A Positively Poetic Priest

"Jesus was never a lone ranger." (p. 149 Spiritual Disciplines Handbook) Nope, Jesus wasn't a lone ranger. One of the first things he does in his ministry is chose twelve disciples to walk with him and to be with. He spends hours with his disciples, teaching them, talking with them, eating with them. Jesus has a small group in which to process and work towards his goals and to support him when the going gets tough. (Though in his case, he was usually supporting them...) The best small groups have an intentional purpose and agreement, they have a structure which everyone supports and have leaders who keep the group on track. Otherwise, small groups come in many many many different kinds of groups. Bible study, book study, prayer, action, games, hobbies, support, ministry, training, coaching... all sorts of small groups exist in the world. Small groups help us understand our lives by experiencing the ways others' understand their lives. Small groups give us connect...

Today I was witness to: people partying people escaping reality the backs of my eyelids Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania Truckers smoking cigarettes an abundance of food shared a father and a boyfriend working together a beautiful sunset a blue heron take flight a mother being cold family sitting around enjoying being together Today I was witness to: humanity and profound love always hand in hand 6/24/17

9/8/16 Light growing up in a church I watched the light change through the windows stained glass colors dappling the floors, the pews, the people subjectively messing up sense and clear-eyed objectivity and as the light moved I learned new lessons found layers I had not known existed and as I learned to love I found those colored layers walking through the world what could not always be seen from the front would make their grand appearance when the light moved ere so slightly suddenly the angel's white wings were aglow with purple

Sara Miles shares stories of learning about the good things and the bad things of the Christian people. "The sense of chosen-ness, of a special society of the initiated, is pervasive among Christians. I remember being shocked when I discovered that the phrase "the people of God" was churchspeak for "churchgoing Christians of our denomination"; I'd thought, naively, that it meant all God's people, all humanity." (179) What does the phrase "the people of God" mean to you?

Once Sara Miles and her volunteers started the food pantry, it took off like a shot. It grew fast and bonded together into something people really could start believing in.  "We were making a church. "Church of the One True Sack of Groceries," Steve said. "The Jesus Christ Love Shack," I said, "and House of Prayer for All, alleluia." (134) "All we had to do was open the door. Hundreds of hungry people would walk in. And in the presence of shared food and the immediacy of such visible, common need, visitors could blurt out anything, open themselves to people totally unlike themselves, act out of character." (138)

One of the people who made a big impression on Sara Miles was Ignacio Martín Baró.  Baró was a Jesuit priest and scholar and psychologist in Central America. He wrote a great deal about mental health in places of oppression, especially in contexts of community and liberation efforts. Sara Miles had a number of conversations with him and during one them she remembers him talking about democracy. "In that cool office, he talked not about blood but about democracy, which sometimes he'd call "fellowship."" "Democracy definitely means that people will make mistakes. "And," he added, "we should welcome them."" (page 45) How welcoming are we of other people's mistakes? How forgiving?

some people enter looking for all the exits some people enter looking for the position of power some people enter looking solely for their friends some people enter wondering about the architecture      and the fire safety codes some people enter dreaming of grand success some people enter preparing for their imminent failure some people enter looking for newness some people enter with cartloads of baggage some people enter running away from themselves some people enter walking simply into a room. 

I see the questioning look wanting to ask but not daring inside laughter breaks out what is it this time, musing the outfit, uniform, so well known but so unknown on my form or the array of items stacked precariously in the basket. There is a website, right? Interesting mixtures of things where people try to guess why you'd want or need to buy those things right now together. I glance at the man behind me in line taking in the clues where along his life journey is he under this moon?

So precise, regimented Driven by the spheres In ordered paradigms Being graphed  regularly  Defining other boundaries It slips across our mind Like so much good olive oil And oh so wobbly! Our measured countered ingeniouses Come nowhere near this complexity Three hours around a table And who you thought you knew Has changed - encountered  The space between the seconds The laugh between the lines The science of forgiveness We were made for timelessness Eternity in love

A dream, an idol, a vision Of how we want our lives to be The people we want to be Cuz naturally how we are now Is not enough  We hear other people's voices We hear their pain and grief, guilt and sorrow Craving and addicted to those moments Of happiness, belovedness, chance joy  Never enough We intimately know other people's lives Notice the girl next door's cycle of bad boyfriends But it's all just sound waves carried in the wind What makes people people Is it enough? Diagrams of musclature, print outs of brain waves  Only fully defined by interconnected webs We are us and all the same uniquely God's creative writing in light  Simply enough