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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, July 31, 2014

Honest to God

“My belief is that when you're telling the truth, you're close to God. If you say to God, "I am exhausted and depressed beyond words, and I don't like You at all right now, and I recoil from most people who believe in You," that might be the most honest thing you've ever said. If you told me you had said to God, "It is all hopeless, and I don't have a clue if You exist, but I could use a hand," it would almost bring tears to my eyes, tears of pride in you, for the courage it takes to get real-really real. It would make me want to sit next to you at the dinner table.

So prayer is our sometimes real selves trying to communicate with the Real, with Truth, with the Light. It is us reaching out to be heard, hoping to be found by a light and warmth in the world, instead of darkness and cold.
                                                                                Anne Lamott,  Help, Thanks, Wow!
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the book has sat on my shelves
a little dusty
and very untouched for so many years

I never liked the book
not that I didn’t find it challenging

it was more than a bit rebellious
for its time

out of its pages came, clearly stated for perhaps the first time
at least in English
situational ethics
and the concept that perhaps we need a new God
or at least a new image of God

the little tome had its merits

but it was not a book that was going to make it through
4 or 5 moves and the obligatory book purging that accompanies such moves

except for one thing

its title
Honest to God

I like looking up there, as I walk by my book case
and being reminded each day
that my connection to the sacred is not going to mean a thing
if I am not honest to God

if it is not my real self
connecting with and communicating with the Real
is not a connection that is ultimately open, and real
and thus not a connection that is powerful
and life changing

the less honest I am with God
the more barriers I have put up,
and the less the sacred can become
a part of the fabric
that is the day to day
me

so thank you John A T Robinson
and thank your Anne Lamott
for reminding me
that when it comes to my
connection with
“the ground of all being”
“the Sacred”
“God”

I just gotta be me

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Fighting the Joy

There are times
do you have them too?
when you feel frigging useless

no matter what role I think of this morning
parent (that’s the big one right now)
pastor (always)
director
friend (I feel like I have few if any friends)
person

I feel inadequate
as if my path through life
for 63 years
has led me to a place

where I am pretty much
alone
alienated
or perhaps tolerated

does this sound like a pity party?
yep!
does to me too
but it doesn’t change the way I feel

so this morning
as the sun burns its way into the sky
the question is this

what do I do different today
tomorrow
the next day?

how can I stir the embers of the sacred within me
so that my sacred self
can shine through the
layers
and layers
and layers
of insecurity and questioning
and failure

accumulated honestly over so many years
and bring back
the spark of life and love
that some where
at some time
burned brightly

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Celestial Fire

“We all know we're going to die; what's important is the kind of men and women we are in the face of this.”
 Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
_______________________________________________

“I am going to live to be 100!”
she declared stoutly from her hospital bed

small
wrinkled
looking so frail in her hospital gown

her body bearing evidence of her illness

she is fresh from a walk across the room

“I couldn’t have done that yesterday”

the light in her bright eyes is furious
this is one determined woman
for whom life is still an adventure
still to be lived

out of her 80 something year old frame
the young girl still dances
Spirit driven
forever young

come O Sacred One
fill all your children
with such celestial
fire