collaborative stranger
by lauren d'auria, rachel, Mew, and Anonymous

'like strangers that know each other really well'
'connected by something that can't be explained'
'not quite friends but not quite strangers'
the awkwardness of newness embodied in the moment
looking back on the comfort of the well known
contemplating dancing around it-
the all familiar notorious phrase
repeating the words 'hi, how are you?' in different ways.
but there is a distinctive difference floating.
the fixed gaze of the other seems inundatingly natural.
were the memories made forgotten?
or is it simply a reminding coincidence?
'this week i met somebody well.. kind of new.
spent two days and no longer 'strangers."
like at first site. like its always been
i feel as if ive known you without beginning

"hello"
by lauren d'auria

hello miscommunication i'm back
but its ok just dont peer pressure me
meaningless words are fake
might as well be a lip sink
not fulfilling the void of their sound
not completing what was meant to be heard
long times of blank black outs
streaks of all, streaks of nothing
satisfied by soundless associated affection
together lacking a phrase also lacking awkwardness
no stressful burdens no untalented shows by amatuer acting
no implementing a personable first impression
now that sounds good to me
there there nothing at all
and i remembered what i read
that a Greek philosopher said:
" the lonely man is the strongest man."

[i watched the sunset above the city on the top of a parking garage in the fan]
by lauren d'auria

...the light that is turned on by the morning each day is turned off and replaced by a natural bulbed night light. the rise and set are so beautiful yet decoratively subtle they are a not but special miricle. the free showing comes twice a day unseen by the neglectful audience of self included. there is no stage curtain covered in eyes waiting to be pulled. only two twelve hour scenes accented by its frame of surrounding clouds and as far as you can see, underlined by the horizon. the sun is so bright that when it retreats it leaves a few minute trail on one side of the earth on its way to visit the other. there's the moon, thumbnail, cut, only a slice tonight. the sun will return again shortly preceding the newspaper and coffee...

things our generation doesnt know how to do:

1. use a phone book
2. use a map
3. memorize phone numbers
4. do math with out a calculator
5. (you add one)

a convicting question that my friend asked me:

what would the world be like if everyone prayed as much as you do?

'and still His speech slumbers within our breast like a love-song half forgotten, and sometimes it burns itself through to our memory'
'now a man who loves with his heart yet holds a doubt in his mind, is but a slave in a gallery who sleeps at his oar and dreams of freedom, till the lash of the master wakes him'
'doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.'
'when He smiled His smile was as the hunger of those who long after the unknown. it was like the dust of stars falling upon the eyelids of children. and it was like a morsel of bread in the throat.'
'He saw for our eyes and heard for our ears, and our silent words were upon His lips; and His fingers touched what we could not feel.'
"oftentimes i have seen Him bend down to touch the blades of grass. And in my heart i have heard Him say: 'little green things, you shall be with me in my kingdom'"
'he loved all things of loveliness, the shy faces of children.'
'aye, He was a poet whose heart dwelt in a bower beyond the heights, and His songs though sung for our ears, were sung for other ears also, and to men in another land where life is forever young and time is always dawn.'
'and since i have known that my lyre has but one string, and that my voice weaves neither the memories of yesturday nor the hopes of tomorrow, I have put aside my lyre and i shall keep silence. but always at twilight i shall hearken, and i shall listen to the poet who is the sovreign of all poets.'
'on the day of reckoning these women shall rise before the throne of the Father, and they shall be made pure by their own tears. but you shall be held down by the chains of your own judgement. babylon was not put to waste by her prostitutes; Babylon fell to ashes that the eyes of her hypocrites might no longer see the light of day'
'all that was timeless before Him became timeful in Him.'
'we whose senses have been dulled, we gaze in full daylight and yet we do not see. we would cup our ears, but we do not hear; and stretch forth our hands, but we do not touch. and though all the incense of arabia, we go our own way and do not smell.'
'to Him the root of a buttercup was a longing towards God, while to us it is naught but a root.'

-kahlil gibran (Jesus: the son of man)

" I suppose I do have one unembarrassed passion. I want to know how it feels to care about something passionately. " -adaption

An alternative is long overdue, an alternative that always places relationship with God at the center of all of our realities. We need an alternative that never elevates God’s will above God. And we need an alternative that leaves us feeling as though we’ve returned to the heart of scripture and historical Christianity, not an alternative that leaves us guessing whether the scriptures would echo the same.


Understanding God’s Will , written by Kyle Lake, will be available October 2004 from Relevant Books.

'the night and the shadows of the night will not linger, and them orning shall soon find us if you will but stay with us'
'He did not utterly condemn the liar or the theif or the murderer, but He did utterly condemn the hypocrite whose face is masked and whose hand is gloved.'
'the earth was fragrant, and like the daughter of a king at her wedding feast, she wore all her jewels. and the sky was her bridegroom.'
'perhaps he is paying with his sorrow the price for your passing joy.'
'when you would pray, let your longing pronounce the words.'
'the sound of His voice never descended to emptiness, for the memory of mean keeps that which his mind takes no care to keep.'
'know you not, the slave in His dreaming would always be master; and the weakling would be a lion? the Galilean was a conjuror and a deceiver, a man who forgave the sins of all the sinners that He might hear Hail and Hosanna from their unclean mouths; and who fed the faint heart of the hopeless and the wretched that He might have hears for His voice and a retinue at His command. He broke the sabbath with those who break that He might gain the support of the lawless; and He spoke ill of our high preist that He might win attention in the sanhedrim, and be opposition increase His fame.'
'His blood shall run upon the earth, but they themselves shall know the wounds and the pain thereof, and they shall be baptized in their tears until they are cleansed of their sins.'
'the lilies and the brier live but a day, yet that day is eternity spent in freedom.'
'behold the brook and listen to its music. forever shall it seek the sea, and though it is for ever seeking, it sings it mystery from noon to noon. would you seek the Father as the brook seeks the sea?'
'you and your neighbor are two seeds sown in the field. together you grow and together you shall sway in the wind. and neither of you shall claim the field. for a seed on its way to growth claims not even its own ecstasy.'
'He spoke of leaves that sing only when blown upon the wind.'
'only in our aloneness may we visit the land of His aloneness'
'He loved us with tender love. His heart was a winepress. you and i could approach with a cup and drink therefrom.'

-kahlil gibran (Jesus the son of man)