Leviticus 8

Uncle Moses, why

are my brothers dragged dead

outside the camp,

and why

are the rest of us dripping

with blood?

This headband is tight,

and the drips from the lobe

of my right ear are 

distracting, like the rain

off the roof of my tent when

I'm wrestling uneasily

with sleep.

Uncle Moses, where

is the Compassionate? The Slow-

to-Anger One who hid you

within fire-formed rocks,

brought you into His presence and

let you live? 

Fiery incense and disobedience?

Where is Maintaining Love?

We are less

than thousands, we a weeping

and bloody family before Him.

Uncle Moses, what of me? I am

short in my robes, clumsy, bound

to tangle in these folds, knock into 

the altar. My chin barely has enough hair

to be singed. Forgive

the wicked questions, Uncle Moses,

but the fear...

Day 6: Mid-Day

Isaiah 6

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory..."

The Romanian room was meager, and we were moderately worn
out from a day of holding. We met God at the cradle, and from our lips
He ordained praise in awe of infants. Now lightning was striking;

they were alone and we were alone, we perceived. But in a grave bass,
dread welled up within us. Holy! Holy! Holy
Fear! Intense and bottomless, ringing these beds, round our feet,

and climbing. We felt at one, in sparseness, with our quarters
and quickly looked to conceal ourselves amid garments, pillows, and
blankets. We lay as helpless as crying babies in cribs,

and confessed to our lack of knowledge. How presumptuous we had been!
Holy heaviness covers those who we leave with hearts in tears. i have failed
to trust that You are there as You are here.

And then where does that leave hands that can no longer hold? Folded,
i suppose. Intercession is a lesson taught in times of terror, grown
beneath overwhelming, awful love, that we can no longer think so little of.