SUMMER SOLSTICE

As sun scatters dark
She asks me to awaken
To the light in me.

-Christine Valters Paintner (http://www.abbeyofthearts.com/)

NEW YEARS EVE

It seems particularly dark tonight. To me, this seems altogether fitting and proper for the last night of the year; it is as if the year has been fully spent. Light has recently become an ever present thought that I have carried with me throughout the past few weeks. But it is a deeper sense of light that has stayed with me - it is the light of friendships I've held in my heart - the light that carries us through difficult times and walks with us along our various paths. I just changed my profile statement for the first time since starting this blog to include the light of friendship as a force that accompanies me on my pilgrim path.

Very few of us have escaped 2008 unharmed in one form or another. Some of the pains have been economic, others spiritual, and still others emotional. During the just past holiday season, it became apparent to me more than ever that our connections to one another are what will hold us together in 2009 and beyond. Deep listening and deep care are the new currency of the day. They will see us through this difficult year ahead. Sometimes it takes a year like the one just past for us to realize that they have always been the only things that matter.

With gratitude for the lessons you have taught me, with joy for the laughter you have shared with me, I wish you, dear friends, the deep peace of the winter darkness with confidence that we share a common light within our hearts that will lead us to the eternal hope of a new day.

Fondly,

Rich

AND SO

And so, as the gentle waters call me
I shall not look back.
Through fading light I struggle
to keep my spent heart focused
on holy reunion with my soul
and those with whom I’ll spend
eternity in song and praise.
Darkness holds no terror
for he shall be my friend in the deep
and when the time arrives,
he’ll hold me in his arms
and slowly rock me;
sweet solace at last.

COME TO JESUS

Jesus never spent 40 days at a Holiday Inn.
Give me back my dangerous faith.
You remember, the one
where the church A/C is cranked up full
but the preacher can still make you sweat.
Make me hungry once again
for the only food that fills me -
a torn off hunk of bread and a swig of wine.
And when I'm done, I'll grab the altar cloth
and wipe away the dribbles on my grey beard.
Let me sit right next to folks
with stubbed and bloodied toes in raggedy sandals
that release a cloud of dust
as we stamp our feet in time to the choir’s Amens.
I’ll just sit here in the shadows
where I know deep in my heart
that the light still shines on cloudy days.

LIGHT AND DARKNESS

And soon the night of weeping
Shall be the morn of song!
- The Church’s One Foundation (traditional hymn)


The night has come and soon
the darkness will spread her wings
and bring me fearful dreams
of beasts who roam the night.

Despite the full moon’s glow above,
night strips me of my courage
to fully live into my heart,
authentic, strong and true.

I pray that angels softly shut
my eyes and lift me gently
to lands where tears are strangers
and darkness finds no home.

I travel far above the night,
and stretching out, I grasp a star
and placing it securely in my bag
I know that light will travel with me.

Arriving at a seaside scene
my guardians place me ‘neath a tree
to shade me from this bright creation
always and forever green.

My star now shines in bright sunlight
amidst the company of others,
at the edge of land and water,
portal to our pilgrim home.

Where our voices lift in song
celebrating our return
to the shores of contemplation
in the land of truth and beauty.

HOPE

Darkness falls
light cocoons within
new dawn breaks