"Borderlands" (Sunday, April 14, 2013)

Meditation for Sunday, April 14, 2013

Borderlands

Perhaps it is that which we keep hidden in fear
that is our true light; 
perhaps it is the one we fear the most
who is our truest, deepest friend.

Wake the old lion, and let him out of the cage;
uncover your light from under that bushel. 
God is trying to tell you something
in every aspect of the life you hide,
in every fear that you apprehend.

Life is not lived on the surface of things:
Swimming in familiar, stagnant waters;
the truest discoveries are made around 
the borders; on the edge; at those 
magnificent boundaries where our souls explode.

I’ll meet you at the border, then, my friends,
out on the edge of our imaginations; 
in the dark essence of these lives we lead. 
There may we yet burst forth as new light 
to one another, and light the way, perhaps,
for other struggling pilgrims who’ll come after us.  
Who knows what truly heavenly discoveries
may come to us there in that sacred borderland
we once derided as worthless?

jbs
2/3/03     2/16/03     4/14/13

Easter Prayer 2013 (Sunday, March 31, 2013)

Easter Prayer 2013

The good news of the Resurrection calls us to rejoice:

Love did not die on Calvary,

and it does not die in the face of the countless crucifixions

innocent men and women suffer daily

at the hands of a broken and fallen world.

Wherever the hungry are fed, love is alive.

Wherever the naked are clothed, love is alive.

Wherever the sorrowing are comforted, love is alive.

Wherever children are taught, love is alive.

Wherever the broken are healed, love is alive.

Love lives in me.

Love lives in you.

Love lives in our neighbors, and in men and women of goodwill and good hearts the world over.

By the grace of love and the miracle of new life,

we are set free.

Blessed be God forever.

Blessed be the Spirit of Life, who holds us in everlasting arms.

Blessed be the Spirit of Life, who lives within our hearts,

and transcends all distinctions among us, and all barriers between us,

and transforms our little lives

into reflections of Divine Glory.

Amen.

Based on Mary Ann Niedzielski, alt. 

Atop the Holy Mountain (Sunday, March 24, 2013)

Atop the Holy Mountain

It was supposed to be lonely at the top of the great hill,
no one else around, only me,
sitting alone at the top of my isolated pinnacle.
But when I got there after this long, arduous trek,
I found not some narrow painful desolate peak
but an awesome wide plateau, level and expansive,
crowded with scores and hundreds,
maybe thousands, of other living souls.

There’s plenty of room at the top of God’s Mountain
for everyone who wants to find a place there
(and someday, we hope and pray,
it may be all of us).
But even now, in these days before dawn
there are plenty of souls to keep us company,
and share ideas and thoughts,
and celebrate the time we share together
in this most amazing place.

And from that magnificent perspective, we all look out
over the vast expanse below and all around:
the breathtaking vistas of a world well-tended,
of a world more glorious than words can tell,
of a world that reflects back the Spirit’s beneficence, truth, and beauty.
While all share together the splendid lookout at the top
(for all have earned it by their climbing)
each one knows that the particular view ones sees
is one-of-a-kind, never-to-be-repeated,
unique in all the world.

So, we strive to make it to the top of God’s  mountain,
each climbing carefully by our own pathway,
not to be alone after all, but to join with others;
the important thing when up there
is to know not simply our own perspective on the glory
but to feel the warmth, sense the breathing,
and hear the rapturous gasping of all of those
with whom we share this planetary garden.

jbs
12/19/98       3/3/02       3/24/13

The steps we take

 Each step is a story; 

each moment a symbol,
deeper lessons learning;
not to be catalogued,

but lived to the full;
not endlessly analyzed,

but allowed to dance
deep within our souls.

We meet and greet others
as they pass with artful delicacy;

it is a lovely dance of elegance and beauty
we do, when we cherish the other living spirits
with whom we share this sacred path.
Now back to back, now face to face,
smiling, greeting, a soft touch in passing, perhaps:
We are alone and strong and free,
but interdependent, too;

joined with every other pilgrim
with whom we share this holy ground.

Knowing this, we become at last like spirits,
blissful sparks of hope and love made real;
our hurt and pain diffused in the holy ether,
no less real, but held now in stronger hands than ours.
Our joy now cosmic, our song divine;
as we approach the center, together,
free at last to the lessons
that our lives’ stories will gladly learn and teach.

jbs
3/19/02        11/30/03        10/19/08       3/3/13

At the altar of love (Sunday, February 24, 2013)

At the altar of love

The earth is home,
this body a temple;
the God we worship here
is love, bright shining love,
burning hot and radiant
in the altar of our hearts.

Our love is the air
that gives us life,
that keeps the fire burning
through the night
of despair, lost hope,
harsh judgment
that would put it out
and cast us back
into the darkness.

Love is the connecting branch,
root and limb of our existence,
intimately bound to the living tree,
surging forth in gentle strength
and unquenchable resilience.

Love is when my fingers reach out
and touch yours ever so gently
and sparks fly.
Love is when we greet each other
as friends,
and brotherly hearts beat as one again.

When human beings give themselves to love,                                                                              
it is as though angels flap their wings,
and God smiles,
and the world hurtles forward
toward another day of loving.

The choices we make (Sunday, January 27, 2013)

The choices we make

Every moment we live is a yes or no to life,
a let it be, or let it be damned,
that we utter from the furthest reaches
of our consciousness,
and which makes all the difference
 in how holy (and how whole) our lives will be.

 Every time we cross another blessed soul
we choose to connect souls or build a wall--
see a kindred spirit or a robber in disguise--
we choose whether or not
we will greet God's love with a kiss of new life.

 This little speck of energy we each are
created no vast galaxies or whirling constellations:
yet we are light from light and spirit from spirit
and hold within our souls the power
to create so many little worlds--
worlds of each moment, each day, each love;
worlds in their own ways empires
of our immortal, eternal souls--
worlds we create (or destroy)
in every choice we make
about all the little, common things
that make us human.

For Martin Luther King Day (Sunday, January 13, 2013)

For Martin Luther King Day 2013

Gwendolyn Brooks once wrote:

A man went forth with gifts.

He was a prose poem.

He was a tragic grace.

He was warm music.

He tried to heal the vivid volcanoes.

His ashes are

                 rending the wind.

Let us remember, my friends, that we have tender saplings yet to plant. Saplings of hope. Saplings of caring. Saplings of love.
And we must plant these saplings at once. For hope can be the fastest growing plant of all. Love can overtake a wilderness, and make it bloom and flower again.

But these trees of life will not grow at all unless we plant them.
And his memory will not be redeemed unless we live his Dream, every day of our lives.

So may it be. Amen.