A Man Who Needs a Mom

I ran into our neighbor yesterday;
He's never before had much to say.
But this day, he wanted to talk
As he returned from his daily walk.

He lives alone with his dog;
I see them often as they jog.
I have wondered how he felt
I feared that asking, our boundaries would melt.

Today he told me he's moving away,
And that he's glad that he can't stay.
He says that he couldn't make friends;
He's leaving as his employment here ends.

The reasons he stated for being glad to go
Are things that I already came to know.
When you're an insider you have to agree
To reject everybody who isn't "we."

It can be very difficult for many of those
With open minds, who bigotry oppose.
People expect New Orleans to be
A much more cosmopolitan city.

I guess small towns are much the same;
It does matter what's your last name.
People divide themselves into clans
Based on beliefs on which everyone stands.

I am always glad to come home
Where we mostly spend time alone
But I don't know how he lives without
A soul mate that he doesn't doubt.

This is a man who could use a mother
A aunt, a sister, or a brother.
I left some cookies at his door,
Sorry that I couldn't do more.

I hope he finds someone to care,
Who may even want, his dog, to share
This is man who said to me
That he won't go to heaven, if it's dog-free.

Motherhood, Men, and Ministry

What of Jesus' mother allowing her beautiful baby boy to continue on his per-ordained path instead of his marrying and giving her grandchildren to ease her old-age? And what of the commitment of James, his brother, and Mary Magdalen , his sister/friend, who not only were with him in his walk through his joy and challenge-filled life, but also held his mother's hand in her suffering?

How heavy were their hearts and souls after Jesus' death? How grateful were they to have each other with whom to share The Holiness left behind? How awful is it that we have put a wedge between the males' and the females' ministries?

Priests may be the pastors,
But women are the ministry.
Women look into other's eyes
And into souls can see.

This is a gift of the sacred
When we reach womanhood,
That can be used for evil,
Or used for good.

This same gift may be given
To many of our men,
But they often aren't taught
How, their souls, to defend.

And because these men are
Programmed not to cry,
Their souls become overwhelmed
And they begin to die.

They reach out to innocence
To revive their dying souls;
At this time the giver and
The taker switch roles.

Because we want to believe
That leaders are more than mere men,
We deny that they have the need,
For their souls to be filled again.

Priests, Rabbis, Preachers
Are not prophets or gods
They minister with rituals
Of paths that have been trod.

Women have shown
The greatest bravery in life;
Standing strong with and for others
Through their strife.

It is long past time
That we stop the pretense
That men don't have feelings
And women don't have eloquence.

Let the keepers of ritual
Stop pretending to also be
The loving arms needed in
Soul-searching ministry.

My Beautiful Bird

Your way of living is frightening to me
Because, as family, we share responsibility.
If you stumble and fall, who will pick you up;
When you are thirsty, who will fill your cup?

I have held you and stood between you and harm.
I have worked hard to keep you safe and warm.
Don't you see that when you have a need
That I can't help fill, my soul does bleed?

It's time, my child, for me to rest;
I know my teachings, you will test.
I pray that those that you call friends
Will be there to, your wounds, mend.

I must allow you to bend, and even break;
This is for both of our souls' sakes.
I guess it's good that I can't see;
All your fight was crushing me.

I know my feelings are hard on you,
In facing the things that you must do.
From my fears, you've turned away;
I hope this is not where we'll stay.

My Beautiful Bird, as you fly away,
I will often wonder as I pray,
Will you ever come back to me,
And share the person you've come to be?

Faith-Filled Moments with the Maintenance Man

The maintenance man came over to fix a few things;
His faith simply shines in every message he brings.
Here is a black man raised in New Orleans
Who is comfortable being of modest means.

He and I spoke of his four children
And his concerns about his young adult son.
He knows the fateful fatality statistics
But his mind is still, on optimism, fixed.

He and his wife married twenty years ago;
They were only themselves twenty, and so...
The odds were against them, but they persevere
He speaks to me of praying for what they hold dear.

I pray that, one day, the odds will be equal for his kids.
Will he continue to pay the price for what our ancestors did?
Someone sold his ancestors to slavery, and he has risen above;
Will those whose ancestors bought his, surround him with their love?

Menus, Marriage, and Meaning

Standing in the condo kitchen
That looks out over the sea,
We were cooking for friends,
As we used to, my man and me.
He prepared steak Diane;
I prepped devilish shrimp.
Then I moved on to salad
Until he needed ingredients.

As I was his sous chef,
Because this was his menu,
I waited until he gave me
Something I could do.
When I choose the menu,
He does the same for me.
This is my idea of marriage
In all it's shining glory.

We schlepped the food to town
Where the husband set a fine table.
He felt such a special meal
Deserved to seem regal.
There were tapered candles,
And the good china plates,
A blessing said in Hebrew,
As we bowed our heads and ate.

Is this less sacred than church?
I think it is surely not.
Each part of our eating together
Was with love begot.
My husband had earned the money
That bought our daily bread
And each participant served a role
To which we had felt led.

We broke bread with good friends,
And a struggling nursing student,
Sheltered by this father and mother.
Is this what, "Feed my sheep," meant?
There was a simple blessing and thanks
There were no fancy robes or rituals,
But when we departed their home,
My body, heart and soul all felt full.

The Sacred and Seafood

Wherever two people share a positive perspective seems sacred to me. Even going to the grocery store is a celebration of the sacred in the New Orleans area. Who knew that seafood could be sacred?

Nowhere else have I ever been asked what I'm making out of the jumbo shrimp that I'm purchasing at the seafood counter. "Are you making barbeque shrimp with those?" the very old gentleman with the small Band-aid on his face asked. "No, I'm trying to duplicate a dish I had at a restaurant a week ago. It was delicious; a jumbo shrimp with a piece of jalapeno, wrapped in bacon," I said."

"Look at these other shrimp. That's a good price. I might have to get a pound. Farm raised, hmmm..." he replied. "Yeah, in the United States," I observed. "How you make that again? Do you take out the shrimp vein and put in the jalapeno?" he asked. "Well you can do it that way," I agreed.

 "How do you get the bacon to cook without overcooking the shrimp," he asked."I guess you do it by broiling the shrimp or cooking them in a very hot oven. I've never done it, but I'm gonna give it a try," I said. "What restaurant was that?"  "A Mexican restaurant in Long Beach Mississippi," I answered."That sounds good," he said. Then we parted ways.

Where else would you get such spirited conversation over a pound of shrimp?

Slowly, Silently Spreading Seeds

While I do believe that all the mistakes and good things of previous generations continue to affect the succeeding  "five generations" (and more), I believe that Jesus was sent to show The Way of following The Word to those who did not know. I do NOT believe that babies are conceived with original sin. They are conceived with pure souls that can be nurtured or destroyed by conditions surrounding them, even while in the womb.

I believe that parents cannot pass the salvation of creation on to their children; they can only pass on their beliefs about the path to salvation. I believe that baptism, like circumcision, was meant as an outward sign of a person's commitment to The Way of The Word. The dedication of the parents and their community to bring the child up in The Way of The Word is a different issue. I believe that parents cannot dedicate their children to being people of The Way; they can only dedicate themselves to setting the example, and enter community that they know to be true to following The Way.

I believe that many religions have co-opted the pagan belief that there are "shamans" or "priests" who have the power (that, according to these religious beliefs, we each lack) to intercede for us between ourselves and The Divine. Rituals performed by priests and other church leaders are not the same as religion, even though they are a bonding experience for the faithful. I believe that parents are the bridge to The Divine and have a Divine responsibility to bring children up in The Way they should go. The child, upon reaching the age of reason (which is different for each person), can decide whether he or she is willing to commit to following The Way.

I know that Peter was an apostle chosen by Jesus to be a leader in The Way of The Word, but we have only the word of Paul and the Roman Church that what Paul said was from God. I know that Peter was a bit of a verbal bumbler, and that Paul was an eloquent marketer for whatever he was promoting. I know that the leadership of Christianity was argued over by Paul and Peter. I know that Peter's way was the following of the core of Jewish law, as well as Jesus' example, and that Paul promoted a path without the Jewish laws governing peace with our neighbors. Peter was appointed by Jesus to head the Christian church, but Paul was a better politician and poet, whose way prevailed.

I know that the Christian Church was not only spread in Rome, but in many sees. I know that, in the fourth century,  the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church "sold" the soul of Christianity to Constantine by agreeing to let Constantine "convert" "pagans" by threatening them with death if they did not swear allegiance to the church. I know that most western "Christian" churches are based on these corruptions of the Roman Catholic (Christian) Church.I believe it is time to take the church back to its beginnings before Paul proclaimed himself an apostle.

I believe that Jesus, by his example, showed us The True Light in The Holy Spirit, and that this Light, while hidden for many years under the terrible weight of the political system that is Christendom, has been once more found by those who spread The Light through their examples of love and compassion, as well as obedience to the laws that have been handed down from generation to generation on how to love The Almighty BY loving others (even when that means sacrificing of oneself in life and, if necessary, in death).

I do NOT believe that there was a God-given demand that anyone die for our sins. I believe that we are all asked to die to sin and the we have a messiah to show us how to live The Word, even unto death. I know that often death is demanded in order to punctuate how much a messiah cares. I believe that the emphasis on the suffering of Jesus' last days on earth instead of what it must have been like to the very human (while he walked the earth) Jesus to live without sin, on this same earth that so tempts us, is a bow to the pagan portrayal of gods having sacrificial blood-lust.

Political systems promote their beliefs with rhetoric and sensationalism that woos the masses; true Judeo-Christianity spreads The Way through slowly, silently sprouting seeds, one soul to another.

This is my belief; I could be wrong.