Monday, June 28, 2004
About Time: about brokenness
Tonight, O L-rd, I pray for our enemies,
that they might become our friends.
I pray for our friends,
that they might find joy in their labors.
I pray for those labors,
that they might be fitting and good in your sight.
I pray for hurting and for healing,
and for what is spoken and what is left unsaid,
for what is broken and what is mended,
for doors closed and those left open.
Tonight, O L-rd, I pray
that you will break me down and fill me up
and burn out my selfishness, my sin, my scorn, my shame
with the one and holy power of your Name.
O L-rd, tonight we pray
not because we know you but because we do not--
not because we love you but because we do not (not the way we should, anyway)--
and not because we show you, in every thought and action, our love, but because we do not.
We pray because we need you,
we pray because we bleed to,
we pray because we see you
everywhere in this world.
O L-rd, may your Name be praised,
may your people be peaceful,
may your creation bring you nothing but joy
from now until all Time sifts away,
great, glorious, living G-D.
Tonight, O L-rd, I pray for our enemies,
that they might become our friends.
I pray for our friends,
that they might find joy in their labors.
I pray for those labors,
that they might be fitting and good in your sight.
I pray for hurting and for healing,
and for what is spoken and what is left unsaid,
for what is broken and what is mended,
for doors closed and those left open.
Tonight, O L-rd, I pray
that you will break me down and fill me up
and burn out my selfishness, my sin, my scorn, my shame
with the one and holy power of your Name.
O L-rd, tonight we pray
not because we know you but because we do not--
not because we love you but because we do not (not the way we should, anyway)--
and not because we show you, in every thought and action, our love, but because we do not.
We pray because we need you,
we pray because we bleed to,
we pray because we see you
everywhere in this world.
O L-rd, may your Name be praised,
may your people be peaceful,
may your creation bring you nothing but joy
from now until all Time sifts away,
great, glorious, living G-D.
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Monday, June 07, 2004
Guilt and Longing
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood, and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood, and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery
If you give a (spiritual) mouse a (spiritual) cookie. . . mmmm. Spiritual cookie.
"If we pray, we will believe; if we believe, we will love; if we love, we will serve." -Mother Teresa
"If we pray, we will believe; if we believe, we will love; if we love, we will serve." -Mother Teresa
Saturday, June 05, 2004
Good G-d
To my good and giving, loving, living L-rd:
thank you so much for goodness, kindness, mercy, and bagels,
for flying and for fighting and for skies,
for rocks and trees and squirrels and bees and Saran wrap.
thank you for reason, seasons, joy, hijab, and mousetraps,
for people, for the Hours, for inexpensive whiskey sours, and for whos and whats and whens and hows and whys.
thank you for long-haired men and short-haired girls,
for dreaming and for pizza and for rap,
for all the beauty in this world
and for all the extraneous crap
that only makes us feel what's real more deeply.
thank you for weeping, sobbing, crying, lamenting, and for tears,
for tears and chairs and every plowshare a sword's been beaten to.
thank you for laughing and for grinning and for seeing you,
feeling you moving awake and awash and aware
in every corner of our lives, hidden or bare.
thank you L-rd for plainness, names, our shame,
for liberty, justice, peace, and guilt,
for neon lights and starry nights and basketball games,
for grass and grace and bridges built,
for meekness and for weakness and for children
(may we not mess them up)
thank you for letting us 'fess up
and be clean where once we erred,
were smudged and un-cared-for.
thank you, L-rd, for your love
(the peace which surpasses all understanding)
and also for chocolate candy.
thank you for the furrow between a person's nose and upper lip,
for compassion, sweetness, the occasional road trip,
percussion and concussions and concessions.
may we your possessions grow to love you always more.
if you close a door
you open a window: let us look for it.
let us look for you
stretching out above this earth in endless blue,
heart at the core of it pulsing like fire
in, up, through, beyond, and around even this liar--
L-rd, you know us. show us your love through the tiny things
and anyone who sings your praise will see it, and be it, and live.
G-d, you give such goodness.
let us feel it all our days,
and grasshoppers, helicopters, rain never cease to amaze.
o good my G-d
how could I begin
to thank you?
To my good and giving, loving, living L-rd:
thank you so much for goodness, kindness, mercy, and bagels,
for flying and for fighting and for skies,
for rocks and trees and squirrels and bees and Saran wrap.
thank you for reason, seasons, joy, hijab, and mousetraps,
for people, for the Hours, for inexpensive whiskey sours, and for whos and whats and whens and hows and whys.
thank you for long-haired men and short-haired girls,
for dreaming and for pizza and for rap,
for all the beauty in this world
and for all the extraneous crap
that only makes us feel what's real more deeply.
thank you for weeping, sobbing, crying, lamenting, and for tears,
for tears and chairs and every plowshare a sword's been beaten to.
thank you for laughing and for grinning and for seeing you,
feeling you moving awake and awash and aware
in every corner of our lives, hidden or bare.
thank you L-rd for plainness, names, our shame,
for liberty, justice, peace, and guilt,
for neon lights and starry nights and basketball games,
for grass and grace and bridges built,
for meekness and for weakness and for children
(may we not mess them up)
thank you for letting us 'fess up
and be clean where once we erred,
were smudged and un-cared-for.
thank you, L-rd, for your love
(the peace which surpasses all understanding)
and also for chocolate candy.
thank you for the furrow between a person's nose and upper lip,
for compassion, sweetness, the occasional road trip,
percussion and concussions and concessions.
may we your possessions grow to love you always more.
if you close a door
you open a window: let us look for it.
let us look for you
stretching out above this earth in endless blue,
heart at the core of it pulsing like fire
in, up, through, beyond, and around even this liar--
L-rd, you know us. show us your love through the tiny things
and anyone who sings your praise will see it, and be it, and live.
G-d, you give such goodness.
let us feel it all our days,
and grasshoppers, helicopters, rain never cease to amaze.
o good my G-d
how could I begin
to thank you?
Thursday, June 03, 2004
Ouch! Barb, I thought this was a cookie!
Found magazine. Check it out. My personal favorite is the find of the week for July 20, 2003, but November 23, 2003 is also wonderful. March 16, December 15, December 1: also worth a look.
Found magazine. Check it out. My personal favorite is the find of the week for July 20, 2003, but November 23, 2003 is also wonderful. March 16, December 15, December 1: also worth a look.
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Storms and Fortitude
I know there is a G-d, and that He hates injustice. I see the storm coming, and I know His hand is in it. If He has a place and a part for me, I believe that I am ready.
--Abraham Lincoln
I know there is a G-d, and that He hates injustice. I see the storm coming, and I know His hand is in it. If He has a place and a part for me, I believe that I am ready.
--Abraham Lincoln
