Whenever Anyone Turns

He came down from the mountain
With the two tablets in his hands
And he did not know

His face was shining
Everyone saw it
Everyone but him
They were afraid to come near
He wondered why

He did not know
That his face was shining
The man without the veil
Is the last one to see it

So he covered it
Not for himself
For them
And every time he went in
He took the cover off
And every time he came out
He put it on again

He did not know
That his face was shining
The man without the veil
Is the last one to see it

So if you cannot understand
Why they cannot see
Remember the man on the mountain road
He could not see either
He was shining

Everyone saw it
Everyone but him

It is not over the eyes
If it were over the eyes
You would see it

Their minds were hardened
To this day
When the old words are read
The same veil remains

It lies on the heart
Not on the page
Not on the eyes
But on the heart
That is why no one finds it
By looking harder

You can show a man the sun
And he will say: I see it
And it goes in through the eyes
And stops
Where the veil is

There is a spot in every eye
Where you see nothing
And you never notice
Because you do not see
That you do not see

It lies on the heart
Not on the page
Not on the eyes
But on the heart
That is why no one finds it
By looking harder

You read with something in the way
That you cannot see
Because you see with it

Here is the sentence
It was written about one man
Going into one tent
Two emphases have shifted

It used to say: whenever Moses
Now it says: whenever anyone
It used to say: went in
Now it says: turns

Whenever anyone turns
To the Lord
The veil is taken away
Not earned
Not pulled off
Taken

No tent to walk into
No mountain to climb
You turn to him where you stand
And it is gone

Every time
That is in the sentence too
Not just once, with a certificate
Every time you turn to the Lord

Whenever anyone turns
To the Lord
The veil is taken away
Not earned
Not pulled off
Taken

Anyone
Turns
Taken
Three words
And none of them is yours to do
Except the middle one

A prophet was sent with these orders
Make the heart of this people hard
Their ears dull
Their eyes shut

Lest they see with their eyes
Lest they hear with their ears
Lest they understand with their heart
Lest they turn and be healed

Lest they turn
That was the sentence
Lest they turn and be healed
Turning was the movement
That was to be stopped

And then a letter
Centuries on
The same verb
In a different sentence
Whenever anyone turns
To the Lord
The veil is taken away

The same word
Once as a door that stayed shut
Once as a door that opened
The hinge is the same
The words give the direction
To the Lord

Lest they turn
That was the sentence
Lest they turn and be healed
Here it says
Whenever anyone turns
To the Lord
The veil is taken away

The hinge is the same
The hinge was always the same

Do we need letters of recommendation?
Papers?
A signature from someone important?

You are our letter
Written on our hearts
Known and read
By everyone

Not with ink
But with the Spirit
Not on stone
But on hearts
You are the letter
You are the proof

No one asks a tree
For a certificate
They look at the fruit
No one asks a letter
Who signed it
If they can read it
In your face

And this is the strange thing
The letter cannot read itself
It is read by others
Always by others

Not with ink
But with the Spirit
Not on stone
But on hearts
You are the letter
You are the proof

Known and read
By everyone
Everyone but you

One English word
Two meanings
The letter you send
The letters it is made of

The letter kills
Carved into stone
It names my guilt
It passes judgment
But judgment
Does not give me life

The letter kills
The Spirit gives life
Be a letter
But not made of letters

The ministry carved in stone
Had glory
It did
But that glory fades
The heart the Spirit writes on
Can still be changed
That is not its weakness
That is its life

A rule can tell me
What to do
The Spirit gives life
So the words
Become the life I live

The letter kills
The Spirit gives life
Be a letter
But not made of letters

Carved: the verdict
Written on a heart: life

Seven words
No verb
No owner

Where the Spirit of the Lord is
Freedom
It does not say: you are free
It does not say: you have freedom
It does not say: freedom is yours
Where he is
There

Freedom is a place
You do not carry it
You stand in it
Or you do not
Where the Spirit is
There

So do not look for it in your hands
Do not look for it in your papers
Look at where you are facing
That is where it is
Or is not

This is not freedom from the law
That is another letter
This is freedom from the cloth
Between your face
And his

Freedom is a place
You do not carry it
You stand in it
Or you do not
Where the Spirit is
There

Seven words
And the one that matters
Is where

Take the cloth away
And ask
What does a face do
When nothing is in front of it?

It sees
With an unveiled face
Beholding
The glory of the Lord

It speaks
With such a hope
With great openness
It says what it sees
Nothing held back
Behind the cloth

See
Speak
Change
Three things a face can do
When nothing is in the way
See
Speak
Change

And it changes
From glory to glory
It does not end
With what it sees
The Spirit of the Lord
Is changing us
Into his image

The cloth concealed
The end of a fading glory
But here Paul speaks
Of unveiled faces
And the Spirit
Who changes us

See
Speak
Change
Three things a face can do
When nothing is in the way
See
Speak
Change

Uncovered is not naked
Uncovered is being made

Read the order
First the mountain
Then the shining
Then the fear
Then the speaking
Then the cloth

The cloth was not the beginning
It covered
Something already there
Before anyone covered anything
The face was already shining

Before the veil
There was a face
Before the cover
There was light
Turning
To the Lord
Like coming home

The word for turning
Can also mean returning
And I hear in it
Coming home

Coming home is more
Than going back
With an unveiled face
Turned toward the Lord
From glory to glory
His Spirit changes us

Before the veil
There was a face
Before the cover
There was light
Turning
To the Lord
Like coming home

He first
Then the cover
Then the turning back

Before he denied anything
He was told
When you have turned
Strengthen your brothers
When — and not if

There was a fire in a courtyard
Coals
Servants
He stood with them and warmed himself
Heat from outside
Three times he denied him
I am not

When you have turned
Not if
When
It was said before the fire
It was true after

There was a fire by a lake
Coals
Fish
Bread
Jesus gave them bread
He was fed first

Then asked three times
Do you love me?
And with each question
A charge
Feed my sheep

Two charcoal fires
The same word
In two places
At the first he warmed himself
At the second he was fed
And asked
Do you love me?

When you have turned
Not if
When
It was said before the fire
It was true after

Fed
Asked
Sent
In this scene

Known and read by everyone
That is what a letter is for

You cannot hear your own voice
The way the room hears it
You cannot see your own face
The way the road sees it

Read by everyone
Everyone but you
The veil is seen by others first
The light is seen by others first
You are read
You do not read yourself

So when they are afraid of you
And you do not know why
And when they cannot see
What is so plain to you
It is the same road
From the same mountain
One of you is covered
One of you is shining
Neither one can see it

This is why you cannot
Turn another person
You can only be
What they see
When they turn

Read by everyone
Everyone but you
The veil is seen by others first
The light is seen by others first
You are read
You do not read yourself

Be legible
That is the whole job