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.