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Hello, Friends! I am pleased and thrilled to announce the publication of my book, One Desire: A Book of Collects. It is available from your favorite independent bookstore or online in hardcopy/book format or in digital form on your preferred reader. Click on the below link to order from Morgenstern Booksellers, an indie bookstore in Bloomington, Indiana. https://bookshop.org/books/one-desire-a-book-of-collects/9780578904504

Every Sunday I post to this blog a Collect that I have written. The book is a collection of Collects written in 2020.

What is a Collect? A Collect is a unique blend of scriptural commentary, poetry and prayer written/spoken with the intention of bringing about change in the speaker and the speaker’s world. The Collect has five parts. The speaker addresses G*d. The speaker shares the aspect of G*d that relates to the expressed desire. The speaker names their desire. The speaker gives a reason for the desire. The speaker finishes with a word of praise or conclusion. Your support is welcome. Enjoy!

“There they will see me.” – Matthew 28:10

God who creates and sees
with the declaration, "It is good!"
use your gift of working with mud
and mix us once or twice again;
we try to master the ingredients
- water and land, the heavens and the earth - 
you have given us
using our own imaginations
and come up short of fulfillment.
Amen.

Necessary Things

How I have wrestled with the myth of Christ,
tried to follow the teachings of Jesus
and sought to live along the Way.

And suffering remains,
with the ingredients of fulfillment
still written in a hand that I cannot read.

The necessary things have carried me this far,
far enough to know that I have lived today
and that tomorrow never comes.

Notes to Daughters

Here's a fancy Y...
Why?
Because I
love you.
Daddy
ooxx

I caught one
of your tears.
It is beautiful
and I love you!!
xxoo
Dad

Dreams

Flowing depth
without drama.

Not enough
variation.

Deep mumbling
ground.

Crying to be
taken home.

Lifted up
by dreams undreamed.

Up and Down

We discover gravity 
together
throwing toys 
up into the air
watching them 
come down
to the ground.

“Who is this?” – Matthew 21:10

God of all names,
who humbly enters our lives,
we want to call you...something...
to delight in that you have arrived
unexpectedly, 
though surely,
we expect something
to stir us along life's roadsides
as we move towards 
the center of our dreams.
Amen.

Eventually

No, not ready at all
to feel the deep earth
resonate, they said
as they marched
in time to the rising
and the setting of the sun.
Perhaps tomorrow
the line will practice
meandering just a bit
from the center 
holding disparity 
tightly together.
Someone will
eventually
step aside
to intentionally collect
what the others 
have left behind.
And, perhaps, then,
the disquiet of each heart
will begin to be heard.

A note pasted in my journal from twenty years ago…

Dear Dad,

I love you 
with all my heart.
xoxoxoxo
how was your day?
I hope it was good.
Love Sydney

1/15/2003

A Rainbow With Hands

A morning tear on my cheek begins my day.
Am I tired out from yesterday's chase after answers
or saddened the answers remain in the dark?
It has been said by those who know,
We must choose to live with the questions.
I am glad the ache in my heart and the ache in my head
remain the same from one year to the next.
I still demand the same though time moves on.
And a precious daughter writes me notes of love
and a drawing of a rainbow with hands.

Answers

Seek beautiful dialogue
on the nature of answers.

The greatest possible number of answers
should not create the smallest number of questions.

Adequate answers should never satisfy
those who seek to live at the edge of time.

Beware of answers creating
a numbing of the mind.

Divine movement does not hide in answers
but in questions asked in awkward moments.