EIGHT DECADES AFTER HIS MARBURG SERMONS, 1936-1950, TO RUDOLF BULTMANN FROM YAKIMA

 

EIGHT DECADES AFTER HIS MARBURG SERMONS, 1936-1950

FROM YAKIMA, WASHINGTON STATE, DURING FEBRUARY, 2025

        “Our church has withheld a good deal

        of criticism and scholarship from the laity

        and must rapidly make up for what has been missed,

        if it does not want to atone for this in a painful way.”

             Rudolf Bultmann: A Biography, Hammann Konrad, p. 101

When I found this kernel of nourishment,

I photographed it, but in my haste,

did not record the source.

The sentence alone fed me.

It became the image on my post card.

poems were written and mailed. Quickly

I ran out of friends I could safely

send them to, and then there were those

who I found it difficult to speak to,

except--

when I had this to say to them.

This is more important today than before.

I relish this post card in the mail,

with short poems on the back,

using a special commemorative stamp

with each one. The final step

involves getting a hand cancellation

from the postal clerk before mailing.

I’m attaching a rare James Baldwin stamp

on your card, mailing it to the White House

in Washington, D.C.

Others,

well, for them, what Rilke said,

Professor Bultmann, Take a step out.

Love, Jim

14-18 February 2025