The Sacred Act of Gathering

Watching each of you, emerge from your homes; from your lives
These lives which are strands of experiences woven together, to create YOU.
Each of you brings those threads here.
Together, the fabric of your lives becomes the cloth of our community.
With every gathering the cloth takes new shape,
And remembers the hope, resiliency, and love.
It remembers the tender spots, the hurt, the anger
And years to wrap its healing strands carefully
To connect and make whole.
Physically, each of you may leave this space,
The woven strands remain
In our hearts
And in the walls.
For once we gather for such a holy cause,
With such a divine yearning for wholeness,
There can be no undoing
Of the sacred act of gathering.

Pulsing love leads to Resurrection

(written on my third day of pilgrimage while in Budapest)

God who yearns for love
I feel you pulsing.
I fell you in the heartbeats of my precious companions.
Each one stretching their heart and mind to new experience.
I feel you in the breath of my people, long unknown, never forgotten.
My people who stand in their faith and sat "God is One"
I feel you in the new and old romance in the couples floating through the glorious streets.
I feel you in the anger and suffering as my sisters and brothers struggle for liberation.
I feel you in the desire to rebuild, renew and resurrect humanity from despair.
I feel you in my exhaustion as I lay down to sleep, after a day of opening my soul to the ways humanity has failed and the ways my people stayed strong.
May no one ever lose sight of our historical failure and our unsurmountable potential for resurrection.

Sitting with the Shrapnel

Glistening like jewels
lie the pieces of me.
Begging me to explore
to examine each one,
relish its beauty,
revere its story.
Each one pulling me out'
onward;
revealing the hidden truth
God's Holy Love.

Sinking,
Overwhelmed by their abundance
I sit and stare.
Paralyzed by the complexity of it all;
afraid that any one piece
could lead me astray.
The parts are not the whole.

Hearing the call,
I look out over the landscape of my life
each experience,
each word;
a beacon of my truth-
the truth placed in me at birth-
the beauty waiting to be lived.

Stepping into Yourself

You, each of you
and every part of you
is holy, sacred and loved.

Within your body lies the potential
to love another
to witness one’s pain
to move for justice

Within your heart lies the hope
of acceptance
of assurance
of equality

Within your soul lies the knowledge
of shared humanity
of transformation
of grace

Rise in body, heart and mind
Animate your potential, hope, and knowledge
Step into yourself
Claim all that you are

For you are holy, sacred and loved.

Do You Have room?

Do you?

Have room?

Room in your heart?

Room in your soul?

Room in your hands?

DO you have room to do the work?

The work of love and life and charity.

Do you have room to love the miracles,

Just as they are?

Do you have room to mend the relationships

That strained through the year?

Do you have room to embrace what comes your way?

Do you have courage to release all that is unnecessary

To make the room you need

To transform and begin again.

Leading to Now

With the universe coursing through your veins

you came to life

The earth holding and caressing

People, family, community

loving you into to wholeness

All preparing you for now

Every step taken, every lesson learned, every song sung, every tear shed, every joy expressed

gives the shape of inspiration 

provides the tools for action

The universe is open dear friend,

in need of love

in need of care

in need of you

Take courage and raise your voice, your hands, your eyes, your fists

know that the earth longs to hold you

   your friends long to love you

  the spirit longs to guide you

Calling into Trust

Standing in my unsure self;

my broken places

You stretch out your heart;

your broken places

Together we mend the pieces;

unsure hearts; 

calling into trust