Flip it on & Turn it Up: A Prayer in the Winter

Precious Beloved ~

How very grateful I am that we have access to running water!  Indoor plumbing, especially the toilet and shower, and electricity, particularly the heat and stove, are often taken for granted in our society.  In the winter particularly, if any one of these things runs awry, we feel the effects right away and are quick to lament.  Before the cries of lament, Lord, I just want to say thank You.

Preparing for New Life: Creation in Utero at Passover

Beloved,

As I read Matthew’s account of the gathering for Your final Passover meal, my dear friend is on her way to the hospital to deliver her youngest child.  My time is near.  Make the preparations.  Your words are echoed on the lips and in the keystrokes of my dear friend, the sweet mother, during the final days of her pregnancy.

A man with a water jar will meet you…tell him My time is near.  Your words flow forth just after a woman has poured out her entire life savings onto Your feet.  An alabaster jar of sweetly perfumed oil drenched Your tired feet and soothed Your aching muscles, and this dear woman freely gave her complete devotion through her kisses and tears.  She is preparing long before Your male companions, and You invite them to join in her work so that You can accomplish all that You have been given to do.

"New Life Springing Forth" - Photo by Trista Wynne

Washing, anointing, feeding, serving – these are the things that my dear friend has been doing in preparation for the new life that is coming into the world.  And now, having just spoken of Yourself as a desolate Mother Hen who laments the scattering of her chicks, You are doing the same.  As the ultimate expression of humanity, You embody masculine and feminine together unashamedly.  You, Divine Mother Jesus, are preparing for the new life that is coming.  The birthing process will be painful, and You will suffer greatly, but as You say, when the mother’s eyes behold her child, she forgets all of the pain.  She only feels love and joy.

May Your new creation come to know how very much we are all loved, O Mothering God!   May we know how much joy we bring to You!  May we all come to You for True Food and True Drink, and may we teach others to do the same, through the Holy Spirit, amen.

On Christianity, Poverty & Wealth

While sitting at a coffee shop in an affluent area, I found my spirit grating within me. I had just been riding the public transit, praying for and talking to my fellow riders, and have been recently having my eyes opened to many of the reasons for poverty throughout the world. When I overheard conversation regarding vacation homes, new businesses and how much little dog’s outfits cost, I thought I might scream. Instead I brought out my pen and let my spirit connect with the Spirit of Grace and Truth.

*****

Ah, Lord, I wonder what I am doing here! I am deeply passionate about things that many of these people just let pass them by. Lord, what would You like to come forth out of this? I definitely hold the issues of Christianity, Poverty and Wealth close to my heart, but I do not yet know what to do about the issues I am learning about.

Lord, let my mind, heart, body and passions be fertile ground for Your Spirit’s seed. May the pathos and teachings of Jesus till the soil and nourish the tree of life taking root, and may the harvest be full, abundant and for Your glory. Please grant me courage and wisdom and inspiration to speak, act and write in ways that would grow Your Kingdom. Is there someone here You would like me to talk to today, or maybe to learn from them, or maybe simply to overcome my own prejudices?

Father, forgive me for just looking at the surface instead of the poverty within the conversation around me. Please help me to see people as You see them. Lord Jesus, You looked at the rich man with pity, mercy and compassion; help me to do the same. Spirit of Peace, infuse my inner being with Your grace and add an extra dose of love.

Perhaps the way to minister to the world at large is to soften the hearts of the rich towards the poor and likewise to do the same with the poor towards the rich. We are at such odds with one another and filled with such animosity, one toward another, that no compassion is shown.

I wonder what the churches around these areas, and others like them, teach about money. Lord, please let Your truth be known! Help the rich and poor to dialogue together. Help us to listen to one another in compassion and love.

What do You say, Lord? What would an ideal economic structure look like and how could we go about fostering such a system within our communities? I trust that Your Spirit will flow through my studies and dialogues to help me reflect Christ in my paper on this topic, but also in my life, teaching, writing, prayers, reflections, worship leadership, art, song and dance.

Oh Jesus, Beloved, when You walked the earth in the flesh, how did You feel towards Rome? I sometimes focus on the poor and other underdogs in Your life and forget that You also walked and talked and ate with powerful tax collectors, rich teachers and influential leaders in Your time. Always You did so to mend the broken stratification system. Always You taught those who thought they had power that the powerless were worthwhile and on the same level as them. Lord, teach me. Help me to see all people as equal. I do not want to stratify anymore. I want to break free from the system I was born into and to experience the freedom that comes from never seeing anyone as less than myself, and never seeing myself as anything less than Your Beloved. You are the Lover of all.

I want to see the world through Your eyes, to experience the love and compassion that You felt, and to shine as brightly as You shone. In order to fulfill this desire, which has been placed on my heart by Your own Spirit, I must be filled with You. And in order to be filled with You, I must be emptied of my prejudices, my judgments and my own sense of shame and guilt. O Lord, have mercy!

Enlighten my eyes from the inside out. I suspect that You are already living in every person in the world but are seen most clearly shining through the lens of community. Help my vision to be enlightened and healed by You. Here I am, Lord! Let me see with Your eyes, hear with Your ears, and to taste, smell and touch Your way as I walk throughout this world, amen.

A Little Taste of Heaven: A Thanksgiving Reflection

Photo by Matt Wynne

 Several friends have recently pointed out that I like to talk, write or post about the joy that I find in foods and beverages. Having grown up in a family without a lot of money, I find myself intensely thankful when it comes to food, and I particularly delight in rich, comforting foods that we were never able to afford when I was young. And being a poet at heart, I can savor a moment of pleasure as though it were a taste of eternity. Delectable delicacies caress the palette of my tongue, taking me to lands of fantastical ecstasy, and all the while my inner being dances like a carefree child on a warm summer’s day.


On days like today, which is Thanksgiving here in America, while I savor the sweet aromatic spices and let the plethora of pleasantries lift my heart, my child-like spirit is joined by countless others delighting in festive treats and offering thanks and praise for all of the blessings in our lives. There is much to be thankful for, particularly if you are able to read this post, for you have electricity, warm shelter, and likely some form of employment with which to pay your bills. That is more than many have on this chilly day in November!

On days like today, I am incredibly thankful for a wide variety of blessings, but I offer particularly heartfelt praise for a few that I know what it is like to be without. This year my husband and I are spending Thanksgiving at home with our two kitties. We were unable to travel to be with family due to inclement weather, but that gives us even more reason to be thankful, because we have families who long for our presence. I pray today for you who have lost loved ones, or are estranged from the ones they once had relationships with, and I pray for you who are unable to travel to your loved ones because finances and distance are too heavy a burden to bear. I pray that all who are without will know the freedom of having all your needs met. I long to see the day when every mouth will be fed, when every person will have shelter and security, when all who are oppressed will know freedom and all their tormentors will receive justice and find freedom from their inner darkness, when every person will have clothing, warmth and comfort, and every person will know in every fiber of their being how very much they are loved!

Whether that day comes while I am alive and well in this lifetime, or long after my body has returned to the earth, as a Christian I do believe that day will come. Scripture tells us through the mouths of the prophets of old, that the day will come when true justice will be seen throughout the earth, when everyone will live in peace and security, when nations will no longer wage war against one another because all of creation will be healed, and when all beings, human and animal alike, will experience harmony and will know how much they are loved. I believe we were granted a glimpse of that great and glorious eternal day when Jesus the Christ walked the face of the earth, for He showed us what it was like to feed the hungry, to heal the sick, to remove the burden of the oppressed, to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our Papa-God. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, in full communion with Papa-God, Jesus spoke parables that intend to turn the world upside down and to give us a glimpse of what heavenly justice will be like when that day fully comes. In Jesus, we received a little taste of the great feast awaiting us in the day to come.

On days like today, when wars continuously rage in many countries and others are on the brink of destruction, when tensions run high and finances of the most powerful countries are strained at best, when many families struggle to find the means by which to provide even the basic necessities of food, clothing, shelter and security, and when devastating physical ailments and mental illness afflict vast numbers while they attempt to re-establish some semblance of normalcy after traumatic disasters, on these days, I long for that feast day all the more! Even as I give thanks for the many ways in which I myself am blessed, I find that I am homesick for heaven, and so I join with countless others in the past, present and future, and pray boldly and longingly, O Lord, let Your kingdom come and Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven! Amen.