Grace Before the Thanksgiving Meal

Blessed Oneness!

Bless all  who sit around this table,

Family and Strangers!

Friends and Enemies!

On this confusing Thanksgiving,

We who are about to have such a fine meal

Take this moment to acknowledge

How blessed we are

Amidst all the contradictions of history

And all the pain and despair of life,

And in our turn, we bless. 

Blessed be the eaters and the eaten,

Blessed be the feeders and the fed.

Blessed be the cooks and the meal,

Blessed be the wine and the vineyards. 

Blessed be the vegetables and the farmers,

Blessed be the talkers and the talked about. 

Blessed be them all.

Blessed be the doers and the done upon,

Blessed be the freers and the freed.

Blessed be the leaders and the led,

Blessed be the controllers and the controlled. 

Blessed be the prayers and the prayed for,

Blessed be the servers and the served.

Blessed be them alll.

Bless us,  One-ness,

All those who sit around this table,

All those with no home to share. 
All who will enjoy this wonderful meal,

All those who have no food to eat. 

Those who remember and who are remembered,

And those who are forgotten. 

Family and Strangers!

Friends and Enemies!

On this Thanksgiving,

We give thanks.

Amen

I Give Thanks

 I give thanks 

For this moment:

This one, as I am

Writing these words.  

I’m not dead,

At least not yet,

And neither are you.  

I ate today. 

I listened to music. 

I talked to a friend.  

I slept in a bed under a roof. 

Okay, this next moment, just now?

Nothing happened except for

Breathing in then out then in,

Each breath was a prayer.  

And you reading this,

I give thanks for that, too.  

Amen

Find The Lily

 

First we will listen to our Fear.

Today I am told  to look to God for company

In my fear but

I am afraid of our new leaders. 

I fear the danger pointed at anyone who is not them.

I am afraid for myself, I am afraid for you, I am afraid for everybody.

I am afraid for the future. 

And I am afraid for the people who oppose our leaders.

And now we must be strong

And I am not strong. 

Then we will only feel our Despair.

The enemy is so strong

And we are divided.

We keep losing

And this is no game.

Lives are ruined,

Animals are going extinct,

The planet is on fire,

Cruelty enjoys itself

And we can’t get away from it. 

No distractions work for long.

The grief won’t go away
I think I must say the Kaddish 

And properly mourn. 

Then…what?

There is a parable in the Sefer Ha-Aggadah,*

The Book of Legends, 

About a king who had a beautiful orchard 

Which, when he had to leave for a year,

He left in the hands of a keeper.  

And when the king returned, 

The orchard had been terribly neglected,

Overgrown with thorns and thistles.

He was going to tear the orchard down

But looking down at the thorns

He noticed among them

A rose-colored lily.

And the king said

“Because of this lily, let the entire orchard be spared.”

Listen to the fear and despair and then

Look for all the lilies among the thorns. 

Amen

Today We Choose

 

Today 

Today we must choose.   

Today we choose to survive. 

Today we choose to resist. 

Today we choose the rule of law.

Today we choose history and science.

Today we choose holy conversations.

Today we choose to heal the world.

Today we choose acts of loving kindness.

Today we choose to share the burdens. 

And today we choose faith in the future,