Dear God,I was really upset when the checklist grew longer and longer and I started to realize that I would not be able to do all of the things that you were requiring me to do. It just felt cruel. I was a bit smug when I started trying harder and harder to keep the…
A blessing for those who are remembering the things we did for high-demands religions
Blessed are those of us with deepChurch-related regrets.Not the regrets of loving and servingBut of loving and serving without boundariesOf feeling compelled to giveMore than we wantedOr even hadBlessed are those of us who regretGiving of our whole selvesOur identitiesOur willing embrace of shame,The way that heaven was usedAs a weapon against us. Bless us…
Awkward Prayer
Dear God,Those years when I was desperately lonelyDesperately zealousIn a hope that I could righteous my wayInto better mental health.I needed your loveWhere I only felt disapproval.God, at that timeYou were not there for meIn the way that I needed.Amen.
Prayer of Not Knowing
Dear God,I am frustratedWith the big questionsOf purpose and meaning.I have spent my lifeBuilding credit with youIn the way my community taughtBut I never receivedThat reward of loving belongingI have neverExperienced your safety and comfortEnveloping me with a powerThat drives out fear.InsteadThe silence in its place calls to meAn eerie haunting.When my searching for you…
Prayer for Advent
Dear God of PossibilitiesWe are grateful for your presenceIn this season of waitingWhere we anticipate the birth ofJesus at ChristmasAnd whoever Jesus is to us in this momentHelp us to experience the humility of mysteryIn that sacred story.In this season of waitingWe gatherIn this virtual spaceAnd bring with us our own stories of pain, hope,…
Ripples with Grief
I am tangled intoA vast network of connection.I do not know all of the loved onesOf my loved onesBut I see it when people are lostTo the pandemicTo poor mental healthTo other illnesses and circumstances.When the loved ones of my loved onesPass onThe web that connects usRipples with griefAlways reverberatingWith the pangs of loss,A reliable…
Prayer of Hope
Dear God of the Universe,In this moment of lament, we hope for a more just and peaceful world.We hope that our actions will be in line with our values.We hope that our leaders will make decisions based on the needs of the most vulnerable and not the most powerful, that those who are last will…
A blessing for the survivors of those who died of COVID
God of sickbeds and hospital rooms,God of positive tests and ventilators,Be with the loved onesOf those we have lost in the pandemicWhether they were vaccinated or notElderly or notExperiencing other illnesses and conditions or notIt does not matter now.They were loved.We loved them.Their lives were taken by a tidal wave of diseaseThey could not escape.And…
Don’t be surprised
Don’t be surprised.This is the countryYou’ve always knownExpressing its not-so-secret desires. We have a deep and abiding love ofGunsWhite peopleHierarchies.Our priorities have been consistent. We thought that ifWe boxed up the nastiest partsIn the 1960sAnd put it in the attic,Racism would recedeGeneration-by-generation.But out of the plain sight(of white people)It grew and spreadlike a poisoned gasThrough…
A blessing for those who wait
It is a season dedicated toWaitingWaiting impatientlyWaiting intentlyWaiting for something specific that life has promisedWaiting for direction that seems elusiveWaiting for justice that may never comeWaiting for peace that seems impossibleWaiting for joy to overthrow our current feelingsWaiting for sorrow to diminishWaiting for pain to lose its edgeDull itself after assaulting the bodyWaiting for loneliness…
The Contemplative Heretic 