Happy Thanksgiving!

We thank you God for potlucks

Where a multitude can cook

With ingredients and spices

That aren’t from just one book

From casseroles and dumplings

Hors d’oeurves and canapés

Puddings, sauces, pastas,

To sensational flambés.

How boring when there’s just one dish

Or flavor to fit all

How yummy and much more delish

When our feast’s a free-for-all.

Our faith is like a banquet too

With many forms of seasoning

Where Christians, Rastafarians and Jews

All do their separate reasoning

But all can share one table

Break bread and sit to eat

Enriched by our diversity

From pumpernickel to whole wheat.

So we are our own blessing

Our gratitude’s made real

When we as friends can feed and serve

Each other in life’s meal.

The Lord's Prayer (Revised)

Gracious Giver

Blessed be your many names

Allah, Brahma,  Adonai, God,

None of them your own proper title

But our human attempts to name unknowable You.

You who are the whole of life, the all-in-all,

Enable us to see beyond the illusion of separateness

To glimpse the unity of all beings

The perfection at creation’s core

The miracle of each person and every moment.

Teach us to live as though interdependence and mutuality

Were the laws that govern all existence,

As indeed they truly are.

Supply our necessities, and keep us from wanting what we cannot have.

Stir compassion toward our neighbors,

And free us from the prisons of anger and resentment.

Keep us safe from envy,

And deliver us from the inner demons

            Of hatred and ingratitude. 

But keep our minds and hearts centered in beauty,

Steady in the hands of justice of and mercy,

Trusting in You who are most trustworthy,

Source of goodness and reconciliation and love.  

Belated Valentines Day

We give thanks for love,

Agape and Eros,

Chocolates and pillow talk,

And all of cupid’s arrows.

For unrequited yearning

And the grand passion burning,

For quiet appreciation

And platonic contemplation.

For lovers, too, we offer thanks:

Those gay and straight, near and dear,

Lavender and pink and transgressively queer;

For swooning adolescents

And seniors in senescence,

Who are the bloom in life’s bouquet --

The hearts and flowers of Valentine’s Day.

For all that makes our pulses run,

Heart rates quicken

And keeps tickers ticken,

We bless you, Lord--

Who made Eve with Adam,

And filled the world with both “sirs” and “madams.” 

For birds and bees,

And variet-ees

Of conjugation

We lift our voice

In celebration.