THE DRAMA OF THE HOLY
or Maybe That's What God is.

Maybe that's what God is;
One person helping another,
A friend weeping at the anguish
of a friend; lending
a hand in time of need
without thought of gain.

Maybe that's what God is;
A person doing something
she don't want to do,
A person standing up
when its just as easy
to sit and hold his peace.

Maybe that's what God is;
a thought that gives comfort
and helps one survive
another night of grief,
a thought that brings
surcease from sorrow.

Maybe that's what God is;
a word that stops the hand
from striking out in anger,
a thought that gives one pause
when one wants to hurt.

Maybe the face of God shines
when we sing baby Hannah to sleep
with silly songs she loves;
or hold Justin safely in our arms
when he cries at the cruelty of other children.

Maybe that's what God is;
a bunch of people sitting around
and enjoying each other
from the bottom of a belly laugh,
a bunch of people playing hard
to win the game then
going to someone's house for a beer.

Maybe God is found wherever
our We mediates my Me.
Maybe God extends as far as
one's vision reaches
to form a fellowship.

Maybe God exists when we look;
look at a tree and see a forest,
look at a bear and see a totem,
look at the waves and see a whole ocean.

Maybe God lives in and only in
every breath and glance and smile
and frown of those we love.

Maybe Miracles Happen

Maybe God moves in mysterious ways
when we do something
to surprise and delight another human being.

Maybe God works his miracles
when we desperately want
our friend to live
and our friend comes to know it.

Maybe miracles happen
when, one day, we put away
childish things and begin to act
upon the fullness of our own morality.

Maybe miracles happen 
a life of misery and pain
is changed by a simple loving touch.

Maybe miracles happen
when we understand things
without explanation or prior
experience to drive our understanding.

Maybe the Bread is turned into flesh
when we eat with another
and see them as part of ourselves.

Maybe the Wine is turned into
the blood of Christ
when we drink it
and feel a pure love
for those who share our glass.

Maybe God can make the Sun stand still
when we pause in wonder
at the beauty of the sky.

Maybe God can part the waters
when we help another person
to safety.

Maybe the Holy Spirit lives
when a poet sings
in a voice
which makes us tremble, tremble.

May the Holy Spirit is to be found
in the laughter of children
when we tickle the hell out of them
when they have been naughty.

Maybe the Christ figure
is resurrected
when we follow his teachings.

Maybe.

Maybe God is Dead.

Maybe God dies
when we deny a friend
the help she needs.

Maybe God dies
when we destroy a forest
to get the trees.

Maybe God dies
when we take from our mother
and betray her 
to a nursing home.

Maybe God dies
when we love our father
only when it is convenient;
until he needs our love back.

Maybe God dies when we look
at a wife and see a burden,
when we look at a child
and see only a statistic,
when we look at a stranger
and see only an enemy.

Maybe it is we who destroy 
our God
when we look at a person
and see only a label
and use it in ways which
destroy him;
when we look at
a woman and see
only her flesh;
when we look at 
a child and see
it only as it is
rather than as it could be.

Maybe God dies
when we poison the rivers
and streams and lakes
of the land.

Maybe God suffocates
on the smog we make
with our cars, buses, trains
and smokestacks,
maybe he dies when these
are spread over the face 
of the earth and give him
no room to live.

Maybe God shakes, shudders
and dies when we poison
all creatures great and small
with lead and mercury and
sulfuric acid from our
factories.

Maybe God dies each time
our insecticides kill off
another rare species;
each time our herbicides
collect in the breast
of a nursing mother;
each time our oils and tars
despoil a flock of birds.

Maybe god is dead when we
sell anything and everything
to whomever has the cash.

Maybe god is murdered when
we murder that which is
holy in our own lives
and disdain that which is
holy in the lives of
unknown others.

If god is dead,
then maybe we better do better
since we can't count on God
to put things right.

If god is dead,
maybe we can
do something about it.

Maybe we can Save God

Maybe we can keep God alive
by listening to what others need,
by hearing things we don't want to hear,
by doing things we don't want to do.

Maybe we can keep God alive
by looking around us
and wondering what we must do
to have peace and justice.

Maybe God become resurrected
when we teach a child to do good
all the days of his life;
When children no longer weep
in the playtime of others.

Maybe we can keep God alive
by finding some other way
to till the land
tend the crops
and save the harvest.

Maybe we can make
the Face of God to shine
by sending help instead of guns
to Guatemala.

Maybe we can enlarge
our own Holy Spirit
by standing quiet
and respectful when another people
enact their dramas of the Holy.

Maybe we can keep faith
with our God by keeping faith
with those who love us,
by keeping promises we make
to love, cherish, and protect them.

Maybe we save our God
from the cross by helping others 
down from the cross to which
they are nailed;
maybe we should look at
the nails we drive in other crosses;
maybe we should stop building crosses
upon which to hang others.

Maybe our God lives each time
a child is born and we cherish it,
sustain it, support it and then
tenderly place it within social institutions
geared more to justice than to wealth.

Maybe we can make our God
stay alive by living life in such a way.  Maybe.