Something is missing in my heart

Something missing in my heart tonight

Has made my eyes so soft

My voice so

Tender,

My need of God

Absolutely

Clear

                Hafiz, The Gift, Landisky, Trans. P 277

_________________________________________

I need Sacred Presence this morning

for something is missing

in my heart

I am pained by death

by pastors shot in their own church

by soldiers gunned down on a hot southern afternoon

but a deeper pain comes

when I realize how ready we are to hate

and see events through the eyes of prejudice

how easily we rate death

and how quick we are to value some lives far more highly than others

a deeper pain comes when I see

how differently we judge those

whose extreme view

drive them to extreme acts

depending on how close their ideology is

to our ideology

all extremism that leads to violence and death

makes the heart of God hurt

a deeper pain comes

when I see how ready we are to respond to hate with hate

and violence with violence

O God

forgive us

our need of You

is absolutely

clear