so thug
A bold and sustained outbreak of gentleness
We believe in the God of grace.
We follow the Teacher of Love.
We live by the Spirit of mercy.
We trust God’s healing of the world.
When people spread fear and division,
when evil, injustice and oppression thrive,
no political revolution, program or platform will save us,
but only a people transformed by grace and light,
and a bold and sustained outbreak of gentleness.
We will stand up to cynicism, hate and indifference,
and blanket this world with compassion, calm and mercy.
We will proclaim the truth against all resistance.
We will meet fear and hate with healing.
We will obstruct the progress of injustice
with our prayers, our words and our bodies.
We will infest the world with grace and love.
We pray for open hearts and a spirit of deep listening.
We pray for courage to enter the wounds of the world;
for a spirit of peace to face violence with nonviolence;
for patience to answer darkness with light.
We pray for humility to offer ourselves
as the first to be changed.
We pray for one another, for we are one Body.
We devote ourselves to sacrifice and discipline.
Giving thanks for the great spirit of grace
already breathing in us, already rising,
in hope and love, as the gentle people of God,
we go forth.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
with wings
rough hands
feet on bare earth
I want to become a continent of angels
some common rarity so unexplored
unadmissable
that even I cannot find where I begin or end
.
let this body become a borderless land
full of immigrants
artist and poets
whose only claim to fame is that
they rushed to join this conflagration of
unbound unexplored unknowable art
to enter full existence
.
who is to say what is real
in a universe so wide
and blasted unpretentious
let us join this revolution
wild eyes full hearted
as if this day
is the only day the universe will ever exist
and yes you matter
.
come with me
join asunder
this world is fully ablaze
and yet none of us burn
like a kernel in the heart of the sun
.
now I have come to understand
the language of infinity
it is in the way you dress and speak
and hurry along caressing the earth
and me with it
some vision of your standard uranium golden globe reeking sun
the perfect curve with no edge
———–
Adam A DeFranco (c) 2016
I am always amazed at the layers,
the levels, of the human experience.
The never ending,
ever-evolving, devolving,
shifting, opening,
illumination, illusion-revealing,
conviction shattering, my gospel truth challenging,
deep calling to deep, border breaking,
darkness, light and color discovering, re-discovering.
This way of living I have stumbled onto – into –
not because I’m so smart –
but because I asked,
I was given this priceless gift.
This surprising path
of a pilgrim,
of spiritual growth,
baby stepping my way to
healing, learning,
opening, Mystery,
more always reveals more.
Always re-defining the definitions
of love, abundance,
grace, healing,
truth, error,
good, evil,
joy, suffering,
prosperity, poverty,
spirit, spirituality,
life itself becoming more with each step.
My self righteousness becoming less important
with every glimpse of my Creator, my own Belovedness.
Sometimes I understand how Peter must have felt when he saw the great sheet of unclean animals come down before him,
which God asked him to kill and eat,
He challenged with those same words I have heard from heaven –
“What I have named clean do not proclaim unclean.”
Challenging, very challenging, stuff.
The stuff of humility and opening,
the stuff of learning.
Life changing/giving stuff.
We want to think we know, that we are right.
We want approval, to be able to judge.
We want to earn our way, be worthy.
It will never work. Thankfully.
Then we catch the tiniest of glimpses of the Lover
and we fall on our knees,
breathless, undone,
aware of our need, our misplaced vanity,
stripped of our pride, our shoes,
amazed by what we have encountered, changed forever.
full but ever thirsty for more –
LOVE
💞
AL
I’m convinced of this: Good done anywhere is good done everywhere. For a change, start by speaking to people rather than walking by them like they’re stones that don’t matter. As long as you’re breathing, it’s never too late to do some good.
💞
— Maya Angelou
life: acoustic & amplified 