Releasing Jesus from the Weeds: Curious Encounters with the Risen Christ and Other Godly Moments

By Kristen Poirier Marquardt

From the pew to the pulpit to prayer, Kristen Marquardts writing has been serving Gods People in Connecticut for over thirty years. Her unique style in prose, poetry, and short story reminds us of our shared humanity and how our faith and faith struggles are no different than those of both biblical characters and the people we see everyday in our daily walk. With rare insight, Marquardt looks deeply into faith and strips away the boundaries that we all assume exist, reminding us that our hope is not ours alone, we all share a common path as Gods children.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 14, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512747669

Kristen Poirier Marquardt

Kristen Marquardt has been serving the church and God both volunteer and professionally for over 30 years, starting as a Sunday School teacher, CE Director, and Licenced Pastor. She holds a dual B..A. from Connecticut College in English Literature and Environmental Science and an M.S. In Theology and the Arts from Andover Newton Theological Seminary. She lives in Connecticut in a multigenerational home with her husband and many pets. She enjoys her family, writing, gardening and so much more...

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© 2016 Kristen Poirier Marquardt.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

WestBow Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Cover Photo by Steven Marquardt.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4755-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4766-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016910288

WestBow Press rev. date: 7/12/2016

Contents

Releasing Jesus from the Weeds

Emmaus

Peter Must be Tired

My Name is Peter

Moving Image

Yes

Lessons

Waiting

The Relative Christ

Pentecost

The Advocate

Face to Face

The Cathedral

Lady Slipper

Lilies

Of Gardens, Goats and Grandsons

Miriam’s Dance

Breathing God

Advent

A Mid Winter’s Dream

A Different Way Home

Logos

Dedication

Dedicated to that old brick church

at the end of the historic Lebanon Green

and to the many, many people,

some gone now,

who I have laughed with

and cried with,

prayed with,

and who have inspired many

of these stories.

And especially the children,

always the children

for after all

at the very beating heart of God,

there lies a baby,

sleeping.

In a manger.

Foreword

I first met Kristen in 1990 when I became pastor of a church in rural eastern Connecticut. Starting out as a new pastor is a challenging time; there is so much to learn, so many people to meet. Almost immediately, however, Kristen stood out for me and we had many conversations which were helpful to me in my new position. My most poignant memory during these early years is one Christmas Eve. I was busy with last minute details preparing for our 7pm Christmas Eve service. This was a popular service for many reasons, including reading the traditional Christmas story with parishioners taking the parts of the Holy Family, angels, shepherds and Kings. There were even live sheep making their way down the side aisles of the church with an occasional bleat! Kristen had written Advent, which is included herein, which she read during the lighting of the candles. She spoke of hope, peace, love and joy. As the Christ Candle was lit, she spoke of the light of Christ coming into the world…into the hearts of those who believed, never to be extinguished. Her words filled me with warmth and expectation.

Kristen has a natural gift for integrating the arts into meaningful worship. We had many wonderful times planning services, and it became very clear to me that her most powerful gift is her creative writing. She willingly shared this gift as she directed the Christian Education program and assisted in worship leadership. My Name is Peter was delivered on Palm Sunday as the morning message one year. It was the combination of her voice and her writing that hushed our sanctuary and created a space for each of us to experience Jesus through Peter’s eyes.

The ability to take scripture written over 2000 years ago and make it relevant to today takes an unusual gift, and Kristen has that gift. She is able to knit her own spiritual questions and longings with scripture and invites the reader to do the same. In the Emmaus story, maybe the reader is the old crazy woman on the bus. In Lilies, the reader perhaps identifies with the dying grandmother or the granddaughter who mourns her neglect of her grandmother. When you read this collection you will not only identify with the characters but you will also experience the sense of hope that comes only through God.

My favorite, Logos, stimulates my soul as I read of God’s movement through creation…all of creation. Kristen is a gifted writer, a writer that stirs the soul and causes us to think and feel more openly the existence of God in ordinary life. I call Kristen a wisdom writer.

Enjoy,

Sharon Ledbetter, Rev. Dr.

April 2016

Preface

This book is the compilation of many years of designing worship services, directing Christian Education programs, writing assignments for seminary classes, and simply being inspired by the world around me. It also represents the ongoing struggle to answer God’s call while not being quite certain what that call is.

Thus, the pieces you read may seem as different from each other as a CE Director, a seminarian, and a poet, yet they are all united by faith. Some of these pieces were written as dramatic monologues to use in service as the message, perhaps with an anthem or sacred dance to separate the larger sections. Other short stories were originally read aloud with two voices for dramatic effect. Some are straight forward stories and poems. All pieces have been adjusted for easier reading with any service instructions deleted.

Some of this work may be recognizable to those who have heard them used in services. Names have been deleted to protect the guilty(!), and I do hope any recognition brings a fond smile.

Yours in Christ,

Kristen Marquardt

April 2016

Releasing Jesus from the Weeds

Seven o’clock is really too late

to be out here weeding

what should have been tidied up

back in May.

He stands alone among the poison ivy

that hides beneath the briar

that has so boldly taken up residence here,

while the late September sky mocks me.

I pull and thrash and tug

at taproots well established

by my negligence and apathy,

as He stands with his arms outstretched,

just as He did in my grandmother’s garden

waiting for her to come home.

Emmaus

The absurdity of the situation seemed lost on everyone, everyone but her. Here was one car, empty but for one person, and the next car was overflowing with people. One woman, rather heavy-set and spacious, had chosen to squeeze her body into a single seat and invade the space of the neatly manicured businessman next to her rather than sit any closer. She would rather be snickered at by the other passengers than expose some other part of herself to the pleading eyes of the crazy black woman alone in the corner.

She was a frail women, thin to a fault and breakable, which only emphasized her aura of untouchability. Her eyes were small and narrow, focusing only occasionally, and her teeth had long since vacated her mouth. Her lips kept a constant motion though, as if she was speaking to someone distant in her memory and long since gone. She seemed to be crying as she slapped and pounded her leg, trying to remove the pain by inflicting more. Her leg moved up and down against the dirty subway floor in a steady rhythm, keeping time to a melody that no one else could hear.

She had not always been crazy. She was really not so crazy now. It was more like she had simply moved past caring, past caring what others thought of her, past caring what she thought of herself. It was as if she were alone in her mind, peering out only occasionally to notice that there was a world beyond her, filled with activity, filled with life, filled with people who were not interested in her anyway. What was the point? She belonged to the fringes, the banished people living on the edges, hiding in the corners of subway cars.

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The sand was sharp and warm against the bottom of his feet, stabbing at times and relieved only occasionally by the feel of a smooth pebble or two. It did not matter. Where he was going was far more important than a few physical discomforts. He saw the opening some distance ahead, and as usual, the road leading there was empty and desolate. Few feet were as familiar with this gravelly road as were his own, and even fewer dared to go beyond the rock boundaries into the interior of this forbidden place.

Inside, the rocky encampment appeared as desolate and abandoned as