Presence: Being HERE –
in the now – soaking in the
raw experience.
A Pigeon and God’s Presence
I scratch and crawl
through fatal attempts
at prayer perfection;
seeking the right words
and phrases to crack
the code of Divine Engagement.
But then, a glance
out the window –
the vibrant blue sky and
the awkwardly fluttering pigeon –
I found God
looking at me
deeply and desirously
with an audible hearty chuckle.
The pigeon landed on a telephone wire
and shit without shame
sure of its belonging and being.
And I laughed,
deeply and uproarously,
prayer punctuating the giggles
as I felt God’s gentle caress
to not take myself
too seriously.
But to rest in the seriousness of
God’s love and desire
for me; in my
most basic needs and desires,
without shame,
as with the bumbling and shitting pigeon,
God is present with me.
What is ‘Basebuilding?’
Basebuilding:
Foundations built on faith, conviction, and justice.
Collaboration with community, church,
ancestors, prophets,
and future generations.
Unique in poetic and prophetic imagination
speaking and doing
an alternative narrative and
story into being.
Renouncing and denouncing
the narrative and
story of domination and supremacy
through a communal vision,
achievable and concrete,
grassroots grown,
in our ecclesial spaces
and beyond
for the queering and decolonizing
and expanding
and including
of Beloved Community.
Basebuilding:
Intentional connections and relationships,
with imagination,
as power
and wholistic transformation
for the well-being
of all people and creation.
Citizenship in Heaven (Response to Philippians 3:20-21)
Our citizenship is in Heaven;
not in the systems and structures
that our societies value:
power maintenance,
economic control,
and resource exploitation,
by which people and creation are
oppressed and marginalized
for the comfort and supremacy
of a few.
Our citizenship is in Heaven;
in the Love and Justice of God
that transforms our hearts, churches, and societies
through the model of our Savior,
Jesus Christ,
and the power of
the Holy Spirit,
by power sharing,
economic jubilee –
equitable resource stewardship –
and communal creation caretaking.
Our citizenship is in Heaven
by co-creating Heaven on Earth –
this Earth –
here and now,
for all people
and creation.
Amen.
Doxology
God of Love:
Working for the flourishing of all people –
toppling white supremacy, patriarchy, and affluence –
dispersing power to all people –
enabling all of creation to live fully.
Centering marginalized and oppressed voices
from prophetic resistance
to Kingdom community
of holistic well-being.
Racism, homophobia, sexism –
all tools of oppression and domination –
cast into the flames of Hell.
Hell:
the chosen rejection of God’s love
and flourishing of God’s creation.
And the God of wholeness
will be uplifted and
reign in Love,
Eternally.
Amen.
Where You Lead, Oh Lord, I Follow (Based on Psalm 138:1-8)
I rejoice in You, my Provider;
my heart beats with praise.
I raise my palms and lift my eyes
toward Your glory and wholeness,
in thankful exultation
of Your steadfast love
and faithful word.
At a young age, You called me;
I heard and followed.
But the Church and the world
conspired to silence Your voice
and extinguish my call
by moralizing away my belovedness
as Your child, oh God,
as a condemned and unworthy queer.
But, amidst these trials of human
malevolence and lies,
You journeyed with me,
never leaving nor forsaking,
waiting for a receptive heart
to remind me of my call –
not despite of my sexuality,
but because of it –
the experiences of expansive and just-filled love.
And now,
through my approval for Ordination
as a Deacon in the UMC,
You have brought Your Purpose to further fruition in me,
proving that Your radically inclusive love endures,
and expands,
forever.
Where You lead, oh Lord, I follow.
Amen.
Prayer: January 6, 2021
US Capitol
We need you, oh God.
We are flawed and messed up humans who continue to divide and hurt one another.
We beseech you to intervene in the hearts, minds, and bodies of those angry and violent in Washington, and across the country, with the conviction of truth and love.
Help us to rely on your unwavering presence as we seek justice, not violence, through the power of your Spirit.
In your mysterious and loving name.
Amen.
Triune God,
The sculpted pediment (white marble) – representing the Holy Trinity - surmounting the main altar in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp. This house of worship is the largest Gothic building in the Netherlands.
You call us to wholeness, not brokenness –
as a Spirit of three-persons in one substance –
demanding that we speak truths
to one another:
our friends, our foes, ourselves.
That we must not rely on worldly comforts
and temporal ease,
instead finding rest and strength
in You
with community:
the good, the bad, the real.
Because you created us for wholeness,
not brokenness.
Amen.
Hope [Inspired by Rabia’s ‘The Way the Forest Shelters’]
I have confidence
in God’s miraculous love
amidst this time of terror –
through signs and symbols
from Mother Earth.
In the serotinous cones of the lodgepole pines –
resins dripping and releasing seeds
after consumed by rampant wildfires –
bringing a new generation of life
amidst death.
In the interdependent relationships of plants –
the trinity of beans, corn, and squash –
Holy Sisters, mutually sharing life-giving
minerals, nitrogen, fertilizer, and water –
amidst times of depletion and scarcity.
In the ecstatic ecstasy of human touch and companionship –
the wells of physical interconnection
and soul-expanding depths of conversation
amidst the valleys of shadow and despair.
There is a tremendous constancy of
Possibility,
hope and New Life,
all plainly modeled for us from
our Holy Mother, Earth –
and embedded in our incarnate bodies –
if we only listen
and follow.
Inspired by ‘Love (III)’ by George Herbert
adult and child hands holding red heart on aqua background, heart health, donation, CSR concept, world heart day, world health day, family day
God’s love is an open-armed greeting,
but teachings of sin caused me to pull away:
Unworthy.
God stood saddened still, but not stunned,
knowing from the human evil it came:
Control.
God sent an Advocate before I was formed
to be ever-present with me, reminding me:
Love.
God demonstrated to my heart, helping me
to see the wrong in ecclessial espoused self-hate:
Healing.
God extended means of Grace, and I retreated
drowning in family, culture, and church:
Tradition.
God persisted, loving without condition
and inviting me into the Love abundance:
Experience.
God led me to encounter texts and people
with different messages and teachings
coaxing my brain where my heart wasn’t ready:
Reason.
God opened my eyes to read and interpret
in holistic and healing ways:
Scripture.
God encountered my in God’s love through
self-love, neighborly love, and love of enemy –
a least-of-these love:
Calling.
And God’s call was to teach and to love
as a conduit of God’s love in the world:
Disciple.
Amen.
Deacon Grant 