Listen
The LORD, your God, is in your midst…
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
Zephaniah 3
I’m a self-made millionaire…
Tupac
Pray
LORD.
I would like
to go for a walk
with the boy
who took absence,
and filled its space
with accomplishment.
I hear him
silently going hoarse
performing
his faith
his friendships
his fatherlessness.
I would like
to be quiet
beside him,
walking for miles
and miles and miles
through troubled waters
and open fields.
All his success
all his survival
a mirror
of ache
underneath.
He wouldn’t listen
to what I say,
too self-made,
too guarded to hear.
But perhaps
one day
he would come to know
and cherish
presence as gift.
And perhaps
one day
he would feel
as though he were enough.
Abide
Dear Friend
May you hear the good news:
Your accomplishments do not alter divine joy,
God rejoices over you.
May you have the courage to be still
and receive, unmerited grace
unconditioned by performance.
May your drive
to fix the world
and crush what lies before you
be baptized and carried
to a country of grace.
May you smile when
that little boy shows up
again and again. Tell him
you are beloved.
In the Name of the One
who spoke to Nicodemus
of being born from above
Amen