Divine Possibility

“Earth is so thick with divine possibility that it is a wonder we can walk anywhere without cracking our shins on altars.”
― Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith
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It is easy to make a litany of thanks
to develop (as Beuchner calls it)
an alphabet of grace

thank you thank you thank you
Lord

for everything I can see, hear and touch
for everything I can do
(like jump jumping like a kangaroo – Avery and Marsh)

and I am thankful
for Margaret Louise
for Erin and Bryce (and Ryan and Kim too)
for Mara and Rory
for co-workers
and friends
for those I worship with each Sunday

for Chief Joseph Mountain
for firs and pines
for amorous deer
and audacious turkeys

for hens that lay
and horses that welcome

and so I am thankful
(sometimes)

but there is a lot of crap out there too
which if I let it
erodes my sense of gratefulness and gratitude

the list of evils is also impressive
(no need to propound, you know them as well as I)

and yet
grace abounds
for the earth is the Lord’s
and all that is in it

no matter what a mess we make of our relationship with the Sacred
(think any religion)
no matter how poorly we behave
no matter how terrifying and tragic life sometimes is

whether we know it or not
and although we are often unaware

God is in this place (we call life, and earth)
and we can not take a step
without tripping over
Sacred Love
and Sacred Presence

and so I am thankful
if for nothing else
than the fact that the earth is thick with God

and every place I stand
(and you stand)
Is Holy Ground

Loosen Up, O Dour Servants of God

What is the difference
Between your experience of Existence
And that of a saint?

The saint knows
That the spiritual path
Is a sublime chess game with God

And that the Beloved
Has just made such a Fantastic Move

That the saint is now continually
Tripping over Joy
And bursting out in Laughter
And saying, “I Surrender!”

Whereas, my dear,
I am afraid you still think
You have a thousand serious moves.”
Hāfez, I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy

loosen up
O
dour servants of God

the frozen chosen
those whose heads are full of rules
and rights and wrongs
busy sorting and judging

those who see a “war” on their faith
everywhere they look
and are convinced
that without them God will not survive

there are no moves left
that need to be made

the Dancing God
is joyfully present
in babies and carpenters
in saints and sinners
in you and I

pulling us into the vortex of
swirling love
irresistible and irrational
grace full

dragging us into joy
so that

we are too busy
laughing

to take ourselves seriously
anymore

God Awakens

” God sleeps in the rock,
dreams in the plant,
stirs in the animal
and awakens in man. ”
– Ibn Arabi

the sun rises
reluctantly

casting faint rays through
the gray

hints of light
captured in the snow
which clothes the grass

sparkling
dancing
as the wind swirls
laughing

a wide eyed doe
stares down a young buck
amorous on this brisk morning

as I walk
awestruck
by God’s grandeur

and Sacred Presence
awakes in my soul
and will not be denied

dawn

Those who cannot be lost

May you know that absence is full of tender presence and
that nothing is ever lost or forgotten.
May the absence in your life be full of eternal echo.
John O’Donohue, Eternal Echoes

there are empty places
in my soul
where people were

once alive
now gone
once close
now distant

people I loved
people who loved me

loneliness
echoes in the spaces
where warmth
and love once lived

and yet hallowed
presence remains
ghostly wraiths

of moments captured
touches remembered
of faces
and smiles

eternal echoes
of those
who cannot be lost
to
the
heart
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For all the Saints, Who from their labors rest

Feeding, being Fed

…if Jesus said “I was hungry and you fed me,” then Christ’s presence is not embodied in those
who feed the hungry (as important as that work is), but Christ’s presence is in the hungry being fed Nadia Bolz-Weber, Accidental Saints, p.47

there they are
those who would shame the poor
who would call them lazy and wretched
moochers

trash

how dare they
how
dare
they

violate the way of Jesus

there we are
Pope Francis
and all those who would heed the call

to feed the hungry
clothe the naked
house the homeless
comfort the afflicted
ah yes
we are the ones
who the live the way of Christ
we are Christ’s hands and feet

well actually
we are not

no
we are simply those with the privilege
of greeting Jesus
as he comes
dirty
drunk
tweaking
smelly
homeless

yes that person
that one we feel so righteous serving
is Jesus

and it is our honor
to hold that wrinkled hand
to look into those eyes
so filled with pain and hopelessness
and greet
the Christ

who comes
and comes again
in the least of these

it is Jesus
the same Jesus who knelt in the dust
and washed feet
and then asked his shocked followers
to wash his feet

that is the way it is with this one
who is in me
and you
and is in everyone we meet
this one who comes
to minister and be ministered to

yes, Jesus is in us as we listen
and care
and as we try desperately to be real

but Christ is also in that one
we would look on with pity
Christ is in that one
looking out in love

reaching out
to touch the hunger
and pain
and loneliness

Jesus reaching out to touch
The parts of us that are poor
or blind
or crippled

Christ is there
Seeing us as we really are
(for those who are hurt see through all the bullshit better than anyone)

And yes,

Christ is there
seeing
and loving
and seeking to touch those who
would shame and exclude

yes them too

for Jesus does stuff
like
that

Tired Soul, Soul Alive

“What is this Light
that comes out of your Eyes
and off of your Face?
I wish I didn’t have
to do anything else in this World
…. but gaze at your Face. ”

– RUMI
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we know love when we see it
we know joy when we see it
we know when the light
that is Sacred presence shine forth

from a soul that is open
to Sacred Presence

how sad it is when people say they love
the Sacred One
are so pinched and dark

little old souls!

open me up
O my Beloved
blow the breeze of the spirit through
my soul

set me on fire

shine the light of your love
into every corner

that our faces may reflect
your face

and people may see You
through us
and rejoice
in
you

“Hit and Run” lives

Love is being there…
The most precious gift you can gift to the one you love is
True presence
Thich Nhat Hanh, True Love, pp. 6,7
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the cell phone buzzes,
the computer beeps

the calendar is full of items
both important and mundane

I rush through my day
a “hit and run” person

seldom stopping
to breathe
seldom taking the time
to be present

to myself
or to anyone else

this is no way
to run
a
life

I See You

It is a startling truth that how you see and what you see determines how and who you will be….
Ask yourself, What way do I behold the world?
John O’Donohue, Anam Cara, p. 62

what kind of eyes do I have?

and what do my eyes say about my soul?

are my eyes hungry?
greedy?
empty?

do I look with judgment
or fear?

do I see the worst in others,
or the best?

give me, O Sacred One,
eyes that reflect a soul
awake to Sacred Love

eyes that are kind
and full of compassion

eyes that say “I am here”
“I see you”

I
see
you

and I am
here
for
you

Looking for Answers

God never answered Job’s question as to why it is that bad things happen to good people… But my guess is that it was not an answer that Job was really after, not some sort of theological explanation of the problem of suffering, which would have left him wiser than he was before but suffering still. I believe, instead, that what Job was really after was not God’s answer, but God’s presence. And of course that was what Job finally found because the way God entered the world without destroying it was to enter Job’s heart even as from the depths of his heart Job cried out to him. And that is the way he makes himself present to all of us.
Frederick Beuchner
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I am always looking for answers
somehow it seems as if I can just understand what is going on
it will make it more palatable.

But it is only when the search for answers
pulls me into Presence
that things change.

it seems that knowing about God
is not nearly as powerful
as knowing God

much as knowing about
friendship or love
does not warm the heart
or brighten one’s eye

nearly as much as
having a friend
or receiving and giving
love

I will never “get” God
I will never have the answers
I will never understand
God
the world
or even myself

But I can find
peace, hope, and even love
as my questions
my confusion
even my pain
stir my soul and open me up
to the Presence
within

You are not alone

sometimes
we are just not in that place
of grace

instead we are in a place
where we do not feel

effective
(that sucks)

or valuable
(that is bad)

or valued
(that is worse)

or even liked
(that is the very worst)

we feel alone
and
“slow, low, ugly, puffy, drooped, pooped”
( I borrowed that, but it fits)

and in those moments
we scream a silent scream

because to voice our pain
gets us judged
(So you are depressed again huh? Why don’t you get help!)

or told all the reason we should not
feel the way we do
(You are fine, fine! God loves you just the way you are!)

and people try to “fix” us
(just breathe, pray, trust – insert advice here ___________ )

but when you can’t get there,
and are told you really should be there,
and you know you should be there,
but you just can’t get there…..

none of that helps

it may all be true
(and the intentions are greatly appreciated and valued)
but it doesn’t help

what helps
is to know
merely
that you are not alone

“I hear you”
“I care”
“Wow, that must be tough”
“I’m sorry”
“I’m with you”

for with someone to be present for you
and walk with you
even in silence
through the places
of ooze and slime and old decay (thanks CS Lewis)

one eventually
finds one’s way
home