Sacrifice

March 16, 2013
Vayikra
Lev 4:27-29

There is the understanding that no one is without flaw or guilt, but here's the thing -- when you know what you have done, really know, you must make the sacrifice.

You place your hand firmly upon the head of whatever your sacrifice is, and you acknowledge the truth.

The slaughter, the true doing away with what has come before, how you/we have sinned, the ways we have gone astray, the ways we have moved far away, as far as we've ever been from the divine, we must lay that bare, blood pouring forth, fat and innards separated until the real meat of it is offered, smoked to an odor that is pleasing to that which is everything -- a vaporous, ethereal, reptilian brain-bridge of scent that crosses the divide of where we have gone, draws us back in, close to the place where we are pure and whole.

All transformation involves sacrifice. All addictions one day demand that we leave them behind or be lost to them; we all have them. Sometimes the hardest part of sacrifice and change is simply knowing where to begin.

The heart will tell you if you stop and listen, mist and vapor lift us up on wings of new freedom, ancient breezes and green leaves and old trees and new seasons.

The reason is always, "because we are holy" so we must give ourselves wholly to the task of unfolding back the giant, quilted past to reveal the intricate patchwork of our world -- our choices, our decisions, our chances, our mistakes, our fate.

We do what we can to draw closer, to move into scented air of divine bridging, of knowing truth, of knowing ourselves, of reaching for God, and we begin again, renewed.

Brilliance, Longing, Lust

March 9, 2013
Va'yakhel
Exodus 35: 4-10
Bringing our gifts to make the center

All of us have gifts. Rare and common, internal and external; we don't always value them in context, or even out of context, but we can move ourselves and others in ways that are unique and strange, grandiose and small.

Gold. Our brilliance. Our souls. We all shine. Maybe not every moment of every day, but maybe, underneath all the rest, it is every moment of every day. Imagine that. We are gilded in gold, coated in brilliance, shining to matter what the night sky foretells. Maybe we don't always see it, but it's there.

Silver. Longing. The heart. We are one people, one being, one entity, and we long to feel that connection. We long for it in our hearts, in our work, in our friendships, and in our families. We long to be_long. To belong to and be longed for. It is our silver nature, we all have it, we shall not be ashamed nor hidden before God, the Universe, YHVH, the source of what is.

Copper. Lust. The body. Honestly, truly, once we move past the layers of with whom and under what conditions and which social norms we will uphold or defy, lust and the body, the urge to physically connect, is part of us. We all have it. It moves us forward. The urge for pleasure, the urge to please another, the yearning and longing for the gilded future that we know we must create and live in. We use our bodies to build this. This is what we bring to the center, what we carry with us in kind company: brilliance, longing and lust for wholeness.

May we turn toward one another with this awareness and celebrate, not judge; honor, not destroy; for this is what builds the sacred and the future we step into every day.

We all have gifts. Come to love and respect them, value them. Bring them, our brilliance, longing and lust; our souls, hearts and bodies toward the center as we stand together in joy. Unafraid.