Friday, April 8, 2011

A Rare Prayer...

...instigated by Isaiah 61
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.
They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.


Oh Abba, how you gather in the marginalized and the wilderness dwellers, the disinherited and the disenchanted, how you bring us in close and wrap us up in your chest and call us your heart. How your Love envelops and enlivens us, pouring into us like a mother’s breast milk. How you heal our broken legs and broken hearts and set us free to go and live and be and do. We are enchanted with you. You are our inheritance. How strange that you have chosen us to rebuild that which has been broken, to restore and renew. But how apt, for we are those who have been broken by the broken things of this world; we have felt its cracks all around and through us. We know this brokenness more than we know our own hearts. And you are teaching us to be Rebuilders, Renewers, Restorers. You are taking us back to the soul of your creation, to the Garden of Eden, and we are bringing everyone we know. Abba, Abba, Abba, we are so weak and we forget and we hurt and we are numb and hardened and vulnerable and aching. But you—you are the Revealer of Mysteries. Open our eyes to this Mystery. May it be our one holy Myth.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Gospel Truths

So this is the gospel: that people are uniquely good and redeemable, whether enemy or friend, gay or straight, male or female, Afghani or American, Democrat or Republican, capitalist or communist, homeless or billionaire, and that the Spirit is in the business of reconciling all of us (and all of creation) to each other and to the Spirit-self. That there is an alternate Way of living—an abundant Way of peace, justice, love, grace, generosity, community, respect, simplicity, humility, and joy—that has been alongside us all the time, an alternative to our violence and oppression and manipulation and hatred and arrogance and greed and lust—and that this “alternative universe” is now crashing into ours through the work of Jesus, his Spirit, and the followers of his Way, heaven colliding with earth, the Spirit’s one Will overcoming our many, duplicitous wills. That the Spirit is a practitioner of restorative and not retributive justice, perceiving both the justice and injustice within all of us and transforming all of us into innocent children and just citizens of his Kingdom, by flood or by flame. Yes, yes, yes, the Spirit is reconciling all things to the Spirit-self! All things, all people, all nations, all creatures, every tree and flower and blade of grass! That the Spirit is a Spirit of endless Love, that he adores us, is enchanted by us, that he pursues us like a Wild Lover and soothes us as a Wizened Guardian (all wisdom and wrinkles and wizardry). That all people (all things, in fact) are worthy of love, respect, joy, and adoration, that all people are a unique and irreplaceable Imago Dei; we are a scattered, dazzling jigsaw puzzle of which the Spirit is vigilantly and affectionately gathering in the pieces and putting them flawlessly together. When we overlook our sister or brother, when we treat her or him with contempt or disinterest, we are missing a unique and divine opportunity: to sneak a peek into the very face of YHWH. And this: that we have an essential and irreplaceable part to play, that we are agents, ambassadors, activists, messengers, students of the Kingdom of Heaven. We are the Roman messenger-runners sent directly into the field of battle to declare a ceasefire. “Peace be with you!” we scream and wince and pray they don’t shoot. We are activists using civil disobedience in the long, infamous line of Elijah, Elisha, Moses, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Samuel, Esther, Nathan, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Daniel, Jesus, Stephen, Peter, Paul, Silas, and John. We are actively dismantling the broken structures of this civilization and building new ones, restoring, rebuilding, renewing. We are actively working to be agents of restorative justice and reconciliation in our relationships and our communities. We are actively becoming conscious of social, cultural, and political issues at the relational, neighborhood, city, state, national, and international level—and we are becoming agents of peace, justice, grace, and love within these issues. Spirit-through-Us is bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to earth bit by bit by bit. We are the Spirit’s great and only plan of Redemption and Reconciliation, as we always have been. And this, this is the soul of the gospel: that the Spirit is reconciling all things to each other and to the Spirit-self, through us.