Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, August 11, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What do we say to God?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A friend recommended a book of poems, Bucolics <\/em>by Maurice Manning. \u00a0I trust their recommendations so I purchased it. I didn\u2019t appreciate the poems until I started reading them out loud. These poems are one side of a conversation between the poet and Creation or God. \u00a0Reading them out loud made me pay attention. This is the poet talking to God or creation \u2013 what he calls \u201cBoss\u201d – without including God\u2019s response.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m going to read a few poems and some sections of poems in this message \u2013 I will read each poem twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n O boss of ashes boss of dust you wake the motes from sleep a time or two you\u2019ve stirred me up What leaps out is the clarity that the poet knows that Boss is present in each moment, each small event is significant, and that the poet feels invited to observe, comment and feels bold enough to make suggestions to Boss. This is an intimate, reciprocal relationship. The speaker is curious about Boss, and sees themselves as a collaborator with Boss. And Boss knows the poet fully. By sharing their half of the conversation, we are invited into this wonderful relationship. The poet is engaged in a ceaseless conversation and is sharing what they have learned about God from their experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Am I your helper Boss or am<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I not do I bring in the Hay<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For me or you or only for<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The horse I help the horse he helps<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Me too why sometimes Boss he hooks<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n His head across my shoulder just<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n To rest it there he\u2019ll heave a sigh<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n As if he\u2019s tuckered he always makes<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n me laugh he knows I know he wants<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n an apple Boss his heavy head<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n on me it helps it helps so much<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n it helps to hear him sigh a sigh<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n he doesn\u2019t really mean he means<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n another thing is that the way<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n you mean to mean another Boss<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n another thing beyond the thing<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n you want from me you see the horse<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n gives me a weary sigh when he\u2019s<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n not sleepy Boss he doesn\u2019t want<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n to hear sweet dreams from me he wants<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n to hear you want an apple hoss<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I mean we help each other Boss<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n —————-<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fragments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026 O everything gets carried Boss, \/ even if it never moves \/ I wonder if you ever notice\/ but sometimes Boss I carry you.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How big is your hand Boss hold it up \/ to show me if you can I need \/ to know you know I need to know\/ so many things \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I guess you\u2019ve got a lot \/ of hands though I\u2019m just one \/ of many Boss I\u2019ll turn \/ the earth I\u2019ll shock the corn \/ O Boss whatever else \/ you need I\u2019ll pitch it in \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In reading these poems, I found myself paying attention to what I say to God \u2013 beyond the intentional forms of praise and gratitude and listening. .. I recognized that when I am asked how spirit is with me, I\u2019m more apt to share what I felt or heard from God then to share my side of the conversation. Talking with God is prayer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In The Sermon on The Mount, Jesus is giving direct and clear guidance to his followers \u2013 to preach, to share all things in common, to heal. But he has to teach his followers how to pray \u2013 they know how to do all the other things, but they did not know how to pray. The prayer he talk, as it comes to us after many translations is a prayer that includes permission to make demands on God \u201cGive us our Daily Bread\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I pray each morning I start singing \u201cPraise God from whom all blessings flow..\u201d The way I talk to God reveals how I see God, what I know from my experience. Do I see God as playful, inviting, distant, funny, known or a mystery? Do I see God as a Savior, a Father, a constant companion? As separate from me or as something I am a part of? The other day in my morning prayers, after singing \u201cPraise God\u201d and noticing all that I had to be grateful for since the day before, I realized that the meadow where I go each morning was so full of bees and other pollinators that I could hear it hum. It was this that I talked to God about through the rest of the day \u2013 not the gratitude or the praise or the petitions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The query that I bring is what do you say to God? Are you bold enough to make suggestions? Are you paying the close attention that creation warrants? Are you paying attention to the dance of the dust motes. What do you say to God and how does that inform you of what you know of God?<\/p>\n\n\n\n ______________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is a poem I did not read that I find particularly delightful and close to some of my conversations with God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I like the weaving bees I like<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The purple clover blossoms the way<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The pasture runs away I like<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In winter sinking lambs in straw<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How I like bearing buckets full<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n of water waking up the sun<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I like making up a little song<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n O looking at the sky I close<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n One eye I hold my hand in the air<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I let the red hawk tip my fingers<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Every day I pretend I am<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n A tree in your pasture Boss a tree \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, August 11, 2024 What do we say to God? A friend recommended a book of poems, Bucolics by Maurice Manning. \u00a0I trust their recommendations so I purchased it. I didn\u2019t appreciate the poems until … Continue reading
you bother with what floats above
the chimney what settles to the ground<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
you make them curtsy in a ray of sun
they hold their tiny breath as if
they\u2019re waiting for the little name
of the dance that\u2019s coming next then they
will take their places Boss if I
were smaller I would join them O
I\u2019d cut a rug or two I\u2019d slap
my hand against my shoe if that\u2019s
the kind of fuss you\u2019re raising Boss
you know I never know for sure
I only know you bother me
from time to time you\u2019ve caught my breath<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
before which makes me want to tell
you Boss I wouldn\u2019t mind it if
you bothered me a little more<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n