Hebrews 11:13-16 -- The Heavenly City

Paul will go on to discuss the great cloud of witness in chapter twelve, but that cloud of witness (both a cloud of testimony and a cloud of testifiers) are at the end of faith's race. They are the list of heroes of faith, standing in the grandstands and also at the winner's pedestal. They are urging the earthly believers home.
Because ultimately, it is heaven that matters. If our salvation is only for the earth, it is an unworthy salvation. Heaven is the ultimate destination. Specifically, the Christian believer is looking for a city.
This ultimate destination was important in Paul's time because of the persecution the Hebrew Christians were suffering from their own people and from the Gentiles. Pharisaical Jews who did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel were convinced that if Jesus had been the Messiah, then he would have ushered in an earthly kingdom. But Jesus had bought in a spiritual kingdom and spoke of a future heavenly kingdom. The Hebrew believers had to made to understand the Messiah the Scriptures had spoke of, not the One the scribes and religious leaders had trained them to hope for. So, the Jewish believers --who had been taught that the Jewish Messiah woud subdue the nations under His feet-- now had to accept that the Gentiles were now part of God's kingdom and that the Jewish and Gentile believers had no real home here on earth. To come to terms with being sufferers, rejected, and nationless on earth was difficult. But if Paul could convince them through the Scriptures, they would hold onto their salvation, even through suffering. Because all who would follow Christ must suffer persecution.
This passages is also important for many modern Christians who might also be taught that being a Christian means a life of ease and wealth. True, there are many Scriptural promises that we are able to receive now because of Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and ascension and because Christ sent the Holy Spirit to live permanently with us. These promises could not be attained by the pre-resurrection saints. But the primary issue being discussed here has always been the great issue: God preparing a remnant of earthly people for His heavenly kingdom.
It is somewhat old-fashioned in certain circles to speak of Heaven, even more old-fashioned to speak of hell. But yes, there is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun.


13All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. Hebrews 11:13-16

Hebrews 11:12 -- By faith, God healed

In verse twelve, Paul shows reminds the Hebrews of how they became a people. Their very existence is due to a miracle. By reminding their readers of this fact, Paul and the Holy Spirit show that God is a miracle worker. He is a God with the power to heal the sick, and restore life, to one who was as good as dead.
By adding the story of Sarah and Abraham to this list of faith, Paul encourages those who are in need of healing. He shows that God is able and cares for our health. When Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, he included four kinds of healing in his Great Commission.

Cleanse the lepers

Heal the sick

Cast out demons

Raise the dead.

These four types of healing covers all sicknesses and demons. For those who are sick with bacteria, virus, infections, and fungal disease, we can command their body to be cleansed. For those whose body or body systems do not work, we can command that their body be healed. For those who are oppressed by demons, we can command the demons to leave. And for those who have died we can command that the person rise to new life. This is the miraculous life to which Christians are called and the Lord made sure we understood the power and blessings and glory of this new redeemed life by performing these same miracles while He was on earth. These signs of the power of the kingdom on earth are given for us to meditate on and to imitate.
The Lord had given Abraham two images to meditate on as hopes of future descendants: the stars and the sand.
Faith and hope imagines. And because Abram's rational mind could not quite grasp the multitude that would descend from him, God gave Abraham a picture his heart and spirit could meditate on.
If we want a thing, we must imagine what we want. Imagining does not create the thing we hope for, but imagination is a tool of hope and it is the way we focus on what we want instead of what we fear.  The Hebrew listeners would understand this.
If Abraham --who was as good as dead-- could become the father of many nations by pondering the stars and sand, then we too should keep our eyes on the prize and on the great cloud of witness.
12And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

Hebrews 11:10,11 By faith, Sarah was enabled

Sarah judged God faithful. She judged God as trustworthy. It isn't clear if she understood and saw the evidence of God's special love for Abram. She saw Abram's various victories. It isn't clear if she had insight enough to understand that God had been with Abram all during the journey in tents. It isn't clear if she had heard testimonies or witnesses about God. She must have heard Abram talking about God. And she probably had heard Hagar talking about God.  She weighed the evidences God had given her about Himself and decided to believe that He was not a man that should lie; she believed that God was willing and able to keep His promise.
Whether this was the promise made to Abram or the promise made by God directly to Sarah at her tent is unclear. It is always good to get a specific promise from God and not depend on a promise given to one's spouse. If Paul means the promise that God made directly to Sarah, we must remember that this was the very promise that Sarah laughed at because she didn't believe God. She memorialized this promise by naming her son "Isaac."
Sarah is the first woman listed in the hall of faithful heroes and it must have seemed good to Paul to list a woman. By doing that, he shows that God is an enabler, empowerer and strengthener of women. Here, and later in this chapter, Paul shows that God cares about the plight of women and that women's faith is as important as men's. A woman's faith is not necessarily dependent on her husband's; she has her own relationship with God. Women can judge the evidence for God's power and truthfulness as well as any man can.
By judging God as "faithful" she received an answer to faith. That answer was strength and power. God healed and repaired her womb, but Sarah -- who would've had strength in her younger days to have children-- had to receive strength to have a child at such an old age.

And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.
Through faith even Sarah herself received strength to become a mother--although she was past the time of life for this--because she judged Him faithful who had given the promise.
By faith also Sarah herself did receive power to conceive seed, and she bare after the time of life, seeing she did judge Him faithful who did promise;

Hebrews 11:8,9 -- By faith, Abraham obeyed

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Hebrews 11:8.9
Christians  must learn when to lean on their own understanding and when to listen to the still small voice. In this verse, we are made to remember that God's people often walk by a divine guidance, and sometimes the divine guidance asks for impossible things. The person of faith, however, must put aside his/her desire to know the end from the beginning and enter fully into God's plan. Only God knows the end from the beginning. Faith enables us to see the invisible and to trust the One who sees and understand true reality.
The stuff we think we know may not be true. The path we believe we must take may not be the path we should take.  The human mind is notoriously sure of itself and is difficult to change. Humans have very little knowledge about life and we cling to our opinions tenaciously.
Abram was told that he must leave his home and family but he was not told where he was going. After he discovered where he was going, he was told that neither he nor his descendants would not inherit the land for years. He was also told that his descendants would be enslaved in Egypt. He was told all this before he had any child.
But then Paul goes one step further. He tells the readers of the epistles to the Hebrew that even though Abram was to inherit an earthly land, Abram looked beyond the earhtly. He understood that the earthly country was not what truly mattered. What mattered to Abram most of all was growing in relationship with God and understanding God's kingdom. His goal was to please God and to do all he could to be with God forever.

Hebrews 11:7 -- By faith, Noah

The earth had been cursed when Adam sinned. Then Cain sinned and matters got worse for Cain specifically, which caused Cain to build a city because everything organic that he attempted to cultivate became cursed. The earth seems to have been a harsh place for those who lived before the flood.  Unlike the garden in Eden, which was well-watered and lush, the rest of the earth had been awaiting man's dominion. But now man's dominion was no longer connected to God. It is unclear if the mist that came up and watered the earth was of any help to the ante-diluvians. At that time, water was above the sky and the earth's "air" atmosphere was surrounded by water.  The Bible states this and modern science states this as well. There seems to have been no rain.
But then, God told Noah that a flood would come. God had been telling others as well. Enoch preached destruction and named his son Methusaleh to prophecy about the coming destruction.
It seems that Noah had never seen such a thing as rain or flood. It might have been hard for him to even conceive of such a thing as a flood. But he understood that God was Creator and that his own idea of nature was limited. He believed God. Paul writes that Noah's faith condemned the world. An interesting thought that we should ponder. Noah's faithful behavior had an effect on God's dealing with the rest of the world.    
Moreover, there is an inheritance awaiting those who are faith: that inheritance is righteousness. Righteousness, or right standing, is something we receive as a gift and inheritance from God.


By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.
By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
By faith Noah, having been divinely warned concerning the things not yet seen, having feared, did prepare an ark to the salvation of his house, through which he did condemn the world, and of the righteousness according to faith he became heir.

Hebrews 11:6 -- But without faith

In Hebrews 11, Paul has been writing to the Hebrews about faith. In verses 1-5, he has spoken about faith's nature and power in the world. By the time one has reached verse six, one has developed a knowledge of vague. One knows that faith helps us understand God is Creator of the entire universe. One knows that a person's faith is shown in words and in behavior that is based on faith.  We understand that faith is what made one person acceptable to God, and lack of faith is what makes another person's offering unacceptable to God. We understand that humans testify of faith and God testifies about faithful persons. We understand also that faith is substance, is evidence of something spiritual, that faith is connected to hope, that faith has consequences and affects the world.
The believer has gotten some idea of faith, but not all. Merely reading a definition of faith is not enough. Paul will go on to give examples of faith in action so that the believer's understanding of faith will be more well-rounded. Because the epistle is being written to Hebrews, Paul will continue his teaching on faith by giving his readers examples from Hebrew history. Several people mentioned in the Law, Wisdom Books, and the Prophets are not mentioned. But as Paul will write later on, the faithful people are too many to enumerate. A few people who were not mentioned include Job, Esther, Elijah, Jeremiah, etc. But he mentions quite a few people by their circumstances. Even if he doesn't mention their name, if believers have read their Bibles, they will know whom he is thinking of. And although Job is not listed as a man of faith, he is listed elsewhere throughout the Bible as a hero of endurance. Some of these people suffered terribly because of their faith, yet --for all their suffering-- one is reminded that they pleased God and God loved them because of their faith. Therefore suffering does not necessarily mean God is displeased or that there is lack of faith on a believer's part. And in the long run, all faithfulness is rewarded.  
So, then, verse 6 explains the crux of this chapter: God's pleasure.
Why is God pleased with those who have faith?
Because in order to have faith --true and real faith-- a believer has to have come to an epiphany about the world, about God's power, about God's love, and about God's response to the believer. Anyone who has faith has begun to understand the nature of the world. They understand that there is a spiritual world that rules and overrules the physical world. They have eyes and hearts that are seeing the true nature of the kingdom; they have begun to be freed from the power of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil -- its effects being pride of mind, trust in human rationale, trust in appearances, and separation from a loving, powerful, creator God. To reach such a state the believer has had to seek God. Those who have read my Bible studies here know that I am not a lover of Calvin's theory of predestination. Although this verse does not say that those who come to God are only those who seek him, a reader could argue that the verse does leave the impression that God does work with all humans to seek him.
Another thing to remember is that faith "cometh." I like the last translation listed last below. "It behoveth him who is coming to God." I understand it to mean those who are coming to God specifically for answer to prayer, but also those who are coming to God and journeying toward the kingdom.  
This is why faith pleases God. We are in a trusting loving believing journey toward him.  
I cannot say if there are any believers out there who displease God. But it seems to me that mere righteousness is not enough and it would probably be better for all those who follow the "rules" and "doctrines" of Christianity to truly "trust" God as their loving rewarding God.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
and apart from faith it is impossible to please well, for it behoveth him who is coming to God to believe that He is, and to those seeking Him He becometh a rewarder.

Hebrews 11:5 He pleased God

We don't know much about Enoch but he was apparently very special to God. Enoch didn't experience death although Abel did. We get little gimpses of Enoch's life throughout the Bible, and in the book of Jude we hear about his prophesy. Was it a prophesy to people of his time before the flood? Or to us? Or was it for both?
By now, you wil have noticed that the word "commended" has been used several times. It is often also translated as "witnessed" or "testified." In fact the words, witness and testimony are themes that flow throughout this chapter and even into following chapters. This leads us to the second interpretation of faith; faith is commending God. A faithful person commends, and trusts, and ascribes power and glory to God.
Jesus also told us that if we honor Him on earth and testify about Him, then He will testify about us before God and the holy angels.
Consider also that Paul's reputation was also known in heaven, because the demons who attacked the seven sons of Sceva said to them, "Paul I know and Jesus I know but who are you?"
Therefore in the spiritual world, the child of God who has faith in God has a kind of spiritual reputation.  But, although it is good to have a good report in heaven, it is not only about the believer's reputation.
Enoch's prophesy, as reported through the Holy Spirit by Jude:

14Enoch, who lived in the seventh generation after Adam, prophesied about these people. He said, “Listen! The Lord is coming with countless thousands of his holy ones 15to execute judgment on the people of the world. He will convict every person of all the ungodly things they have done and for all the insults that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

In the prophesy, Enoch states the reason for God's coming: Men have testified wrongly against God. We must not only be careful about speaking God's name in vain but we must not speak harsh and wrong words against God's reputation.  
But he pleased God. What did he do to please God? What set him apart from everybody else? I often think that perhaps he might have been the first fire-and-brimstone preacher of God's wrath. Even before Noah preached about the flood, Enoch preached about God's coming udgment against the sins of his world. Paul writes that Enoch walked with God. What does it mean to walk with God? There are so many different ways in Scripture of showing God's relationship with certain people. Abram is God's friend, David is a man after God's own heart, and Enoch walked with God.
It must have been very strange when people died during the pre-flood ages. Humans were so long-lived then that death must have been a strange surprise anytime it happened. Enoch disappeared and was translated to heaven. And Paul writes that Enoch was "not found." There is an implication that a great search was made for him. Why did God not let Enoch die? Did Enoch have faith not to die? Did God make him not die as a sign to an evil generation? Did that generation understand how important it was to please God?


5By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.
Through faith Enoch was taken from the earth so that he did not see death, and he could not be found, because God had taken him; for before he was taken we have evidence that he truly pleased God.

Hebrews 11:4 By faith, God testified

There is a lot of discussion about why God accepted Abel's gift and not Cain's. Some people say that Cain simply gathered any old thing and gave it to God. In that case, Cain's offering was half-hearted and unfelt. Other theologians say that Cain's offering came from a cursed ground and came from the sweat of his brow (or his own righteousness) while Abel instinctively knew --by faith-- that a sacrifice was needed. It is possible that Abel remembered the "report" that God had given to Adam and Eve about a coming seed of the woman whose heel would be bruised. Whatever the reason, Cain's offering was not accepted.
As I look at the verse today, the word that jumps out at me is that God "testified" about Abel's gifts. Some translations merely say God gave His approval. But I like the idea of God witnessing and testifying about His approval of His child. This also brings in the theme of the word of God and of witnesses. God is also a witnesser. I find myself wondering, "Did God testify to the angels about Abel? Did God testify to Cain alone? Or is the mention of Abel in Scripture a sign of God's testimony and witness about Abel?" How wonderful a thought to have God testifying for us!
Paul goes on to state that Abel still speaks although Abel is dead. Again, there are many interpretations as to what this means. On a very basic level, it reminds us that Moses said Abel's blood cried out to God. Who knows what Abel cried out about? Perhaps he wanted to live his life. Perhaps he wept because none of the descendants of man would be descended from him. Perhaps he was alone, being the only human who had died. How long did Able stay in that solitary isolation from God unsaved and unredeemed before another dead human soul joined him? We do not know what he cried out for specifically but it seems he cried out for justice. But then Paul adds, Abel still speaks.
What does this mean? I really don't have any insight on this but I will say that perhaps there is something about Abel and humanity's cry for justice or about isolation in the world.


4By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel's offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.
by faith a better sacrifice did Abel offer to God than Cain, through which he was testified to be righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and through it, he being dead, doth yet speak.
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God bearing witness in respect of his gifts: and through it he being dead yet speaketh

Hebrews 11:2 The Ancients Obtained a Good Report

What does it mean to obtain a good report?
The Bible mentions "reports" many times, both good and bad. In the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, the prophet states, "Who has believed our report?" Isaiah had witnessed the Messiah's suffering. He knew other prophets had also witnessed something about the future Messiah as well. But he also knew the report, the too-good-to-be-believed-news was so marvellous that few would believe it.
What else about reports?
Reports are written by witnesses. Reports also speak of witnesses.  The verse speaks of ancients or elders who obtained a good report. The way the verse is phrased, the statement could mean one of several different meanings.
Firstly, it could mean the ancients got a good reputation with God. There is nothing better than having a good reputation with God. But how did these ancients do it? They were not particularly good. Or, perhaps it is better to say that God called them good for a particular reason.
Secondly, it could mean the ancients got a good reputation with their fellow men at that time. This is also true. Scripture is a record of God's faithfulness toward those who loved him. God's goodness to faithful men such as Moses, Abram, Joseph, David and others were preserved in Scripture by people who had known and seen these events with their very own eyes.
Thirdly, it could mean the ancients got a good reputation with believers that would follow their example: us. Because of their own faith, they would become witnesses of God's faithfulness to His promises and we would look back at this great group of witnesses and be encouraged.
Yet, ultimately, the statements -- although apparently different-- all mean the same thing.


This is what the ancients were commended for.
Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.
For by it the people of old received their commendation.
For by it the men of old gained approval.
For by it the elders obtained a good report.
For our ancestors won God's approval by it.
For therein the elders had witness borne to them.
For by this the ancients obtained a testimony.
for in this were the elders testified of;

Hebrews 11:3 By faith, we understand

We understand emotions through emotions. We understand rational things through rational and logical mental systems. We understand spiritual things through using spiritual things. As Paul writes, "comparing spiritual things with spiritual."
It is very difficult to understand that the universe was made by God's words if we do not understand either the spiritual substance of God's words or the spiritual substance of faith.  A scientist may say for instance that the visible world is made from invisible atoms, or that earthly elements are created from tiny minute atoms, protons, quarks, and the like. But even if atoms, protons, etc are unseen by the human eye, they are still products of this physical world. To base the existence of the world on even the tiniest physical particle is still to be using human reasoning. Faith is of an entirely different order. A person or animal who is an object of love understands that he is loved by sensing and feeling the Beloved's love. This is emotional understanding. We understand God's power and being through faith, which is a spiritual understanding.  
By faith we also understand God's faith. We understand that God had faith in His own words. God had faith in the system He made. By faith we understand that God has given to all his children "the measure of faith."
There can be no understanding of God's power, or of the true nature and reality of the cosmos if we do not understand what faith is and how it operates.
When Adam sinned against God, he sinned against his Creator, his Father, and his king. This brokenness has continued through all the generations. Humans bristle at the idea of having a creator who made them, they don't understand the love in God's heart that caused God to make them or their own uniqueness to God. They don't understand God as a loving father. And they don't understand God has a king who rules the universe or their place as one of God's subect. Faith comes from the tree of life and not from the tree of the knowedge of good and evil.
This verse shows us that faith underlies and undergirds the universe. It also teaches us that faith is connected to a Divine Person and to the actions of that Divine Person. The verse also clearly states that the world was made by God. All true faith is rooted in faith in God; faith in one's faith is merely mechanical. It does not take the personality of God and the believer's relationship to God into consideration. Faith is trust in a powerful Being whose character is love and whose power is great. But faith is much more. We will understand this more and more as we continue reading the chapter.  


By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
by faith we understand the ages to have been prepared by a saying of God, in regard to the things seen not having come out of things appearing.
Through faith we understand that the worlds came into being, and still exist, at the command of God, so that what is seen does not owe its existence to that which is visible.
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Heb 11:1 Substance and Assurance

There are few chapters in the Bible where words are defined. Off-hand, I can think of two. The Love chapter and the Faith chapter. Why must God define faith for us?  Why did he decide to define faith or love after the death of Christ?  Both faith and love are important.
The faith chapter makes sure that we will not misunderstand what faith is and does, and how true faith appears. It is a strange definition, filled with examples rather than the definitions and synoyms. It begins with definitions, to be sure. And there are definitely words that give us a clue to what true faith is. But he defines faith by showing examples.  A picture and a story are worth a thousand definitions.
So, faith is confidence. A primarily spiritual expectation of good. It is assurance. It is not mental confidence but an emotional rest and trust in God's word, love, and character. Faith is also substance. It exists and has a reality. In the spiritual realm, words and thoughts have an existence and a reality that we cannot understand from our earthly human mind.  Faith is spiritual matter and it has action and power that we can only understand as we do faith. Faith is not merely belief. Belief is rational. Faith is from the heart.
Because we cannot fully comprehend what faith is, the Holly Spirit uses the Apostle Paul to give examples of what faith is and how faith works.


Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Heb 11:1 NLT
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.
Now faith is a well-grounded assurance of that for which we hope, and a conviction of the reality of things which we do not see.
Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen.
And faith is of things hoped for a confidence, of matters not seen a conviction,

Poem: Listening to Vladmir Costa's "Promenade Sentimental"

Once, my husband put on a jazz tune, urged me to listen.
Who the musician was I don't remember,
don't care to.
Forgive me.
I know very little of Jazz.
But it all seems the same to me.

Jazz ruminates, closes me in.
Trapped in the musician's mental rumination
and the thread of his thought
I grow impatient
at the over-thinking
at being locked into someone's mind
at the pursuit and end of thought.

It's navel-gazing.
And as the saxophonist, pianist, whoever,
pursues and gets wound up
in his thread of thought
I don't like the fraying.

I find myself hoping with each
theme and variation
that he will leave his thought behind
that he wil just let it all go.

But now, he repeatedly returns.
Again, the stasis
Again, the looping.
Again, he returns to the theme and thought
which he is determined to muddle through.

And I, cannot free myself from his mind.
I am captured without being captivated.
Because it is all so mental, so interior.

But this --
this "Sentimental Walk" of Costa's.
I've heard it played on piano
and on guitar.
And it never fails to please
to heal
to bring me outside --so to speak--
into a larger world. 

It iterates, yes,
and reiterates,
echoing and repeating
the similar strain
but it's the heart's iteration
and the repetition doesn't close the hearer in.
Instead, with each iteration,
there is an out-movement
a rising higher
from the original thought. 

In my heart's mind,
in my heart's eye
I see through Costa's eyes.
He is strolling carelessly
near a lake in a small park
or on the boulevard of a large city.
The day may be bright or dark.
There may be people nearby or he may be alone.
But there is solitariness. 

I do not mean
alienation
or reclusivity
or solipsism.

Because I feel that 
the composer's heart is fully engaged
with his surroundings
and with whatever his eyes look upon.

Here he sees a pretty girl
and smiles, perhaps remembers one like her...from his past.
He blesses the memory, then, 
Then moves on.

His glimpse catches a ripple in the lake.
He stops to ponder the water flowing outward
from the center of the ripple,
receives it into his spirit, so to speak,
Then he looks up
at a cloud drifting across the sky.

One feels as one listens
that the air is crisp
but Cosma doesn't feel the cold.

Or the night is dark
or his own life's night is nearing its midnight
yet the composer's eyes and heart
are seeing the world anew.

There is nostalgia and sentiment
in this gentle meditative strolling.
The past is enfolded in the present
and if the past ever held grief or sorrow
the composer is now at peace with it.

Several times
a note lingers
as if Cosma has stopped midway in his stroll
to muse on a little pebble or
another rippled in the lake
but the musical movement never lingers long.

There is closure for the past
peace in the present
and acceptance. 

This does not happen in Jazz
which is often so preoccupied
with fully knowing
and fully understanding.

In Honor of Terry Pratchett

Spring into another world in April: free sci-fi/fantasy contest in honor of Terry Pratchett!

 

 

 

 

Writing Contest - Echo of Another World

Inkitt's April contest is focusing on the sci-fi/fantasy genre. The theme is "Echo of Another

World." In honor the late great Terry Pratchett, they want stories that will take you to another

world the way his novels did: bring you to outer space, to an enchanted castle, to a forest filled

with fairies – anything with fantastical or science-fictiony leanings goes!

Submission Details

All fiction up to 15,000 words is eligible for entry. Novel excerpts are encouraged; fanfiction is

not. The contest begins on April 7th and will close on May 5th .

 

Prizes

Winners will receive Amazon gift cards ($40, $30 and $20). The first place winner will also

get five printed copies of their story, with a custom cover created by Inkitt’s designer!

Got fantasy in your fingertips, sci-fi on the mind?

 

Go check out the stories at

 

http://www.inkitt.com/anotherworld and do the Discworld proud!

My story, FLIGHT, is located here http://www.inkitt.com/stories/11721 
Please read and vote for it. Thanks!

Spring into another world in April: free sci-fi/fantasy contest

in honor of Terry Pratchett!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Dark Parables: God will show and Time will tell

I had a vision this morning. Been a while.

A wind was blowing debris and a white garbage bag down a street. The wind was white. Just white transparent/cloudy. Ash? The streets were deserted.

Wondering what "white wind" represents.

God will show, and Time will tell.

Matter

Matter.
I roll the word over and over on my tongue until it attains a foreignness.
Matter.
Matter.
Matter.
I repeat: They --harsh people, harsh words-- do not matter.
I test the healing words: "You do not matter."
I create a mantra on my bed: "She does not matter."
Matter. What does it mean that they do not matter?

When my friend Rain was small
a little Arab-American kid
walking to and from her Catholic elementary school
on the streets of Brooklyn
voices of neighborhood kids
would jeer at her:
Arabian Nights, Arabian Nights
they would sing.

It was the 1950's
and she was dark then
she has lightened over the years
But her then darkness
her Arabianness
her smallness
was perfect fodder for the cruel.

For many days she endured
Then one day --
even at so young an age --
the wisdom came:
"They do not matter."

She repeated the insight
allowed the epiphany to seep into her
and soon she stopped crying at their cruelty.

At last they noticed:
"Rosemary, why don't you cry or argue with us anymore?"
She answered,
"Because you don't matter."

They laughed.
But never again did their words hurt her.
And now she advises me to think:
"They do not matter."
I'm trying to see this present cruelty as not mattering.

Matter. Mattering. :-) Muttering. Mutter.

But if I were to manage to mutter to that cruel one: You do not matter....
what would that mean?
Would it mean that I see her unmattered, non-existent, dead?

Matter.
To be of importance?
Matter to me:
To be of importance to my life?
Matter to the world:
To be of importance to the world.

You do not matter.
Your cruel words about me do not matter.
You do not matter to me.
Your cruel words about me do not matter to me.
You do not matter to the world.
Your cruel words about me do not matter to the world.

That last one:
the world.
Yes, your cruel untrue unkind words about me
do matter to the world.
For they brought down grief on my head
a feeding frenzy of cruelty
And they cannot be unsaid.

Matter.
The words do not matter.
You do not matter.
Could I say that?
No, I am not so cruel.

But you. . .
you were.

Poem: I saw them as well

Those crows you spoke of --
I saw them.

Winging agitatedly
across the graying mackerel sky.

I did not see the wounded raven
or the family of rabbits.

Because I had no dog with me
as you had
pulling and scenting and chasing.

So I have seen what you saw.

I wonder why the crows
cawed so loudly
why the darkening day
sent them
flying back and forth
their shadows dotting the winter sky.

I do not wish to see them again.
Whatever their purpose
I do not want to know.

Nor do have I cause to find the dead raven.
Nor do I want to see the limping hare
hobbling toward its family in its hutch.

But I wanted to tell you
so you would know
that I'd heard you
and your sleeptalk of the crows.

Poem: Watching Lee Jun Ki dance

So then...

if we stand outside of an ugly emotion

and peruse it

without guilt,

without self-recriminations

without moralizing

We can see the need

that birthed it.

So then...

this bitterness, this envy 

-- and do not tell me

that suffering makes the soul purer.

It does not!--

this bitterness, this envy

rose and continue to rise

from a pure need.

Again, I will not judge myself.

I only wish to be well.

Today I saw a body move effortlessly

across the dance floor

a beautiful body full of life and joy.

I fought against envy.

Being old, I fought against despair.

Being sickly, I fought against envy and anger.

I sat and watched

and managed to rejoice

in that one's lightness and youth.

I couldn't quite hope.

But I didn't hate either.

And I managed to smile.

Poem: Ten poems on Lee Soo Hyuk (my ICB)

Yesterday, early-early, I opened my computer:
you were there.
A glimpse, merely
But later, all my thoughts were of you.

II
Men should not be so beautiful
Or old women so lustful.

III
As a teenager, I loved David Cassidy,
Edward Albert Jr, Martin Sheen, Jan-Michael Vincent
Forty years later, I'm scouring websites
for stories of you
If I had a grand-daughter, I would steer her to you

IV

I want to be a vowel in your mouth: caressed

V
In the teaser,
You walked across your studio,
eyes moist from welling tears
On the window pane raindrops trailed;
Teaser indeed:
I wished you were not for me.

VI
You make me smile
Jae-rim makes me laugh;
why should i love you so much
you who only make me smile?

VII
A fragile delicate beauty
milk-white skin
some hidden unspoken pain
eyes that become narrow slits when you smile
and I am suddenly lost.

VIII
I did not like suits
until you wore them
you've made me shallow.

IX
Surrounded by your friends
all as young as you
all as beautiful
but even there you stand out:
why has my heart chosen you?

X
My friend asked me what "ICB" meant:
I gave her the literal definition
"Imaginary Celebrity Boyfriend"
The metaphorical meaning
only old women understand.

Poem: Crying for myself

This morning I cried for my life
and how the body betrays --
that the soul wants so much to wander
but the physical body cages.

Once I envied the sprinter
the casual ascender of many stairs
the dancer
the mother who chases her errant child
down rows and rows of city blocks without apparent fear

while i dreaded to rise from bed
fearful my heart would fail

I am so tired now, frail
but no envy
just grief, grief, and regret
that thirty years have been spent in illness.

Thirty years too soon.
Sixty years too soon.
I should not have gotten so old
at such a young age.

Poem: Fall comes suddenly

In the five years since you've moved here
your steps have gotten slower.

All evening, I kept looking at you.
There must've been pity in my eyes.
You walked so slow.

I turned to look at you last night
in the parking lot.
The air was so crisp last night
the leaves swirling about in eddies around our feet

Twenty years we've known each other;
Please live another twenty.
I want my friend always at my side.
In twenty years time, will I be as frail as you?

Remembering how you turned the steering wheel
I think of how relentlessly time turns.

I want to shout to your children:
Be careful with her, she's getting old.
But I can't do that.
You might hear.