Enjoy these words and images shared recently in the context of community worship (comments welcome at bottom of page).
sketches in real time during worship, by J. Kandy Lippincott
(please click to view larger image)
poetry by Pete
untitled Oh most humble Closer to my embodied life Than I dare acknowledge, Unless protected by circumstance With the humblest of clothing At birth and death, Thank thee for a growing confidence Upon witnessing your movements, That I, too, moved and yet go on That I also am humbled. Peter M. Small - 6/21/2016
Quaker Meeting - First day of September In the summer’s hot weather, the Meetinghouse doors are opened. There in the sacred silence My gaze lifts and drinks its fill The traffic on Main Street, And the broad-shouldered lawn And the grove of old trees. The labyrinth we’ve drawn When chilly air returns, the Meetinghouse doors are closed. How then shall I remember The rough Earth just outside? Peter M. Small - 9/1/2019
To Work! Who are now by affection joined, Called to stand on garden earth, Dance and sing at edge of dawn, Rise as one unto the work. Peter M. Small - 9/3/2017
1. Waiting on Dawn Who lives with us in Light and Love Beside, inside, below, above? Also stranger, and also Friend Leads and labors with us to mend The path of each, the paths of all Although we rise and though we fall. Ofttimes our slave when things are well Saviour! Saviour! at gates of Hell. In every dawn we find anew Ourselves a’walking yet with You. 2. Morning Light The First Day morning streamed around And sacred hush replaced all sound. Within the living halls of home The humble Presence also shone. I felt a press of spirit Friends Worshiping with the great Amen. “Meetinghouse”, “Home” now joined in Thee! T’was then Friends Meeting came to me. Peter M. Small 1/15/2017
The reason has its heart The world changes and I die of the strangeness If I had to do it all over again I would do it this way again and again, I have learned something from all this Be true to who you are To who God made you And to God who made you We need every voice and body There is no end to the world There is an end to this body Peter M. Small - 3/15/2019
poetry by Zoelle
From “Birth”
What is the underlying longing that demands our attention? We each crave comfort.
Physical comfort. Emotional comfort. Spiritual comfort. Freedom from hardship. We crave Relief.
But growth, it seems to me, is never comfortable. To stretch, to advance, to risk always requires a certain amount of pain.
With the act of being born into these physical bodies through the act of leaving them, pain gently holds our hand and walks us through all of the transitions of our lives. Discomfort is the side-car that carries us forward through the trials and tribulations of living.
Into Maturity; Into Peace; Into Understanding; Into Wisdom. Into the preparation for each new step. Into the Comfort we seek.
Zoelle Montgomery-Maurer – 12/29/2019
poetry by Ben
When I See Flags at Half Mast Images of soldiers, fleeting and grim formed massed on their journey, Our flags flown full, the day is seized; And accepted heavy losses. Today – looking up at Flags Half Mast An invisible cyst does grow, within our nation’s iron chest And scars our labored lungs. I long for a clean and even battle, Put a true face to a name. An identifiable enemy To accompany this refrain. Instead, bleeding sirens sound beyond our measured view. Masked medics align with swabs in hand Prepared for a silent enigma: Which knows no boundaries among us, This a cursed thing. Flags at Half Mast – do I see? Pretend, the void, the spring. Ben Morris, April 2020
thanks
These postings are helpful to me. I reread them quietly to myself. It helps.
As for the drawings, my brain filters what I hear into images. Sometimes they don’t hit the mark. If you enjoy them, good, if not, just skip past them…no worries.
Thanks for sharing these expressions, so welcome when our own words fail us!