,

stamped and put in the mail.

I write to Washington and Coffey,

tell them about it, and then,

brushing my teeth in the bathroom,

a deck of cards left by grandchildren,

cards, smaller than a post card,

brought back from some casino

punched-out and discarded

showing the Ace of Clubs.

Karen, can you make cards,

I mean playing cards, can

we play this card? In a country

where we can’t talk,

we get a free play. As for the question

about the source, your call.

Jim Bodeen

15 September 2019