• About Me
  • Contact
  • What’s in a name?

dreamprayact

~ Reflections of a preacher, poet, and contemplative activist

dreamprayact

Category Archives: Poems

An Open Door

15 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Poems

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

faith, Feast with Christ, God's grace, hope, Open door, risen Christ

Photo credit: Brad Smith, “An old door in an abandoned log house”


Listen!
Someone is knocking.
Wait a moment.
Do you hear it in the silence?
There it is again — a knock —
gentle, patient, knowing.
A voice sings through the air
and lands on your heart!
“Will you open the door?
Will you welcome me in?”
Christ is seeking your company.
Now is a moment pregnant with hope.
“I will come in to you and eat with you,
and you with me” (Rev. 3:20).
Open the door, and when you do,
the spirit of the risen Christ
blows through the body’s temple.
Let the feast of grace begin.

(c) 2005, Mark Lloyd Richardson

Sunlit Grace

04 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Poems, Prayers

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

artists, blessing, Community, grace, hope, journalists, love of God, love of neighbor, peace, poets, prayer, religious communities, truth

Red Bluff Church

Church on Red Bluff Road, south of Quesnel, British Columbia, Photo credit: blog Cruising Canuckistan

Bless the people
who labor for a better life
a better neighborhood
a better country
a better world,
who love family
create community
and give of themselves
so that seeds of hope
planted in places of despair
may be watered
and grow
and emerge as new life!

Bless the artists and poets
who see what might be
with a piercing clarity
of what now is.

Bless the journalists
who ask uncomfortable questions
and expose inconvenient mistruths
in their dogged pursuit of truth.

Bless the churches and mosques and synagogues
that dot the prairies, hills and valleys
of this precious landscape,
breathing a spirit of prayer and goodness
into the shared life of their communities.

Bless truck driver, crop picker, waiter and cook.
Bless coal miner, windmill farmer, and solar installer.
Bless single mother, newly married, aging couple, and widowed.
Bless teacher, student, leader, and follower.
Bless dreamer, shaper, thinker, and friend.

Bless the fraying edges of relationships,
the absences and separations,
the losses and heartaches,
the holy disruptions,
the sacred silences of peace.

Bless it all, Creation’s Lord.

Let the sunlight of your grace
shine upon poor and rich alike
exposing the treasures nearest each beating heart –
love of neighbor,
love of God.
Bless the whole world, we pray –
no exceptions.

 
Words Copyright (c) 2017, Mark Lloyd Richardson

Christ of the Lakeshore

10 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Poems, Prayers, Reflections

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

creation, glory of God, hope, Jesus Christ, Lake Tahoe, nature, prayer, Waters of life, world's suffering

FullSizeRender

Zephyr Point Presbyterian Conference Center, Lake Tahoe

Christ of the lakeshore,
come beside me this day
as my eyes soak in
the blueness spread before me
geese gliding effortlessly
inches above placid waters
slender pencils of pine
garbed in glorious green
a light blanket of snow
draped over neighboring peaks.

Christ of the lakeshore,
come beside me this day
as my ears take in
the songs of the birds
the lapping of the surf
the laughter and crying of a child
the soft whispering breeze.

Christ of the lakeshore,
come beside me this day
as my heart lets in
the pain of the world
of immigrant and refugee
the poor
the houseless
the lonely
the pushed aside
the wounded
the broken-hearted.

Christ of the lakeshore,
come beside me this day
that my praying
my dreaming
my hoping
my longing
may be in conversation
with yours.

Words (c) 2017 Mark Lloyd Richardson

In the Garden

14 Friday Apr 2017

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Poems, Prayers, Reflections

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Disciples, Garden of Gethsemane, Good Friday, Holy Thursday, Holy Week, Jesus, Passion of Jesus, prayer, silence, suffering

Through the trees large

Photo credit: Joel Olives, “Through the Trees,” Flickr.com Creative Commons, May 6, 2008.

And Jesus said, “Sit here, while I pray.”

All we must do is sit.
All we must do is recognize this as a time of prayer.
All we must do is stay awake to the present danger.
All we must do is not walk away from the suffering.
All we must do is listen in the stillness of the garden.

Some leaves rustle as a small animal stirs nearby.
A breeze disturbs the branches of an olive tree.
A fellow disciple quietly coughs in the cooling air.
Our own breathing is labored from the hasty night walk.
The fluted song of an owl floats down from the hillside.

All we must do is sit.

Words (c) 2017, Mark Lloyd Richardson

That We Might Be Healers Too

05 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Poems, Prayers

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

abundance, creation, God's goodness, harmony, healing, hopefulness, justice, Kauai, mindfulness, Pali Coast, relationship with the divine, sacred value of life, trust, wholeness

Pali Coast

Pali Coast, Kauai

The world of your creating is beautiful, O God.

You are master sculptor of imposing mountain ranges,
rugged seascapes, luxuriant valleys, bubbling volcanoes.

You give thought to the birds of the air,
the cattle on the hill, the sea creatures and crawling things.

You orchestrate the sights and sounds of creation
to be a harmonious symphonic masterpiece
that all might know the abundance of your goodness.

There is no detail you leave unattended,
no part of this world beyond your concern.

And amazingly,
you are mindful of human beings –
made in your image,
made for relationship,
made of dust and water,
made of breath and hope,
made of dreams for becoming,
made to live at peace,
made to create,
made with a spark of divinity,
made with a twinkle in your eye,
made to hold and to heal,
made to trust,
made from a deep abiding love.

Our burdens begin
when we misplace our mindfulness of you.

Anxieties follow
when we forget who it is who holds our lives.

Troubles mount
when we boast that this is all meant for us.

Sorrows breed
when we ignore what you intend for our wholeness.

Heal us.
Shake us from our complacency.
Renew in us a vision of life’s harmony.
Restore in us a thriving hopefulness.
Stir up in us a righteous anger at injustice.
Prevent us from doing any more harm.
Call forth from us what is beautiful and true.
Lead us back to our sacredness.
Heal us, we pray, that we might be healers too.

Mark Lloyd Richardson
(c) 2017

Blessing

27 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Poems

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

blessing, Ganna Walska Lotusland, gift, God, grace, gratitude, holy ground, pure heart

FullSizeRender

Ganna Walska Lotusland, Santa Barbara, CA

Blessing is
the feeling you get
when the day’s gifts
are more
than your gratitude can hold.

Blessing sings
in the sunlight
and dances in the rain
knowing
each is irreplaceable.

Blessing favors
no one
it is not stingy or reluctant
it seeks new ways
to express itself each day.

Blessing sleeps
on the pillows
of the just and the unjust
yet truly awakens only in those
who seek God with pure hearts.

Blessing reaches
the furthest limits
of human endeavor
and sets those who receive it
on holy ground.

Blessing surprises.
Blessing breaks open that which is closed.
Blessing speaks to our deepest need.
Blessing wraps us in God’s grace.
Blessing completes.

Copyright (c) 2016 Mark Lloyd Richardson

Breath Prayer

05 Saturday Mar 2016

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Poems, Prayers

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

breath prayer, Breathing, creation, God's glory, grace, prayer, sacredness

Alice Keck Park SB March 2016 (1)

Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens, Santa Barbara, California

On this lovely day
with a heart that is restless and unsure
I am gladdened by glory’s simple display
and grateful for sun-warmed sacred moments
as color catches the corner of my eye
while I walk in the park
with no purpose or intention
other than

to breathe in
the life around me

and breathe out
the troubles of the day.

Words (c) 2016 Mark Lloyd Richardson

Where I’m From

21 Sunday Feb 2016

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Poems, Reflections

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Enuma Okoro, family, George Ella Lyon, grace, grandparents, life experience, old rugged cross, Poetry, spiritual life, storytelling, Wendell Berry

Hay bales VA

Photo credit: Dallis Day Richardson

“If you don’t know where you’re from, you’ll have a hard time saying where you’re going.” This idea from Wendell Berry suggests that our personal and family roots are very illuminating in understanding our place in the world.

I did something recently that I haven’t done before. I read aloud some poems I have written to a group of women in our church who meet weekly to discuss books and support one another in the life of the Spirit. In their invitation to me they had made it clear that they wanted to get to know me better, so I read some poems I’ve written over the years that reveal where I’m from, specifically some about the people who have significantly shaped my life, especially my grandparents.

The first poem I read was based on a poem template that author and speaker Enuma Okoro provided to a large group of United Methodist clergy who were meeting together in September 2015. I just loved how Enuma (who, by the way, is a delightful person, and with whom I enjoyed a long conversation over breakfast one morning) invited this diverse group of Christian ministers to use a template she provided to write about themselves. Then, as people read aloud their poems, it was amazing to feel the sense of our shared humanity even in the midst of very different life experiences.

The original poem called “Where I’m From,” written by poet George Ella Lyon, has provided a framework for many others to explore how their own lives have been shaped by the people who were present at formative times in their lives.

Here’s my poem titled “Where I’m From.”

I am from hay bales and milk pails,
from Lincoln Logs and prairie dogs.
I am from the creaky two-story at the end of the alley in small town U.S.A.
From evergreen forests and snow-capped mountains.
I am from singing around the piano and staying out of the spotlight,
from Sarah and Gerard, Norval and Irene.
I am from hard work and private devotion.
From boys don’t cry and swallowed tears.
I am from camp meeting and the old rugged cross.
From Holland, England and Wales.
I am from canned ham and scalloped potatoes.
I am from tides that rise and fall, from partially cloudy skies
and the heart that wanders.
I am from cornfields and desert, from the islands and the long winding road.

There are stories to be told within each of the phrases in this poem, and that is the point. Our lives are stitched together by the many meaningful interactions and relationships we have with one another and the larger stories in which our lives reside.

You might want to write a poem for yourself called “Where I’m From.” If you do, I’d love to read it!

May you have grace for your journey, Mark

Words (c) 2015 Mark Lloyd Richardson

Emmanuel

13 Sunday Dec 2015

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Peace with justice, Poems, Prayers, Reflections

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Christmas, compassion, creation care, Earth care, God with us, healing, hope, human suffering, justice, Mystery, mysticism, peace, wholeness

NASA Cloudy Earth medium

NASA Cloudy Earth, Flickr Creative Commons

What was spoken through the prophet is fulfilled:
Look! A virgin will become pregnant
and give birth to a son,
and they will call him, Emmanuel.
(Emmanuel means “God with us.”)

 In bomb-shattered cities
children unable to play freely in the streets

In poverty-wracked slums
families struggling to put food on the table

In violence-plagued neighborhoods
the young learning early that life is cheap

On tear-soaked refugee trails
people desperately looking for a way to freedom

On vulnerable island shores
communities fighting the futile battle against rising sea levels

In the midst of everyday pain,
in the grip of widespread suffering,
the promised one comes and takes up residence among us.

Emmanuel – God with us in our deepest need.

There is no one left out of this divine scheme,
no one whose accident of birth disqualifies them,
no one whose skin color lessens their sacred worth,
no one whose race or gender changes their standing before God,
no one whose religion or lack thereof alters God’s affection for them.

God’s concern is with the whole.
God’s dream is that we all will one day see:
What affects one affects all.
Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.
Suffering is never isolated or contained.
We weep with those who weep,
our tears mingling with the tears of divine compassion.

God with us—
the whole human race,
the whole soul-stirring creation,
the whole beguiling mystery of what it means to be alive.

God with us—
in our search for wholeness,
in our poverty of spirit,
in our labor for peace with justice,
in our reaching out with hearts and hands to help,
in our holding on tenaciously to hope.

Words (c) 2015 Mark Lloyd Richardson
Photo Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

 

Poem by the roadside

04 Friday Dec 2015

Posted by mark lloyd richardson in Poems

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

disciplined life, eternal now, eternity, goals, God, Ground of all Being, morning prayer, mystical experience, nature, presence of God, spirituality, work

side of the roadOn the road
work beckoning
a daily duty
to be productive
to be hard at work
to be diligent in all things
to be focused on the important
to be tied to the meeting of goals
to be steadily progressing in the disciplined life

Only to be stopped in my tracks
stalled into awareness
dared to open my eyes
to the morning unfolding
in the periphery
where the land rises from the depths
in ways that mirror our own emergence
as living beings
within the large and beautiful Ground of all Being

Here the stillness refreshes
and releases me
to live
in the now

in the now of eternity

Words (c) 2015 Mark Lloyd Richardson

← Older posts
December 2019
S M T W T F S
« Sep    
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  

Recent Posts

  • Drawn into the Deep
  • Contemplation: A Long Loving Look at the Real
  • Spring is Still Coming
  • God of Still Mornings
  • To the God of many names

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 528 other followers

Archives

  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • May 2019
  • February 2019
  • October 2018
  • August 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • February 2018
  • October 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • May 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012

Categories

  • Centering Prayer
  • Contemplative Life
  • Dogs
  • Guest Blogs
  • Justice
  • LGBTQ
  • pastoral integrity
  • Peace with justice
  • Poems
  • Prayers
  • Reflections
  • Running
  • Sermon portions
  • Uncategorized
  • Worship Liturgy

Blog Stats

  • 38,355 hits

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Sacred Pauses

aprilyamasaki.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel