psalm 3: lie down in darkness
Posted: May 24, 2013 Filed under: Bible, Poetry, Psalms, Religion 3 Comments »
i feel their presence
i hear their whispers
at night
they come to me to
the darkest place of my
deepest vulnerability and say
don’t you know you
are alone so utterly
all alone.
help me please
help me to greet
my fears with love
sustain me when i lie down
in darkness
deliver me into the morning light
my soul open and ready
to welcome
whatever may come.
psalm 2: the laughter and the fury
Posted: May 23, 2013 Filed under: Bible, Judaism, Poetry, Psalms, Religion 1 Comment »
“Destruction,” from “The Course of Empire” by Cole Thomas (1836)
how can the powerful amass so much
while so many go hungry?
how long will mighty empires wield their
weapons of death so wantonly
against the captive and the powerless?
listen carefully and you will hear
the sound of heaven spilling forth
its laughter and fury -
laughter over the blindness of nations
who actually believe their riches
will bring them security;
and fury at the arrogance
of governments convinced their power
knows no bounds.
rulers take note:
someday soon you will kneel
before a power far greater
yes even greater than your own.
bow down to it with awe
and serve it with humility
lest you go the way
of all empires before you -
collapsed and broken
beneath the weight of your own
fearful dreams.
psalm 1: happy is the one who greets the darkness
Posted: May 22, 2013 Filed under: Bible, Judaism, Poetry, Psalms 9 Comments »
happy is the one who faces
his wickedness
who dives deep down knowing
he cannot find his way to the light
without greeting the darkness as well.
happy is the one who grows
like a tree planted in black fertile soil
drinking in sustenance from the
decayed remains of broken fallen leaves
only to bloom wide open
in the morning sunlight.
happy is the one who pays no heed
to those who tell her to be good
who understands the path to goodness
begins with her burning desire
for wholeness.
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb: A Prayer in the Aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombing
Posted: April 18, 2013 Filed under: Healing, Prayer, Reconciliation, Religion, Restorative Justice, Trauma 1 Comment »
From the always eloquent Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb:
To cities and neighborhoods everywhere throughout the world, whose people suffer the aftermath of violent acts and face the carnage unleashed by all manner of exploding devices, we cry in anguished lament.
To the first responders who jump over barricades and cross fields of fire to rescue the wounded, may your acts of courageous compassion be received as a divine blessing. You are the guardians of healing.
And may all of us who have the strength, honor the people of destroyed cities and the first responders in their midst by pursuing healing and restorative justice with every nonviolent means at our disposal.
A Prayer for Yom Hashoah
Posted: April 8, 2013 Filed under: Holocaust, Judaism, Prayer, Religion, Yom Hashoa 6 Comments »
(photo: Margaret Bourke-White)
Oh, Spirit of mercy,
whose presence dwells
in the highest heights
and the darkest depths:
Shelter the souls
of all who were oppressed and murdered
during the years of the Shoah.
May the memory of those who were
singled out, persecuted and destroyed
be sanctified for goodness
and for peace:
Jews, gays, lesbians
and political dissidents;
communists, socialists,
labor leaders and Soviet prisoners of war;
resistance fighters, Roma,
Freemasons and Jehovah’s Witnesses;
the crippled of mind and body;
the homeless, the unemployed
and the unwanted…
May all who were once left vulnerable
remain protected beneath the soft wings of your presence
that they may rest in peace.
Spirit of Compassion,
help us to mourn their loss in such a way
that our fears and our hopes will become indistinguishable
from the fear and the hope of all who are oppressed.
Help us turn isolation into wholeness,
division into fellowship
and bitterness into healing waters of liberation
for all humanity.
Amen.
a psalm 150 slam
Posted: April 5, 2013 Filed under: Bible, Poetry, Prayer, Psalms, Religion 4 Comments »
photo: Stewart Martin
shout your praise with every
thing you have with everything
you own scream out praises with
howling bursts of laughter rising
soaring arias of gratitude shrey
out praise sobbing
wailing beat your
breast like a broken shattered
timbrel dance all you
insomniacs wearing your
tangled twisted sheets like holy robes let
every living breathing roaring
writhing spitting breath
sing praises can i get a
halleluyah
In Every Generation: A Poem for the Seder Table
Posted: March 24, 2013 Filed under: Holidays, Judaism, Passover, Poetry, Religion 2 Comments »
In every generation
we go forth from Egypt.
In every generation
a broken guttural shout bursts
from the deepest darkness
shock waves spreading unheard
unseen unknown for
many generations more.
In every generation
the narrows tighten radiating
terrible knowledge through
pulverized bones that
there’s nowhere left but
straight ahead.
In every generation
the waters stretch out
eyes close tight leaping
into the dark blue depths
mouths gulping for air the
broken shout now sounds
like a song.
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