Tag Archives: Thomas O. Lambdin

My Couch/8

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My office couch is a resting place,
not for weary bones after long days, or
curled limbs cradling books of adventures
to be joined. But more often for mail
needing attention, tomes calling for their
shelves, mending awaiting nimble fingers,
notes to be answered. The cushions ignored,
comfort buried in worry.

When the hodgepodge begins its spread
to the floor I scold myself as impatient
mother to shameful child and resolvedly
begin the sort. Trash bag gap-mouthed
ready to swallow once vital, now shrugged
off trifles without a second thought, I wonder
why I fear the beggarly litter when grace and
love are buried so deeply under daily agenda.

In the peace of clearance, in quieted space
of tasks released, I see the opening,
voluminous, bigger than clutter could
ever shroud. Arms welcome rest to lay
my head, put up my feet to still myself and
hear his call, let him cradle me, his beloved.

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Author’s note:

I am not a fisherman.

My study of the Gospel of Thomas took a break through the Advent and Christmas seasons followed by my project with Brigid of Kildare and Imbolc. With Lent looming, I decided it is time to return to Thomas for a bit.

I am on Logion 8 and the image of fishing left me cold. I attempted it, the logion not fishing,  a while back during a small breath of space between the two seasons. I was stumped.

Thomas O. Lambdin’s translation from  the Gnostic Society Library:

(8) And he said, “The man is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of small fish. Among them the wise fisherman found a fine large fish. He threw all the small fish back into the sea and chose the large fish without difficulty. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.

I decided to approach Logion 8 one more time through Lectio Divina on my cleared-off couch.

Enough said.
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If you would like to read the others poems in my study, click the titles below. Or you can also visit all of them on the Theophany page.

The Lion and The Mortal/7
Towers/6
Through the Mirror/5
Alone/4
Breath/3
Sovereignty/2
Twin/1  

The Lion and The Mortal/7

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Lion devours mortal, becomes mortal.
Mortal devours Lion, becomes leonine.

You made your way through dusty streets,
sandaled, dry, hung in cloth worn soft by travel.

Your face browned in the sun, rough, intimately lined.
Your beard and your hair braided with sand.

The Lion came to devour that which was human.
Eat. Drink. Weep. Teach. Unyieldingly love.

Perish. You left a banquet table for the feast.
We consecrate and gorge to become worthy, yet

forget that on which the Lion feasted.
The Lion became mortal, we are one.

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Author’s Note:

In pondering Logion 7, it is said that the two images are not parallel. It is said that Jesus is describing two different states of human beings. I think I understand this, but I have a different way of seeing this parable.

Jesus, not as the lamb but as the Lion of God, leonine in his love for us, becomes human, lives human. The curse of being human is death itself. Jesus had to die because he was mortal. However, He left us the last supper, our communion, as a reminder. When we eat the Lion He becomes a part of us, we become the Lion. We need this reminder lest we forget that He is the Lion within us.

I think I will need to return to this logion and my understanding of this gospel grows.
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Logion 7 of the Gospel of Thomas translated by Thomas O. Lambdin as found at the Gnostic Society Library.

(7) Jesus said, “Blessed is the lion which becomes man when consumed by man; and cursed is the man whom the lion consumes, and the lion becomes man.”

The other poems in this series of my study of the Gospel of Thomas can be found at Theophany or here:

Towers/6
Through the Mirror/5
Alone/4
Breath/3
Sovereignty/2
Twin/1  

Sovereignty/2

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He was an odd figure, scarecrow like,
if viewed from a traveler’s distance.

Dainty wildflowers a field, his place of holy reverence.
His arms wide spread as if hung from timbers

awaiting joyful flight. Each wrist wrapped
in common twine.  On the right from every string,

a sparrow taught against the knots aloft
in heaven’s marrow. In the left a cage swung freely

door opened balanced in precision where his soul remained
perched ever waiting an absolute decision. With one great breath,

his rough capped head deep bowed in piety, he bent his knees
to lift himself. But it was earth and not the sky

where rest was firmly planted. In their hearts his rapture
grew no longer from a distance.

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Author’s Note:

This is the second poem in my project. I am studying the Gospel of Thomas. In response to my learning, my intention is to write a poem for each Logion.

Logion 2 from the Gospel of Thomas. Translated by Thomas O. Lamdben from the Gnosis Archive:

(2) Jesus said, “Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All.”

Here is a link to Logion 1, the first in my series:

Logion 1        Twin

Twin/1

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Grasping with one last stronghold weathered,
now swarthy, once supple and verdant,

then golden to russet, now brittle,
her breath chides me to release my grip,

wisdom’s tumble down to earth.  Yet by my side
I am twin, identical or kin we twist

and turn through seasons’ favors
to shade or gift pure expiration.

Within my veins his words still
flow. I am parchment left behind.

I will loosen, take her ride,
crumble to dust leaving bare

a fashioned branch refined
for spring’s incumbent arrival.

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Author’s Note:

I was recently introduced to The Gospel of Thomas among other writings that did not “make it” into the canonical gospels. Sharon Taylor, a spiritual director at the Church of the Holy Family, ECC, gave me a taste of these sayings of Jesus at a workshop. I am so very surprised to hear these words, many of which are used in the New Testament. These are transformative words. They open my eyes and heart to help me discover who I am.

I also now realize how writing helps me process and understand, and then explain my learning. So my new project plan is to write a poem based on each of the sayings of my study of the Thomas gospel and the sharing within our study group.

The above poem is a similar take, “twin” seems appropriate here, on one of my earlier poems in October, Marl. Must be the season.

Here is Logion I from the Gospel of Thomas that I used as part of my prompt. This translation is from the Gnostic Society Library by Thomas O. Lambdin:

These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.
(1) And he said, “Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death.”