Prayer for the Good Dog

I approach the Holy Wholeness,
The Unimaginable Infinity,
Thinking of a small funny piece of it,
A good dog I knew.
He died last week
And we miss him.

He was an odd shape,
Barrel-chested, long body and short legs
And when he trotted on one of his walks,
He kind of swayed from side to side
And bounced up and down.
It was actually kind of jolly
In a dog sort of way.
He was a stubborn boy,
And he didn't want to do what he didn't want to do.
I admired that, even when I had to pull him down the sidewalk
Because he wasn't ready to go home just yet.

I met this dog when he was a puppy.
He wasn't my dog, but I imprinted on him a little bit
And when he saw me coming down the street he'd go nuts with joy.
No one else has ever gone nuts with joy upon seeing me
And I never took this for granted.
When his people walked him past my building
He would stop and hunker down (I told you he was stubborn)
And sometimes I pretended this was so he could visit with me
But I think this was mostly because he aspired
To the eating of my cats.
When he did sometimes gain entry
They sat on the sofa, looking down at him, snickering.
He had very short legs.

This fine boy
Had a very good life.
He loved and was much loved.
There is no tragedy in his death at age 14
But nevertheless,
We miss him.

Blessed Holy Wholeness
We give thanks for our time with that good dog.

Amen

Hallel for Pesach

Blessed be the Holy Wholeness and our connections within the One-ness, which joyfully compels us to celebrate this festival, Pesach, Hallelujah!

Praise the names we use to name the names we use to name the one -ness that cannot be named.

Praise the—

Praise what?

God?

Why?

If God is God, then why does God need praise?

And if God isn’t God, then why do I need to praise God?

I want to think about compassion, empathy, creativity and love. 

I want to concentrate on hope and beauty and humor and kindness.

I want to praise something that needs and deserves praise, something that evokes Spring and Fertility and Pesach!

I want to praise…birds.

Birds!

Praise the birds that sing, that fill the world with lovely sounds.

Praise the birds that fly, that are free and no man’s slave.

Praise the birds that are camouflaged, may they always be safe.

Praise the birds that are colorful, that dazzle us with their beauty.

Praise the Chestnut-Coloured Woodpecker, red and golden brown,

Praise the pissed off Sri Lanka Frogmouth 

Praise the intensely yellow Indian Golden Oriole

Praise the Resplendent Quetzal 

Praise the Ward's Trogon, the aerodynamic Toco Toucan , the White-faced Ibis!

Praise the Rufous-backed Kingfisher, the Red-cheeked cordon-bleu, the Northern Cassowary, who can kick your ass and the Ostrich, who can outrun a cheetah!

Praise the Rosy starling, the Hawk, the Falcon, the Vulture!

Praise the Red Cardinal, the Blue Jayand the Sparrow!

Praise the Osprey, the Kingfisher, the Heron!

Ooo, and Praise the Penguins!  Because Penguins!

And of course the Robin! Praise the robin, spring is officially here!

Compassion and empathy and creation and love. 

Hope and beauty and humor and kindness.

Freedom and spring and music and color.

Blessed be the Holy Whole that includes it all.

Hallelujah!

Halleluyah, Spring!

Halleluyah, Pesach!

Fly, sing, hunt, have babies!

Eat matzoh!  Drink wine!  Tell stories!

Praise the Holy Wholeness,

The Creator that creates and was created and is always creating!

Halleluyah, birds!

And let us say,

Amen

A PRAYER ABOUT METAPHORS

 “Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech HaOlam,

Blessed are you Lord, King Of The Universe”

These are Blessed Metaphors

For a hierarchy we have no use for,

A patriarchy that excludes us

And for a divine being we don’t believe in:

So we reject them. 

Mazal Tov!

Instead we look for our own metaphors:

For a one-ness that unites,

A presence that comforts,

A mythology that instructs,

A venue for all your questions,

A chevre that gathers you in,

A community that resists oppression,

A tradition that stretches,

A music that exalts,

And prayers that are more than words.

We feel this quest deeply,

And it connects us.

It’s not in belief,

Its in the Knowing:

Blessed Knowledge,

Whatever that is,

We give thanks for this Place

Where we can look for our own metaphors 

And where we are invited to share them when found. 

Amen. 

As We Pray

Blessed Oneness!
If they come at us
As we pray:

We pray and place ourselves in front of the fear, 

We pray and we place ourselves in front of the anger, 

We pray and place ourselves in front of the grief.

 

We pray and delight in our memories. 

We pray and delight in each other.

We pray and delight in our prayers.  

 

We pray and pledge ourselves to justice, 

We pray and pledge ourselves against hate, 

We pray and pledge ourselves to the long repair of all broken hearts.

As we pray.

Amen

A Blueberry On The Seder Plate

I had a student,
He was on the autism spectrum
And he came up with this idea 
Of a blueberry on the Seder plate
For people like him.  

On the outside a blueberry is blue, 
On the inside it’s green,
And  if you cook  it,
Sometimes it is purple.  

You can’t tell what a blueberry is
Or can be 
Just by looking at it.