Author Archives: Gordon C. Stewart

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About Gordon C. Stewart

I've always liked quiet. And, like most people, I've experienced the world's madness. "Be Still! Departure from Collective Madness" (Wipf and Stock Publishers, Jan. 2017) distills 47 years of experiencing stillness and madness as a campus minister and Presbyterian pastor (IL, WI, NY, OH, and MN), poverty criminal law firm executive director, and social commentator. Our cat Lady Barclay reminds me to calm down and be much more still than I would be without her.

Charlie Wisseman – Acrostic

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Charlie Wisseman

Charlie Wisseman

Charlie Wisseman
(An Acrostic)

Craft? Art? What is this new construction?
How is it even worth debating?
An artist surely in conception,
Real thought, and then the Thing creating…
Look well, each level may be hollow,
Inside another world is waiting,
Enlightenment may sometimes follow.

Wise man is right: so much is hidden,
Inside surprises, jokes, a giggle…
So secret are the ways to open
Sweet Sarah herself has to struggle
Each time a new box by the craftsman
Makes entrance into pure existence.
And who would know of so much hidden?
Now a pathologist, for instance?

-Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, May 1, 2014

A Disciple for Our Time

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Verse – No doubt

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No Doubt

I know he is guilty,
I know what he did.
He was wrong,
He was wicked,
He lied and deceived.
I’ll never forgive him,
I’ll never forget.
My resentment I’ll
Hold in my heart
Till I shrivel and die.
I know I am innocent,
I know I am right.

“The opposite of faith
is not doubt–
the opposite of faith
is certainty.”*

* Anne Lamott

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, April 28, 2014

Verse – 2 under 3

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2 under 3
John and Caroline

1 plus 1
equals 3
or more
when you
add a boy
and girl

to a young
couple both
who work
outside the
home as is
done today

you take him
and i take her
after day-care
after au pair
after nana
after nanny

we are so tired
there will never
be another
well maybe

 

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, April 27, 2014

To Whom the Good News Comes

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Easter sermon by Gordon C. Stewart at Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska, MN tying together Chris Hedges’ remarks about Friedrich Nietzsche, the women at the tomb, and a fourth century monk.

Goin’ Up Yonder

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Miss PaviElle French sang this solo at Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska, MN on Easter, 2014.

Fear and Faith

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The resurrected
Jesus was a man
and not a Zombie.
He was raised to be
alive, and not both
dead and living when
God seized him by his soul
and set him free.

He was not thirsting
after blood, was no
Vampire, did not become
immortal, but eternally
had life–there is, you know,
a difference… Jesus
spoke and drank and ate

with all his students,
the Disciples, though
they had all run away
when those with sword
and club, the Roman
soldiers, came to show
this upstart Rabbi
Caesar still was Lord.

The undead try to scare,
but Jesus said
“Have peace–you do not need
to be afraid.”

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, April 21, 2014

Maundy Thursday Tenebrae

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At Tenebrae, the ancient Maundy Thursday Service of Light and Shadow, there are no off-the-cuff remarks. Only Scripture. Only the story we do not want to hear. Our betrayal. Our cowardice. Our weariness. Our betrayal with a kiss. Our violence. Our denial. Our flight.

The church is dark except for the worshipers’ candles.

One by one, the worshipers blow out their candles as the nine readings are read from the midst of the congregation, as we recognize ourselves in the plot that leads to the crucifixion.

We know. We know this is our story. Our reality. Our dilemma.

Then, as if it were tonight, bread is broken. The wine is poured. In silence we share our common lot and wait for the good news we already know.

The Red-winged Blackbirds

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Yes, he protects us well, his red
and yellow shoulders flashing as
he flies. And when he perches, flares
his wings–the epaulets go wide,
his long, sharp beak thrust like a sword,
his cry is menacing, a shriek.

We see him at the very peak
of tree, or tip of cattail, lord
of meadow, marsh, his own wetland
small harem. We each build a nest
and raise, mostly, his chicks. The rest
have genes from yet another bird

because the male from the next field
can fly by, flash, and we will yield.

-Steve Shoemaker, April 17, 2014

Pure Joy – Take a Risk!

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The story of An and Ria experience their first flight – a signature video for people in their 70 and above, or, for that matter, 70 and below. Enjoy.