19 April 2025

Hours (Holy Saturday 2025)

Sometimes the Stars
are no longer
visible to hang
our Wishes upon

Sometimes the Clouds
can no longer
carry the weight
of our Dreams

Sometimes the numbers
no longer align
to serve as
a Hopeful Sign

Sometimes the nevers
need to be 
said to unbelievably
raise the dead

Sometimes formative fantasies
need to die
so transformative Realities
can be Born

Sometimes settled destinies
are gradually unsettled
as a Catalyst
for unimaginable Possibilities 

Sometimes what We
assume and expect
doesn't trap Us
in like fate
but is subverted 
and converted like
faith in Love
to Liberate and
set Us Free...

Thanks.

#100wordprayers #HolyWeek2025 #HolySaturday2025 #WhereWouldWeBeWithoutWishfulThinking #SayingTheNeversCanOpenDoorsToNewForevers #SometimesTheDarknessIsYourFriendAndIlluminesTheHoneyInTheMoon #LoveIsStrongerThanDeath 

('Defiant Joy' © Lisle Gwynn Garrity)



18 April 2025

Showers (Maundy Thursday and Good Friday 2025)

before being apprehended
by anxious authorities
with pathetic fears
undressed by insanity
and unjust inhumanity
stripped of security
and inherent Dignity
(like prisoners packed
into cells like
sardines into cans)
and executed as
an apparent danger
to the powers
that be and
the status quo
the Love that
is the Light
of the World
(and will never
let Us go)
unfurled that Love
in torrential Showers
upon all Beloveds
by bending down
in gracious Humility
shedding all coverings
in genuine Vulnerability
and replacing them
with a towel
washing our feet
with the Water
of which We
are (mostly) made
and empathetic tears
soothing our soles
(and our Souls)
cleansing our fears
inviting Us All
(who can simultaneously
resemble sheep grazing
in the meadows
and hungry wolves
on the prowl)
to peek out
from the shadows
and open up
our frightened Selves
to experience and
extend this expansive
and Eternal Flow
through our Bodies
and our Beings
watering the Seeds
meeting the needs
growing the Flowers
of Beloved Community
in the Spirit
of the One
who embodied It
in Divine Humanity
by living Life
with Us All
and giving Life
for Us All
(We who know
and don't know
what We're doing)
to show Us
that there is
no splendorous height
or treacherous low
to which Love
will not go...

Thanks.

#220wordprayers #HolyWeek2025 #MaundyThursday2025 #GoodFriday2025 #LoveIsStillStrongerThanDeath #HopeIsStillMorePowerfulThanDespair #WeDiscoverLifeByLettingGoOfLife #RadicalEmpathyIsRevolutionaryResistance

('Were You There?' © Lisle Gwynn Garrity)



14 April 2025

Powers (Palm Sunday 2025)

riding into the City
on a humble
Beast of burden
with coats laid out
and palms unfurled
bearing the burdens
and the Light
of the world
the marginalized Masses
scream and shout
for the Light
to tyrannically tout
and manipulatively rout
the oppressive forces
steering the courses
of the Oppressed
with maniacal clout
and take the fight
to the oppressors
by laying claim
to the authority
of the world
and capitulatively co-opting
its ruthless reign
to mercilessly maim
those who've disdained
the inherent rights
of the Distressed
in the name
of righteous vengeance 
as a manifestation
of the love 
of power...

yet in the midst
of sordid insanity
and rabid adversity
the Light doesn't 
take the bait
to become captain
of their fate
(or anyone else's)
but chooses rather
to gather together
all Beloveds regardless
(and radically inclusive)
of their state
to communally recognize
that their apparent foolishness
and supposed weakness
is actually the Source
of their inherent Wisdom 
and collective Strength
as Divine Humanity
in Redemptive Diversity
to revelationally open
their burning Hearts
in courageous Empathy 
and revolutionarily raise
their yearning Voices
in contagious Prophecy 
for the turning
of tables of discrimination
and the overturning
of traditions of incrimination
in a Transformative Realization
that the Power
of the People
is ultimately greater
than the people
in power
and to catalyze
a Righteous Rain
to shower upon
all of Creation
watering the Seeds
that will take root
and fortuitously flower
as an Incarnation
of the Power 
of Love.

Thank You.

#250wordprayers #PalmSunday2025 #PassionWeek2025 #TheLoveOfPowerIsNoMatchForThePowerOfLove #MayOurHeartsBeBrokenOpenSoCompletelyInLoveThatTheWholeWorldFallsIn #JesusOfNazarethAndTeresaOfCalcuttaAndCoryOfNewJerseyFTW #MatthewCh21Vs1thru17 

('Palm Sunday' © Hanna Cheriyan Varghese)



28 March 2025

the disconnected Connection

the pathway
to the island
is currently impassable
because the tides
have risen too high
and the currents
have flooded over
the pathway
to the island
making it impossible
to cross over
and in these days
where horrendous terrors
(threatened and enacted)
have infiltrated the Waters
creating tumultuous torrents
that are flooding over
all accustomed Ways
to bridge chasms
of disorienting disconnection
for all the ways
we may have reason
in this frightening season
to want to hide
in delightful disconnection
neatly tucked away
on an island
of fearful denial
the more Primal
and pressing Calling
can still be heard
through the whistling
of the Wind
over the Waters
and the singing
of the Birds
in the Trees
as their sighs
and cries harmonize
in the Breeze
that gently frees Us 
to see the Reality
that even in times
when the repressive tides
of unjust discrimination 
and inhumane persecution
and insane degradation
of Creations and Creation
have risen to hide
our innate capacity
to Peacefully Abide
as uniquely blended
and bonded Beloveds
there remains Reason
to trust the sense
that the Presence
of Cosmic Connection
is still there
the Divine Pathway
to the Sacred Island
that's seemingly impassable
continues to exist
like the resilient Rocks
beneath the irrepressible Flow 
(even as It ebbs
in Its unpredictable
and inimitable Swell)
and so perhaps
the pressing Calling
(at least for Now)
is to allow
the island
to simply Be
an island
and not allow
my Self
to become one
as well...

Thanks.

#250wordprayers #Lent2025 #ThePathwayWillAppearAgainOneFineDay #DontForgetTheSongsOfSingingBirdsAndWhisltingWindsThatRemindUsOfTheWay #MilwaukieBayParkAndElkRockIslandFTW 



27 March 2025

the Resilent Brilliance

after the stirring storms
of enmity and strife
(pretending to offer
equity and Life)
howl through the valleys
of heavenly hope blossoming
(potentially turning them into
the shadows of death)
it's heartening to see
(amidst the edifices
of ever-encroaching commerciality) 
the inherent Beauty
of Divine Creativity 
enduring the onslaughts
of entitled superiority
(seeking to blow away
our Divine Humanity)
and defiantly surprising
the powers that be
(at least currently)
by outrageously displaying
their resilient Brilliance
and courageously proclaiming
a new Season arising
of Heavenly Hope Blossoming
into Radiant Reality...

Thanks.

#90wordprayers #Lent2025 #CherryBlossomsAsSignsOfSacredSolidarityAndEternalHope #JapaneseAmericanHistoricalPlazaPDX



26 March 2025

the Silent Talk

as the swirling tides
of oppressing opinions
take their maddening course
and the blood-curdling cries
of distressing minions
wield their saddening force
there remains One
Residing on the Rock
Confiding to the Sun
Abiding in the Source
Reminding me this Day
that the Silent Talk
always shows the Way...

Thanks.

#50wordprayers #Lent2025 #NoRegretsAboutStoppingAndCommuningWithAnEgret #JohnsonCreekFTW



17 March 2025

from triviality to Vitality (St. Patrick's Day 2025)

for all the ways
He may have known
that we would reduce
His courageously liberational work
of greening the Land
of his slavery by
seeding the Sacred Soil
of Humus and Hearts
with sensationally transformational Peace
into a trivial manifestation
of a virtual celebration
with sham-rocks and shakes
that seduce us into
a vacuous commercial fixation
upon a colour drained
of the outrageously Essential
Content of its Character
through His bravery in
treacherous times (unfortunately similar
to Ours) enduring knocks 
and scars of condemnation
He expanded our notion
of the Divinity present
in Creation and Humanity
using ordinary imagery like
Shamrocks and Stars to
Inspire Extraordinary Seeings and 
Engender All Beloved Beings
to remember the Cosmic
and Imminent Scope of
the Resonance of Spirit
and Presence of Love
(even when we fear
It and can't feel
It or hear It)
and to Encourage All 
through discouraging days when
it ain't easy being
green with Virtuous Vitality
embodying an Actual Reality
of improbable yet perennial
Hallowed and Healing Hope...

Thank You.

#170WordPrayerFor17March #StPatricksDay2025 #CreationAndCreationsAreGroaningForRelease #ThroughTreacherousTimesThereRemainsThePresenceOfLoveAndHopeForPeace #FromVacuousTrivialityToVirtuousVitality #KermitTheFrogMeetsPatrickTheSaintFTW

('God is found in the smallest of spaces' © Gail Bartel)