Abba,From Your Palace Beyond The Veil
Abba,
From Your Palace Beyond The Veil,
You Water The Mountains.
The World Drinks Deeply,
Renewed By Your Abundance.
Psalm 104:13 Reimagined
Chapel of the Open Hearth
Rest in Peace, Pope Francis
"Openness to God makes us open towards the marginalized of this world, and gives us the courage to leave the confines of our own security and comfort to become bruised, hurting and dirty as we joyfully approach the suffering other in a spirit of solidarity." - Pope Francis
Rest in Peace.
The Catholic Church is responsible for so much harm, trauma, and conquest. While you were not perfect. You strove to be a balm, a presence of peace, a voice for mercy. You were a light.
May future generations continue your message, your truth telling, your reconciliation. May they build on the groundwork you laid and take us to levels of atonement and transformation that you would never have thought possible.
May the divine Spirit guide us and hold you.
Do unto the least of these, letter to Portland Press Herald 4/21/25
I’m a Christian and believe strongly in the teaching of Jesus that states, “Whatever we do to the least of these, we do to God.”
Holding true to this teaching, that means our country has become a people that will tear God away from families in the middle of the night, that will round up God in unmarked vans and will ship God off to be tortured in foreign concentration camps. We will deny God any due process and hold the Holy One back, even in defiance of court orders. For this is what we are doing to our neighbors.
Fellow Christians who wish to practice the resurrection spirit of Easter must demand the return of Kilmar Ábrego García. We must demand that the U.S. refuse to send any more people to foreign prisons. We need to welcome and care for all those who have been sent away. We need to embrace the spirit of welcoming strangers and neighbors alike. No one deserves to be sent to a concentration camp.
Let us show the world that the USA can stand for love and acceptance. Let us treat one another with dignity. If our elected officials refuse to listen, then let us show them our determination in the streets. We must repent. We must free the captives and welcome all those in need.
Easter 2025: In Response to Bully Pulpit Blasphemy
To use the bully puplit to give a false Easter message condemning people that you have so much more power than misses the entire point of this holiday.
God liberates us, conquers death, damnation, and every barrier to unite us in love. No shackles on earth nor heaven, no crime, can separate us divine love.
Any message other than mercy and forgiveness from those in power is blasphemy.
Easter: I Know Our Liberation Liveth
The Revolution Rises
Redemption and salvation can both be translated Liberation.
Easter is not about abstract notions of sins, nor firey torments. Easter is liberation from the oppression and violence of the state. Liberation for the outcasts, the left behind, the imprisoned, the stranger, the queers, the people of color, the indigenous, the occupied, the disabled.
Our Liberation Liveth.
Easter: Mary Midwife of Ressurection
Today let us shout in praise for Mary Magdalene, Our Lady Midwife to the Resurrection.
Mary, help us again to grieve the loss, help us face down their spears, and help us find the new life of God's Liberation.
She prepared oils for burial and faced her grief
She confronted soldiers and faced her fear
She went through the unknown and kept her love alive.
She spread the good news and shepherded in the unity of the movement.
When we feel like death, violence, and oppression have the last word, let us learn to be like Mary and keep our love alive.
Let us work to show that Christ has risen and the Cross is not the last word.
Love will triumph and empire fails.
Mary, help us again to grieve the loss, help us face down their spears, and help us find the new life of God's Liberation.
Holy Saturday: No One Expected Resurrection
Holy Saturday:
We remember how the movement shuddered and lost faith after the brutal murder of Jesus. We remember how the disciples began to flee and deny their membership in the movement. We remember the women who although they wept and mourned were gathering themselves to care for the body and keep the spirit alive.
No one expected the resurrection.
For all those who mourn, your grief is sacred
All those who fear state violence and reprisals, your fear is grounded in reality.
And all those who keep faith that love, justice, and liberation will prevail, we owe you a great debt for keeping our spirits alive.
Jesus is with the oppressed and the marginalized. Jesus is with the unjustly arrested. Jesus is with the lynched.
We need time to mourn, wail, and hold the pain and sorrow.
This is the day when we hold the tension of seeing loved ones and family killed and hunted by those in power. This is the day that we fear we could be next. This is the day when we resolve to keep the struggle alive and refuse to abandon anyone.
Psalm 13 - ESV:
1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.
—
Sit with the grief and injustices in the world. Don't rush too quickly away from the pain.
Lament is a crucial step in transformation.
Good Friday and Psalm 13
Holy Saturday:
We remember how the movement shuddered and lost faith after the brutal murder of Jesus. We remember how the disciples began to flee and deny their membership in the movement. We remember the women who although they wept and mourned were gathering themselves to care for the body and keep the spirit alive.
No one expected the resurrection.
For all those who mourn, your grief is sacred
All those who fear state violence and reprisals, your fear is grounded in reality.
And all those who keep faith that love, justice, and liberation will prevail, we owe you a great debt for keeping our spirits alive.
Jesus is with the oppressed and the marginalized. Jesus is with the unjustly arrested. Jesus is with the lynched.
We need time to mourn, wail, and hold the pain and sorrow.
This is the day when we hold the tension of seeing loved ones and family killed and hunted by those in power. This is the day that we fear we could be next. This is the day when we resolve to keep the struggle alive and refuse to abandon anyone.
Psalm 13 - ESV:
1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Good Friday: Who Are We Crucifying
Good Friday,
As we remember Jesus on the cross today, ask ourselves who are we crucifying?
Palestinians in the land of Jesus are being exterminated and facing genocide by an occupying power.
Black people are still shot down by the police with no recourse.
Brown people are abducted, trafficked, and tortured in concentration camps.
Trans people have their rights and health eroded.
Women's autonomy is under attack.
Who are we crucifying?
If we can proudly say Jesus died for our sins, how can we dare to send others to the same lynching tree?
Christianity, we have become the Roman Empire nailing Jesus to the cross. We have betrayed the movement of life, love, and liberation. We spit on the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus locked arms with the marginalized and the outcasts. Jesus broke bread with those maligned as sinner and terrorist. If you want to know where Jesus is today, look at who our country is crucifying
Maundy Thursday: Divine Solidarity in the Garden
Maundy Thursday represents the pinnacle of the Christian story.
Jesus goes into the garden to pray. His closest companions fall asleep and leave him alone. Jesus knows that the authorities are coming for him. His mission of caring for the most vulnerable, challenging the military occupation, and calling out the powerful collaborators is about to lead his lynching.
Jesus knows a dear friend is about to betray him.
Jesus agonizes over this fate and wishes that the mission could pass him by. And that the cup of poison will be taken from him. Yet, Jesus stays committed and decides that even torture and execution is not enough to deter him from the cause of justice.
God took human form to show us that God will be with us even then. God will not wimp out and leave us flat. God will go with us. Everything else, the arrest, the execution, and the ressurection would be impossible without the moment in the Garden.
Now that we are in an age where disappearances are a common occurrence in the United States. Brown people are denied any due process before being sent to unthinkable brutalities in foreign prisons. The state is denying the judges who demand that these people come home. This is the time to remember that God has not forgotten and forsaken our migrant and Brown siblings.
We can't forget them either. We must commit as Jesus committed, even if that means drinking a cup of poison and facing the persecution of the state.
In collective liberation, in solidarity, in the movement, we find the resurrection of easter.
An olive tree in the Garden of Gethsemane above the word Peace written in stone
Vespers April 2nd
Pastor Zeb was unable to host a zoom room tonight because they are at the vet managing a pet's emergency situation. The emergency is abating and we should be home soon.
In lieu of that online service. Please join in this practice as you are able.
For this vespers blessing tonight. Take a moment to catch your breath and cup your hands in front of you. Imagine a gentle flame of comfort and warmth sitting in your cupped hands. And bring to mind an image that is joy and beauty.
A sunset
A dear friend
An animal companion
A place of serenity
A song that makes your heart leap
Hold that image dear, make it your hearth fire for the night.
And as you are ready to end your prayer, soak in this traditional prayer and blessing to the Saint and Goddess Brigid, the lady who blessed our coming and our going.
Saint Brigid.
You were a woman of peace.
You brought harmony where there was conflict.
You brought light to the darkness.
You brought hope to the downcast.
May the mantle of your peace cover those who are troubled and anxious,and may peace be firmly rooted in our hearts and in our world.
Inspire us to act justly and to reverence all the Holy has made.
Brigid you were a voice for the wounded and the weary.
Strengthen what is weak within us.
Calm us into a quietness that heals and listens.
May we grow each day into greater wholeness in mind, body and spirit.
Amen.
Trans Day of Visibility - 2025
Blessed Trans Day of Visibility
May we all have the courage to look deep inside.
May we see the wild, fierce, and vibrant fire that is our soul.
Together, we can tend those flames to shine brightly and radiate comfort.
Let us resist the scorn, judgment, and hatred from others that try to douse our flames and control our lives.
We know who we are.
They fear us because they fear the knowledge that they may not be who they’ve been told to be.
Tend your spirits and continue to shine brightly.
Blessed Trans Day of Visibility to all of my siblings.
Today, we celebrate all of those who looked deep into their heart and soul to find and embrace their true self. There is no better example of living the spiritual path to the fullest potential than looking deep into your heart, sorting through your dreams, and living in rhythm with your spirit.
A blessing from your agender, nonbinary pastor friend made in solidarity with all my family:
May we all have the courage to look deep inside.
May we see the wild, fierce, and vibrant fire that is our soul.
Together, we can tend those flames to shine brightly and radiate comfort.
Let us resist the scorn, judgment, and hatred from others that try to douse our flames and control our lives.
We know who we are.
They fear us because they fear the knowledge that they may not be who they’ve been told to be.
Tend your spirits and continue to shine brightly.
