love

The

Moon asked me

to meet her in a field

tonight

I think

she has amorous

ideas

Fantastic

Hafiz

______________________________

on this day

when we talk about love

and pretend that a tiny

part of love is indeed the whole

when eros is celebrated

and equally powerful facets of love,

phileo and

storge

and agape are sometimes

neglected

let us remember

how big love really is

how it embraces

everything that

lifts up, and encourages

everything that protects

and builds

passion is there to be sure

but so too friendship

loyalty

kindness

generosity

patience

forgiveness

and let us remember that Love

is that from which all comes

and is that which holds

everything together

Love is

The Sacred One

God

And we can find Love everywhere

In a lover

A children

A parent

A friend

But also in

The moon

The sun

The wind

The trees

In the rivers and trees

And that is…

Fabulous

live like it's heaven

You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,

Love like you'll never be hurt,

Sing like there's nobody listening,

And live like it's heaven on earth.”

― William W. Purkey

_________________________________

Just good theology, this

Live with gusto!  Check

Live in love! Check

Lift your voice!  Check!

But that last line says it all

Live like its heaven on earth

Exactly!

Think about it

Why did Jesus come to this earth?

To teach us how to get to heaven?

No!

Jesus came to show the solidarity between heaven and earth

To remind us that the earth is Sacred

And so are the people who live on it.

He came to teach us how to live on this earth

not how to scratch our way to heaven

To teach us how to bring the Kingdom of Heaven (or God)

In to being

Here!

Now!

And we are taught to pray

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done

On earth!

and we are impelled to live accordingly

which means fighting for justice

making peace

demanding and creating equity

advocating for and working for equality

We should support nothing on this earth

That would not be allowed in heaven

No caged children

No people without clean water (or water at all)

No greed

No hate

Nothing

We should do nothing on this earth

that would not be acceptable in heaven

We should feed the hungry

Clothe the naked

House the homeless

We should be people of

compassion

generosity

and kindness

we should live like its heaven on earth

after all the

Kingdom is very near

perhaps as near as our breath

Part of a whole

No one ever knows what divine narrative God may be writing with the crooked lines of someone’s struggles, misdeeds, and omissions”

                                                            John O’Donohue

____________________________________________

to what degree do I believe

that God is engaged in my life

writing a divine narrative of which I am

somehow

a part?

that is a good question

I do believe that we live on Sacred ground

Moses was not unique

when his toes clutched the earth of the Sinai

and he stood in the flickering light of

divine fire

every step we take

we are in touch with what is Sacred

the earth

the sky

the mountains and rivers

the flora and fauna

that person we stumble across

all contain God

participate in God

are, in some sense Sacred

and the more aware one is of this

the more the Divine influences

each step

each action

each word

each thought

if I see God in the mountains

do I dare rip that mountain apart for coal

if God is in that river do I careless allow oil

to foul its waters?

If I see God in that child

can I pull her from her mother

and throw her into a cage?

If I sense the that man is a Child of God

can I discard him

because he happens to have an addiction?

I suspect that in some mysterious way

we do participate in some sort of divine narrative

But I suspect we participate in that narrative as a single thread

participates in an amazing handwoven carpet

We are woven into the fabric of something huge and complex

In my hubris I want God to be all about “me”

And my individual journey

I want God guiding each step

Determining my path

Setting me on my way

But the more I participate in the mystery

the more I understand that we are all so inextricably woven together

that we cannot separate our narrative from all narratives

our narrative is not more important than another’s narrative

we are not singled out for blessing

or for curse

we are part of a whole we cannot understand

we are in this together

each of us doing the best we can

moving along in torturous fashion

but all

together

creating the divine narrative

moving haltingly

toward that new heaven

and more importantly

that new earth