Blog Break Until July 10

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Bible Verse Fave Of The Week

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:25-26

I wait. I seek. I am quiet. As for salvation, I am quiet...

I sit zazen. Shikantaza.

For a long time, I did not sit zazen or sat only occasionally with no particular regularity. Then, in trying to follow Jesus, I tried praying (and still try) but there is a lot of noise and distraction in Christianity! Singing. Preaching. Prayers. Twitter. Facebook. Hard to hear or sense God sometimes. Plus I never know what to say and besides I'm probably interrupting something Very Important.

So, I have returned to zazen.

Not because I'm trying to work out my own salvation as Paul discussed in Philippians 2:12: "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" nor as the Buddha stressed in his final words before his final nirvana: "work out your own salvation with diligence" (Though other translations read: "Work hard to gain your own salvation." (wait...Paul and Buddha?)), but because I need the silence. The awareness of shikantaza. God seems to be in the spaces between my thoughts. Or maybe more accurately, in the simple awareness between my thoughts.

When I pray or think about God I put myself in the way. When I sit zazen, I get out the way. I don't know that I hear God, but at least I stop talking to myself.

As the Buddha said: "You cannot travel the path until you become the path itself."

Or, to put it another way, you cannot hear God until you shut up.


Namaste.

rain

the thunder comes first,
and wakes me from
my reading.

just up the valley, i can
see white curtains
of rain fluttering in the wind.

the first drops are so tentative,
leaving little marks in the dust
on the deck. just tiptoeing
across that stage.

then the deluge comes, the
entire ballet all at once,
washing away all
the warmth of the day.

then rain settles in
for the long haul -
like our black dog does for a nap -
first slumping down and then
stretching out sideways on the hardwood floor.

the rain
falls and falls
and falls
until sleep spreads across the day.

the yellow flowers,
just to the side
of the garden pond,
bend under the
weight of the water.

their thirst quenched
in a way the pond

will never know.


Namaste.

Fresh Herb Risotto: Summer On A Plate

Didn't exactly seem like the first day of summer at our house today (rain/60 degrees) BUT enjoying this Fresh Herb Risotto made us feel all summery anyways!

7 cups veggie stock
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups FINELY chopped herbs (parsley, chives and arugula were my choices)
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 med. onion, finely chopped.
Salt
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine (some like dry, I like Riesling)
Fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp fresh minced lemon zest
1/2 freshly grated parmesan (splurge on the good stuff, it does make a difference)

1. Combine the herbs with one of the minced cloves in a small bowl. Add a grind of pepper.
2. Heat your stock so its hot but not simmering.
3. Heat the olive oil and add the onion. Cook stirring constantly until soft. Do not brown!
4. Stir in the rice, garlic and onion. Stir until well mixed and add the wine. Cook until the wine is absorbed.
5. Add the stock in ladlefuls (1/2 cup or so at a time) and stir until absorbed. Repeat. After about 20 or 25 min the rice should be done and you should have a 1/2 cup or so of stock left.
6. Stir in the herbs, pepper, lemon zest and juice and cheese.
7. Remove from heat and stir until everything is nicely incorporated. If it seems a little thick add stock until it seems creamy but not at all runny.
8. Serve immediately with a little minced herbs and lemon zest on top.

Serves 4.

A nice variation is to add a 1/2 cup of fresh shelled and cooked peas at the last minute along with everything else!

Namaste!

parable

in church this week,
charlotte read my poem out
loud as part of the liturgy,

which was, like the poem,
a flawed attempt to describe
the unseen.

“he did not speak to them except in parables.”

it was disconcerting to watch charlotte
take my words by the hand,
and guide them through the church,
one by one, like small children.

in a voice as steady as rain,
she spoke of denial and loss -
how bitter they lie on our tongues –
and redemption.

“they ... may indeed listen, but not understand”

words have meanings - many found in webster’s -
though for poets and prophets there
are always meanings known only to them.
ciphers that beg the listener
to bestow coins of understanding into
their tiny, outstretched hands.

“but he explained everything in private to his disciples.”

“words are not just words,” He must have said to them,
“they have consequences.”
something
poets already know, and whether prophet or poet,
we will admit, in private at least,
that all poems are, without fail, prayers
beseeching god to restore

what we never had.

on being denied the eucharist (for r. pater)

when prophets are denied,
as they so often are,
they shake the dust from their sandals
and board when their rows are called.

watching from your plane, you see
the mountains shepherd the sunset into darkness.
lightning drives cracks into the midnight sky.
just for a moment the vast forest
is there -
a revelation
followed by thunder that rolls away
like a resurrection.

when a wind comes hurling accusations
against your plane, the trees huddled
on the mountainside suddenly seem
alarmingly close.

in denver, brushing tears
from your eyes, you exit the plane, and
discover you were never in
any real danger after all

for in a room at the airport,
in a gathering of two or three,
the bread and wine are
freely given to you
so that the darkness is pierced,

and through this wound in the sky,

the moon rises.



-------------------------------
Visit sarcastic lutheran to read the post that inspired the poem.

Namaste.

the virtues of being sick

being sick with a cold is not without its virtues

for example – time slows down to a manageable pace
and tea seemingly stays hot
for a much longer time.

your bed feels more comfortable.

sleep lays heavier on you,
so to get up is a struggle -
one you therefore avoid.

a sunny day is lovely
but a cloudy one is nurturing.

the sound of raindrops
provide a steady rhythm
to the doing of nothing.

laziness is not just accepted
but required.

one can make grandiose plans
without any need to actually
do anything at all.

books are hard work
so magazines become the sandbox of choice.

and nothing ever tastes so good as
a piece of toast
with a little butter and jam
and a spot of tea does
when you have a cold.

but perhaps best,
if you lose your voice,
you don’t have to justify

your silence.


Namaste.

My Zombie Project

Taking dinner with my stepson Brad and Charlotte at the Avenue on 17th (terrible food!) this evening after Leonard Cohen at Red Rocks got canceled due to a little rain. He'd had a meeting this afternoon with someone pushing a zombie flick script. He doesn't want to get involved 'cause it might interfere with his zombie flick script he's working on [background: Brad is a budding producer in L.A.]. I said "You have a zombie project?" Brad says: "Everyone has a zombie project in the works." I said: "I gotta get me a zombie project..."

Inspiration strikes, EUREKA (though I did not shout this out during dinner) - Gospel Zombies. Its a band. Its a movie. Its a line of clothing.

It's a book about unthinking adherence to any set of religious beliefs!

I am so proud of myself. Home I go to begin writing the best damn self-righteous holier than thou up on my high horse and looking down at you book ever written on the topic of intolerant believers (a/k/a far right fundies). But just to be sure I google "Gospel Zombies" and discover - crap - its been done. As a band anyway or album title.

All the good band names really are taken...

So now I'm thinking Zombie Pastors... Zombie Monks... Ah, shit, Gospel Zombies would have been sooooo great...


Namaste.

Empty

Searching for words, hunting for phrases,
When will it end?
Esteeming knowledge and gathering information,
Only maddens the spirit.
Just entrust yourself to your own nature,
Empty and illuminating
Beyond this, I have nothing to teach.

- Bankei (1622-1693)

Sending Postcards To The Buddha

in my rush to follow jesus
i have forgotten to send postcards
to buddha, which he likes.

mona lisa master.
his serene smile. his amused eyes.

empty mind
prayer on his still lips.

unlike the letters I write jesus
the postcards are best left blank
except for the address:

buddha,
jack pine tree
end of long dusty road
far up the mountain

novelty photos
or landscapes or miniature golf
courses with odd themes are
favorites.

in upstate new york, years ago,
i saw a small buddha statute
observing the ninth hole of a
putt-putt.
after all,
enlightenment
can come at a stroke...

under the bright lights that click on
at sunset, no doubt jesus could beat
the final “free game” hole
without cheating,
while buddha would keep an honest score.

after, on the long drive home,
they would smoke cigarettes,

listen to Elvis
on far away AM stations,
and sing along:

“...Please don’t ask me what’s on my mind
i’m a little mixed up, but i’m feelin’ fine...”



Namaste.

Bible Verse Fave Of The Week

While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. - John 17:12 (NRSV)

I always feel bad for Judas.

He was "destined" to be lost to fulfill scripture.

30 pieces of silver was a trifling sum; the mere cost of compensation to one whose slave has been killed.

For the author Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo, it is Judas who gives the greater sacrifice. In the story "Three Version of Judas" Borges' says: "The ascetic, for the greater glory of God, degrades and mortifies the flesh; Judas did the same with the spirit. He renounced honour, good, peace, the Kingdom of Heaven, as others, less heroically, renounced pleasure."

Did Judas act without desire for personal gain, I mean thirty pieces of silver - come on - and sacrifice everything for the Logos? Body? Spirit? Soul? Is that possible? He dies in a variety of ways depending on which Gospel account you read, and likely is damned for either his betrayal or suicide...which hardly seems just in either case... or did he?

Was Judas simply made up out of whole cloth?

Theologian Aaron Saari contends "Mark 16:14 and Luke 24:33 state that following his resurrection Jesus appeared to "the eleven." Who was missing? After all that had transpired one would just naturally think it was Judas. Apparently not, because in John 20:24 we learn that the one missing was Thoms. Therefore the eleven had to include Judas. To further confuse things,, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:5 that following his resurrection Jesus was seen by “the twelve.” This had to include Judas because it wasn't until after the ascension, some forty days after the resurrection (Acts 1:3), that another person, Matthias, was voted in to replace Judas (Acts 1:26). So, apparently Judas neither committed suicide nor died by accident. In Acts 1:25 we are told that Judas "turned aside to go to his own place." [copied from Wikipedia "Judas Iscariot"]

If he is simply cut from the cloth of the Old Testament, why bother? If he is a historical disciple, why the various modes of death and Gospel ambiguities? And if he was necessary to fulfill the scriptures - why is this sacrifice a sin? Why would Christ's death not atone for even this?

I'm not saying the Gospel isn't true...

I'm just sayin'...


Namaste.

other

in the moment

when the bread and wine become

other,
something is made whole,

and we take it,

hoping it is us.




Namaste.