And a Little Child will Lead Us...

I was going through some of my poems this morning, ones written
several years ago, and I came upon this one, so very apropos to the
current political and world situation, and to my feelings about what
I see and hear. And so, I'm sharing it with you, in the hope that
somewhere, somehow, some heart will resonate with mine.


Christmas Pilgrimage
O God, though I have long lived with
more questions about you than answers,
of one thing I am certain-
from you flows all Creative Energy,
from you flows Life,
from you flows Love.
How, then, God of Creativity, Life & Love,
have we, your children, so perverted your gifts
that we can look at another human being, created- like us-
in the Divine Image, and see only differences,
permitting them to separate and divide us?
Beneath this thin covering we call skin,
beneath the surface appearance of uniqueness,
we are the same! We are one!
A beating heart enlivens each of us...
blood of red flows through arteries and veins...
intestines digest the food that nourishes us and,
with the kidneys, rids the body of what is not needed...
and, wonder of wonders, within each head resides a brain,
the seat of personality and thought, of the emotions of
Wonder and awe, but also, it seems, of anger and
hatred and judgment.
Why, Loving God, does the difference of the race or religion or
sexuality of someone else so threaten us?
Why do we so stridently demand the right to be who and
how we are, while at the same time, oxymoronically denying
that right to others?
Why is our sense of security so dependent upon
keeping the world we are meant to steward wisely
and well in such a state of fear and insecurity?
How do we justify kneeling at the manger of the one called
the Prince of Peace while within us and without, wars rage-
with our support?
Christmas approaches... and those of us calling ourselves
"Christian" will light candles, will raise our collective voices-
"Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright..." as in our city,
our nation, our world, bombs explode, children cry from hunger,
people are tortured or driven from their homes because of
their ethnicity or gender or sexuality, whole nations live in
darkness, the rich become richer on the backs of the poor,
and the powerful plot to seize ever more power from the
already-powerless.
My heart and head are heavy, Holy One, as I seek to find
a cause for celebration in the midst of chaos and
conflagration...yet even now, the faces of my grandchildren
flicker across my mind- their openness and awareness and
loving spirits, their acceptance and whole-hearted
appreciation of all they meet, their creativity and compassion-
and I am reminded that our hope, the hope of this troubled
world, lies in a Holy Child, in the holiness of children everywhere.
And so, I wipe my tears and breathe...
and walk haltingly on the path toward Christmas Day 2015