by Ryan Keating

God doesn’t love you
The way a carpenter loves a hammer
for smashing parts together 
to build one more table in Bethlehem;
or the way a chess player loves the bishop
for accomplishing strategic captures
to exploit the rules and rule the board;
or the way a musician loves the trumpet
for producing a beautiful tune
to announce the glorious end
of an unresolved symphony.
You are an end, human, not just a means;
a victory, not just a strategy;
not the expense, but the reasons
for building a table where we can sit
one day in Jerusalem
together in conversation 
that needs no justification.
He loves, and therefore the world is,
and is in balance between the good
of the kingdom plan and the beloved
sons and daughters without sacrificing
either to a calculation
of instrumental usefulness
or production value.
So let the trumpet sound
for those of us who know we play
for good in a production without end.

Ryan Keating is a pastor, writer, wine maker, and coffee roaster living on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. His work can be found in various plublications including Ekstasis Magazine, Christian Century, Box, and Miras Dergi, where he is a regular contributor in Turkish and English.