Welcome

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



Wednesday, September 30, 2015

God wants You

God wants you
You in your imperfect, broken, shimmering glory
                                                Nadia Bolz-Weber,  Accidental Saints, p.169
______________________________________

God wants you
not just the parts of you that are joyful
and gracious

not just the self that you present to the world
filtered
and ultimately false

but God wants you
all of you

the good
and the bad
the generous and the stingy
the forgiving and the bitter
the one who loves
and the one who hugs hate to his or her heart
the strong and the weak

you need hide nothing
you need hold nothing back
Sacred Presence is ready to enfold
to comfort
to transform
to empower

so that you can,
broken open by love,
allow your
shimmering glory
to shine in a darkening world

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Treat the Children (of God) Well

If you want to know the religion of a man,
do not look at how much he prays and fasts,
rather look at how he treats people!!!
                                                Imam Ja'far al Sadiq (as)
________________________________________

it is not so much what I believe
nor what rituals I follow
nor what sacred text I read

it matters not what I wear
on a chain around my neck
or what kind of bumper sticker I put on my car

it doesn’t even matter which religion
I claim as mine

none of those things reveal
the God I truly follow

as much as whether I am kind to a hurting person
generous to one who is needy
accepting of one who is different
loving to one who is difficult
caring to one who needs healing

it matters how I treat people
for each person is
a child of God

and I am called
by the Sacred I would follow to
welcome
them

Monday, September 28, 2015

Whatever we love we are

This is a subtle truth
Whatever you love you are
                                                Rumi
_____________________________

what do we love?

whatever it is
it shows

whatever it is, it makes a difference
in what we say and do

what does it say
about where our heart is
when we hate
when we exclude and reject
and judge

what does it say when open carry is a priority
and feeding the hungry isn’t?

I suspect such things not only say something
about what we love

but who we love

if we love God
who is love
we should

what?

the subject today is love