highflight

michael says
on the astral plane
in our light body
between lives,
we decide
with our guide
what we need to learn
in the next one

so... how do you suppose that next-life conversation went
between the Holy Spirit and the soul Jesus?

what did he yet need to learn?
what was his lack?

...his ultimate lifetime plan was to live out isaiah ii?
cover for adam's sin? start a religion?
obfuscate the message with odd parables
to the point of saying
everything and nothing?
on purpose?

was his necessary silence
the mystery of his suffering?
or the other way around?

would to God he had made just one clear statement on homosexuality
so paul would have kept his opinions to himself....

belief as prologue

no one can know everything
but knowing even one thing can be life-changing...
like how to read
like the love of a child

anyone can believe anything
defying knowledge or reason...
such as the earth is flat
such as Jesus is the Son of God

is it better to stay in the cave,
shackled to our belief system
speculating on the habits of shadows on the wall
than to face the impossibly bright light of truth revealed?

why not play it safe and just go with the majority on this one?

for what purpose is it required
to believe without seeing...
more fiber in our moral muscle?
is it better not to know about the light for ourselves,
so as to strive for faith without question
as an exercise in humility?

really?

would we lack a source of passion for art or poetry or music
if we lacked some motivational fear of death?
is absolute terror the only balance for soaring, absolute joy?

wouldn't it be enough simply to know that our task is to grow and mature in spirit?
wouldn't it be enough to require ourselves to follow a regimen of love in all that we do?
taking off the shackles and being helpful to others?
without fear of losing our place in line? or something?

it all depends on what we are willing to know, to believe, to be...
the rest is just practice

if it bleeds, it leads

alas and did my savior bleed
there is a fountain filled with blood
are you washed in the blood
there's power in the blood
nothing but the blood
precious blood

huh.
what is it that
at dawn
gives you hope
and
at the end of the day
gives you peace
you can hold onto


not the bloody hammered nails into flesh
not dogs, wires, needles, ropes, gags or waterboards
...the everyday gore of human lust
not the glory of war
not martyrdom for 72 black-eyed virgins
nor martyrdom for God's will

...something about the sweet way he lived
still lives
in the Presence

the blessing
the healing
the love
the shared grace

'doesn't sell newspapers
nor, it would appear, 
does it sell christianity
feral or otherwise

love is not the exciting hard news
but blood is the very definition of it

and there you go

exclusivity vs inclusivity

is there really any doubt that Jesus was about loving God, ourselves, our neighbors?

is there really any doubt that this love included everybody?
samaritans
tax collectors
children
lame and sick people
dead people
women at wells who gave themselves to many men...probably to stay alive, but that's another issue...

wouldn't you think it odd if this same Jesus
who was inclusive about loving all people,
was also very exclusive about who could "go to heaven"...?
as in:
you are loved freely
unconditionally
but
maybe one or two conditions...
like,
you have to believe all 34 items in the creed
or else
you can't get in
you wind up in hell
game over...

but then, you say,
what is so wrong with a religion that requires a few rules,
that requires a straight and narrow path in order to get the goods?

what is wrong is
it's not a belief in an infinite, unconditional God-as-Love ...
what is wrong is
it's a belief in God-as-Love-Withheld,
Believe to Receive...
Exclusive Love,
Reserved Love,
Special Love,
Died for Your Sins Love...

really?...

what if
Christ's Love
included everyone
for no reason at all

seems to me
any reading of the gospels reveals that
Jesus broke the rules of exclusivity
and showed us how to live in relationship
with God
and with each other
by practicing
radical, inclusive Love.

it was radical then
and it is radical today...

you can never 'deserve' it
because it is already yours
without the asking...

it is extravagant,
wasteful,
poured-out-
on-everyone
Love...
no exceptions

Good News...
everybody goes to heaven

is it not rare

love's radiance
overtaking fear

and love's grace
forgiving
without the asking

a song in standstill

...to lose all that is good and beautiful and fun and full of fire
but for a moment's contemplated indiscretion...
it is such a price to pay...
what can be done to hurry the grieving
have no time to feel the feelings
have to get on with it...
tie up loose ends...

my God,
why was this one necessary

taking joy, burning the edges brown
spending words in expensive haste
once on fire with unholy desire, twice charred
without defense, scarlet, unchaste

talk to me in synthetic echoes
until time will let this be
and perhaps then i can spin disarray into melody...
a song of reconciliation for you and me.

on balance of sacrifice and fulfillment

what do you suppose God had in mind

are we in this world for no other purpose than to give it all up for heaven? wherever that is...whatever that is...
mouthing the psalms, 
lip-syncing the creed
abandoning self, 
vacating desire
life written small, 
fear as subtext
walking like a nun close to the wall
securing salvation 
and spiritual safety
...at such a cost
...numbed out, co-opted, judged, shamed, burned

what are we doing here...really...
either God is Love
or God is Not...
if Love is the life force,
if Love is the sacredness of our true being,
if Love compels us to give ourselves in unselfish, living service to each other...
then what else do we need to know?

we are called to live inside out, revealed
sacrificing safety, dependent solely on grace,
mending, nurturing, open
coming alive to others' needs,
understanding our own...
co-creating
Love
without
fear