community lost

Jesus had a fundamental vision—faith that all people [emphasis mine] are “children of God.” . . . teaching that each person has an uncreated soul that is actually a continuation of the Divine Life itself. When he met a person, therefore, he really believed that God was somehow present in that person, so he looked for that presence through all the overlying contradictions to it, until he found it. Then he addressed himself to that point in the person. As the Hindus also say, the divine in him saluted the divine in the other. When anyone does that, it tends to awaken the divine in the other, who is thus invited to speak from that place in return. [Notice the mutuality! It begins with one person’s generous gaze, which is then returned in kind.] This is the sort of thing we will need to accustom ourselves to doing if we are to succeed in developing the further levels of the [Jesus] program. . . .

                                                   Beatrice Bruteau (Holy Thursday Revolution)

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“child of God”

I mutter to myself

Child of God

Child of God

Child of God

Sometimes I mutter as I look in the mirror

on those days when I am struggling with “me”

it is difficult

some moments

to look behind beneath all the contradictions

to see, behind the anxiety which constantly plagues

the moments of sloth

the fits of anger

the pitiful impulsivity

child of God?

Really?

Yes, really

And so is that masked and camouflaged soul with the AR-15

howling into the face of a State Trooper

that lonely old soul trapped in their room at the senior living center

that brash young couple cruising the grocery store

with no attempt to distance

that beleaguered store clerk facing infection and resentment

putting their life on the line so I can buy bacon (and coffee)

its hard to see sometimes

but God really is present in us all

well hidden perhaps, behind the contradictions,

but there

Jesus could see it!

and he treated people accordingly

I am not so gifted

I find it hard to look for that spec of the Sacred

sometimes as small as a mustard seed

until I find it

all I can see is the contradictions

and I am not alone

we live in a world where all we see are the contradictions

the flaws, the things which irritate and anger,

the differences

we do not see that one way in which we are all alike

we do not remember that we all

are carriers, not of Covid-19, but of the Sacred

and what gets lost is community

what gets lost is our sense that we are our brother’s and sister’s keep

what gets lost, then

is compassion, kindness, generosity

and suddenly we are “not in this together”, but “alone”

This day, Lord, help me to look for you

in each person I meet

help me to keep looking, and looking, and looking

until I see – Namaste, Amen