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Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Thursday, March 14, 2024

No level Ground

There is no level ground

At the foot of the cross

 

Lady justice

Is not blind

 

It is a myth

that any American has an equal opportunity

to “pull themselves up” by the bootstraps

 

Injustice and inequity live

Justice has been bought and sold

 

And that ground at the foot of the cross?

 

That ground is not level or safe

It is a restricted territory, guarded by gatekeepers

Who embrace the Kingdom but reject the Kindom

It is a place where grace is denied

 

The cries of the oppressed rise

From the rubble of Gaza where children starve and die

From the wire-filled waters of the Rio Grande, where hope is lost

From the cold streets of America,

Where the homeless are tossed and neglected

 

The empty cross stands guarded

 

But the risen Christ stands

Tears flowing, eyes raised, arms outstretched

With the oppressed, the addicted

The lost

The vulnerable

 

This is what he came for

To bring the rulers down from their thrones

To scatter the proud

To send the rich away empty

 

To fill the hungry

And lift up the humble

 

And we can stand with Jesus

Our tears mingling with his

Our feet covered with dust

Our hearts aching

 

We can stand resisting those who abuse power

And neglect the poor

And refuse to welcome the stranger

 

We can stand

With those who are hated, rejected, and reviled

 

Or we can linger in the halls of power

We can follow those who preach power and wealth

Who seek to become more by making others less

Who chose power over service

Profit over people

Hate over love

Lies over truth

 

We can stand with Jesus

Or we can stand against him

Crying “Lord, Lord”

As the sand crumbles beneath our feet

 

 


Thursday, March 7, 2024

Why?

I have stood on the edge of a midnight canyon

And called out my question into silent shadows:  Why?

 

Why suffering?  Why pain?

Why the hurt that haunts our lives?

Why the wrong that overwhelms the good?

 

I get no answer, only an echo.

I will go on asking

Until the next generation of questions takes my place.

Suffering will not have the last word

Not without challenge.

 

We may not know the reason

But we will have the dignity of the question.

          Steve Charleston (Spirit Wheel, p. 26)

____________________________________

 

I am one of unsettled mind

And unsettled soul

And unsettled heart

 

I walk this world

As one who is not home

I am eternally homesick

I long for a place where I can rest

Where the pain will subside

And peace will flood my soul

 

Where I can sit with Julian

And say

“And all will be well”, “all manner of things shall be well”

 

Always there is that glimmer of hope

That heart knowledge that God is love

And God loves me

And that love permeates all

 

Always there is that whisper

That God will not abandon us, or this creation

And that resurrection, newness will always come

 

I remember that Sacred takes the very instruments of destruction

Serpents in the wilderness and cross

And transforms them, transfigures them

Into healing and life

 

Surely if Sacred can transform the cross

Even the foulest and most destructive of systems and people

Can be transformed

 

And out of the ashes of hate and fear

Authoritarianism and greed

Life can spring

 

But still, this world draws me away from such comfort

And my heart hurts

And my mind races

And faith falters

 

And thoughts come

And words too

That are not redemptive

Not kind

Not love

 

Ah Lord

In the middle of the questions

And in the uncertainty of a struggling world

Mute my fear

Calm my anger

Give me enough grace, at least enough

 

That I may be kind

That I may speak words of reconciliation

That I may challenge gently, with a soft front and a strong back

That I may ask the questions

And speak the truth as I see it

 

But never abandon love

Because Love will never abandon me

 

 


Wednesday, March 6, 2024

It's a good day to live

It is a good day to live…

 

Let me embrace each dawn as a gift

Let me walk the hours of day unafraid

With grace and faith unbounded.

Let evening find me close to those I love

Warming my soul by the fires of their laughter,

 

Let me sleep believing tomorrow will be a blessing.

          Steven Charleston  (Spirit Wheel)

__________________________________________

 

I am sitting in the dark

Waiting for the light to come

 

There is always that moment on long winter nights

As the snow falls and the wind howls

When I wonder

If the light will once again return

 

Will the sun rise over the frozen hills?

Will the clouds break and let

The brilliance of the sun

Set the world afire?

 

Sometimes if feels as if the light will never come

Or if it rises will do so weakly

Pale light

Which brings no warmth

No resolution to the cold bleakness

 

It is hard to have hope these days

So much of the world lies in the cold darkness

Of human suffering, oppression, inequality

Hate is piled on top of hate

Violence begets violence

 

And our eyes have become adjusted to the light

And daily we trod

Carefully,

Picking our way through the darkness

Leaving it untouched

 

Yet we are called to the light

To embrace it

And carry it

 

To be, not candles in the wind

But angel fire

People who set the world aflame

With hope

 

So let us rise

Let us raise our voices to the heavens

Declaring

It is a good day to live…

 

Let embrace this day as a gift

And walk through this troubled world unafraid

Full of grace and truth

 

May the Spirit burn like a fire

So that we walk in the light

And become light in the darkness

 

And may we join with others

In singing the song of hope and love

Joining our light together

So that the fire of God’s love

Sets the world aflame

 

And our souls are warmed

And hope is birthed

 

This is a good day to live

And serve

 __________________________

 

His Word is a lamp unto my feet

A light upon my way

And I do well to pay it heed

Until the final day

Until the day dawns

And the morning star

Arises in your heart

Take this lamp and light your way

To your eternal home

                     John Fischer