ABOUT GOD AND OTHERS
I would like to share a poem by my favorite poet who publishes regularly in my favorite magazine.
God (the title)
By purest chance I was out in the street when the kindergarten
Bus mumbled past going slow and I looked up just as all seven
Kids on my side of the bus looked at me and they
Lit up and all this crap about God being dead and where is God
And who owns God and who hears God better than whom is the
Most egregiously stupid crap imaginable because if you want to
See God and have God see you and have this mutual perception
Be completely untrammeled by blather and greed and comment,
Go stand in the street as the kindergarten bus murmurs past. I’m
Not kidding and this not a metaphor. I am completely serious.
Everyone babbles about God, but I saw God this morning just as
The bus slowed down for the stop on Maple Street. God was six
Girls and one boy with a bright green and purple stegosaurus hat.
Of course God would wear a brilliantly colored tall dinosaur hat!
If you were the imagination that dreamed up everything that ever
Was in this blistering perfect terrible world, wouldn’t you wear a
Hat celebrating some of the wildest most amazing developments?
The author is Brian Doyle. He publishes regularly in the Christian Century and has recently published a new novel, entitled “Martin Marten.”
Question: “What did the Buddhist monk say to the hot dog vendor?”
Answer: “Make me one with everything.”
I’ll not reveal the name of the author for fear of ruining his reputation.
The Lord’s Prayer
Eternal Spirit
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of Your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the people of the world!
Your heavenly will be followed by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
Sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In time of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From the trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of power that is love,
Now and for ever, Amen.
New Zealand Book of Common Prayer