a guest posting

I have a dear friend, Hubert Neth.  He is a retired United Methodist Minister.  When I arrived in Princeton, MO as the new pastor in 1991, I found that he was still the favorite pastor there, 20 years after he had moved on.

He is bright and fresh and brilliant.  He has a way of talking about his faith that draws people in.  I have learned so much from his total transparency in his preaching.  We meet every month just so that I can get a little smarter.

Today, I share a poem that he wrote.  Enjoy.

where will

the executed
carpenters boy
linger after
powerful
attempts
to seal
his fate?

look for him
where folks
work hard
to earn
their bread
or find no job.
look for him
in little churches
down gravel roads
or in central cities
surrounded by
foreclosed homes.
look for him
in the stress
vacant stares
of suburban shoppers
hypnotized by hurry
oblivious to
beating hearts
in checkout lines
around them.

look for him
in old town bars
where barbeques
aroma
and slaw
from a fathers
recipe
offer communion
to the lonely.

look for him
in quiet laboratories
where the search
is constant
to discover
diseases cure,
where grief visits
a new grave
at foggy dawn
or a brain injured
soldier returns
from multiple
deployments
and cant find
medical care
amidst slogans
spouting support
the troops.

look for him
in blood stained
emergency rooms
following another
saturday shooting
in religious hypermarts
scattering consumer gods.
look for him
where new grass
laughs up through
concrete cracks,
in rebels fighting
to breathe free.

wherever people
sacrifice for
others they love
or dont even know
he is not impressed
by praise of crowds
acclaims of his
goodness
he will descend
to reach us
in some hell
and will not
leave until
the room
is empty

h.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.