Entitlements

The question isn't why the poor feel "entitled", as though a living wage is an entitlement. The question is why the powers feel entitled to make the poor suffer for their pleasure.

Poverty

I am left wondering how intentional acts by one person or persons, which causes harm and suffering to others is illegal, unless the weapon is money? And why then is economic bludgeoning only deemed "economics"? What real comfort can I find in the knowledge that "legal" doesn't equate to "right"?

In fact, being legal has no bearing on what is right. Every injustice humans have overcome was once a legal right, and even called "divine rights". Someday we will come to accept the reality that subjecting people to economic harm and suffering is far more devastating than a punch in the face, a kick in the ribs or a boot on the throat.

There is nothing innately wrong with wealth. To the powers I say, after the primary needs of the labor force, and those unable to work have been satisfied to provide equitable levels of income, security and recreation, hoard away as much wealth as you can bear.

To the powers I say also, do not delude yourself into believing you have no culpability in the suffering of the impoverished just because this economic remnant of domination is legal. The suffering you bring upon the masses you would economically subjugate, while legal and to a certain degree remains "acceptable" in your culture of greed, it is indeed ungodly and inhuman, it is the violence of poverty.

There is coming a day, which has begun, when those in your culture will no longer regard poverty as "fate", "laziness", or a "consequence of race or intellect" or "God's will". Poverty is not God's will. Poverty is none of these things.

Poverty is the willful disdain for humanity by a minority of the population over the rest. Poverty is the willful cause and perpetration of suffering over the majority of people by the few.

Poverty is the purveyor and perpetuation of societal, domestic and international violence. Poverty is the intentional absence of justice and this injustice will not stand.

Poverty will one day be understood for exactly what it is, criminal oppression and criminal violence. There will be a day when poverty will no longer be tolerated but will be regarded to be as criminal as slavery.

Poverty is oppression. Poverty is violence. Poverty is a crime which will one day be treated as such.

h a i k u 9

Countless cuts to Me

with salt vinegar salve is

poverty's violence

h a i k u 10

Obsess on nothing

even God, joy is known in

pure simplicity

Blessed

Blessed am I

in the original blessing

kiss and breath

of God's first life

first love

Blessed am I

pierced companion

in union with the one

and creation

Blessed am I

held up by the love of Christ

in family parish and community

love sustaining this

holy

fragile

life

h a i k u 8

Without ceasing is

God born into us, with us

in union with all

h a i k u 7

A place for the head

the sands of orthodoxy

can bury the heart

h a i k u 6

In our history

truly where would the poor be

without the wealthy

h a i k u 5

Shimmering light is

absent without the shadow's

willingness to dance

Kissing Paul

I am perplexed

by this figure cut in rock

the marbled morality

the conservative touchstone

I run my fingers

over the cracks in the stone

and feel a warm breath

escaping the fissures

TAKE A SLEDGEHAMMER TO IT

Liberate the man

from the bondage

of controlling boondoggle

of deified domination

of fearful veneration

Arise Paul

from the tomb

of dusty imaginations

and dirt dry passions

Arise and enter my room

sit stay and talk a while

I am surprised

by Paul's passionate kiss

surprised by the exchange

of breath

and spirit

I had forgotten your doubts and pain

the thorn in your side

the pain of your fragile soul

unable to control your

mysterious urges

What warm body did you confide in

who did you embrace

who did you cling to

in the agony of your humanity

Who kissed you

returning the smile

to your Apostolic face

Who granted you the blessing of fragility

of finding God in our fragility

who reminded you

again in your anger

your despair and sorrow

Who in the body of Christ

touched your body in Christ

Who taught you the mystical kiss

we now share

Who reminded you

that the greatest of all things

is Love

One

Sitting in the dark

on cold brick steps

sitting in the dark

in empty silence

the night breathes

in and out

its trembling breath

Flickering through

the dark green canopy above

is the moon

of the fall

through the leaves

the moon is winking at me

from her empty core of secrets

She is blue white

she is full and hollow

The silence of the night

echos the empty silence

within me

We listen to one another

for whispered awareness

the longing recognition

of sighing persistence

I breathe out

myself into the

moon-cast shadows

In every breath

I pour out countless

molecules of me

Every breath in

is breathing the cosmos into my lungs

and all that exist before it

Every breath in carries the taste of eternity

all that is less than me and more

I am less than dust

awaiting rapturous fulfillment in nothing

into one

Vows

Tomorrow I take vows to cross

thresholds

with my spiritual ancestors

of the desert

and of the old Celtic ways

Pledging myself

silent

heart

mind

body

and spirit

in Jesus Compassionate

To be pierced

in simplicity of service

to be awed

in the simplicity of

God's beauty in

the communion of

humanity and creation

With humility

with fear and trembling

that is living with intention

I come before God

family and community

to declare the communion of us with loving

Father Creator

Brother Healer

Mother Sustainer

and the companions before us

around us

and after us

who happily struggle to realize

Emmanuel within us

Amen

Never Forgetting

The patio of our weekend condo looked east across a lake and cypress trees, I had a beautiful sunrise to share Morning Prayer with.

I prayed for all who lost their lives ten years ago today and their loved ones left to mourn them.

I prayed for them all, victims of "powers and principalities".

I prayed that we all answer God's call to mercy, forgiveness and compassion.

I prayed for the courage to live out God's kingdom in my daily living.

I will never forget.

I will never forget God's compassion.

Compassionate love, love and kindness, is joy to the heart of God.

Praying for those who despise you is a song in God's heart.

Sing then!

Sing a joyful song!

Of all the things we can do, mercy and charity will bring us quicker into the heart of God.

Manifesting

From Paul's dark glass shattered

an ancient shard pierced my heart

a wound for which there is no healing

but instead eternal gratitude

for finally living

it is neither anguish or joy

but some unmapped region in between

Still

driving in a van on 285

dodging angry spirits

behind the wheels of hurtling

4000 pounds of prestige

with chrome wheels

satellite radios and fine leather seats

quietly with a pierced heart

I say The Liturgy For Vans On 285

If this makes me odd then

I'm looking for the community of odd folks

singing "shall our hearts forget his promise, 'I am with you evermore"

giving Christ heads bodies legs and arms

bumbling and stumbling

manifesting God again and again

manifesting in fits and starts

Emmanuel

Emmanuel

now

in you

in me

With Icons

These are prayers which I use with small icons to help me change gears from the daily concerns, calm the heart, soul, body and mind as I prepare to say The Daily Office. The icons are 2"x2". On the left is a Christus Pantocrator and on the right is a Mystical Supper (Last Supper) icon.

The Pantocrator is Jesus, the Sustainer of All, robed in a red tunic which represents his full humanity, and a blue cloak which represents his full divinity. He holds scripture in his left hand while his right is raised in benediction.

The Supper icon shows the apostles and Jesus at the Last Supper, the roof of the room is open revealing the city and hills in the background and angelic beings above all, signifying the focus and participation of all creation in the moment of communion.

I begin by gazing into the Christus, slowing my breath, allowing my thoughts to pass freely from my mind and allowing my heart to open more fully into the present moment.

Then I say the following to refocus my mind onto my purpose and intention, gazing first into the Christus until the prayers reaches the point marked here with a semi-colon, then my gaze turns to the Supper.

Loving Christ, in your compassionate love, you pour yourself out into us completely so that we may be healed, restored, transformed; so that in compassionate love, we may also pour ourselves out into the communion of humanity and creation. Amen.

Purpose

There is darkness

yet in your light it dissolves

as you fill its emptiness

Darkness is not destroyed

but transformed

in the union of your presence

The quality of the bowl never changes

but is simply either being emptied or filled

yet the bowl remains

true to its purpose

whether empty or full

If I see God

in this world or in your face

what else remains

If I fail to see God

it's not because God is absent

but because of the absence

in my eyes

Michelangelo's Moses Has Horns

How thin is the difference

between wrestling with

angels or demons

Feathered wings

or wings of skin

beasties or besties

horns or halos

The degrees of difference

are as a reversed

image in a mirror

or in the flip of a coin

Heads I win

tails you lose

Choosing to be good

under the promise of heaven

or the threat of hell

is not a choice freely chosen

but rather a dark deception of a darker conceit

a bleak concession made at gun-point

Freedom exists in the choice

to do or not do

solely for the sake

of selflessness

without regard to

gain or loss

Milton's fallen ones made one choice

choosing once and for all to reject love

We are blessed to choose continually

to participate eternally

in the eternal blissful friction of creation

The lover's kiss begins and ends

before we can feel it

Who can say

exactly where is the line

where the shadow ends

and the light begins

How good are my eyes

to see shadows

to see light

to see all

in the full depth of being

Michael

Wednesday I was making home deliveries which took me to Jonesboro Rd. At the corner of the 285 ramp and Jonesboro was a man seeking alms. He was old, a rail of a figure in tattered clothes.

His right leg had been amputated at the knee, the joint covered by an old sock. His aluminum crutches were bent and dented, the arm pads gone.His left hand clasped his crutch and an old large plastic cup.

He looked very tired and in pain. I reached for my wallet where I try to always keep some cash for alms giving and it was empty. I looked to him and said "I'm sorry." He shook his head and said "Don't worry, don't worry. God bless you." With his other crutch wedged under his right arm he raised his right hand and his hand formed a peace sign and with his hand he blessed me with a sign of the cross. I have never felt the power of a blessing as I did with his, a blessing from beyond his pain, and from beyond all his suffering telling me, me, not to worry. I asked him his name so I could pray for him. He said, "Prayers mean more than money." Please pray with me for Michael.