My religion
My religion
doesn’t involve a church or a minister or a pulpit;
it’s practiced under a roof of sky,
whispered by the wind,
preached by birds and crickets and rivers and toads.
*
My religion
isn’t written in scripture;
it’s written in the hearts of lovers
and parents
and artists
and everyone who,
broken from the weight of too many endings,
gets back up to love again.
*
My religion
lies at the point of contact,
where feet meet earth,
where inhale meets exhale,
where your infinitely breakable heart meets mine.
*
My religion
isn’t big on words like sin and wrong and perfect;
it’s big on honesty, vulnerability, messiness… awe.
The followers of my religion
are badass, open-hearted, hippie warriors of love,
who know that you don’t dance to get somewhere
or sing to reach the end of the song.
*
We sing and dance to reach what is
divine in all of us.
*
In love,
we are each other’s salvation.
*
“We sing and dance to reach what is
divine in all of us.”
Amen
Let’s start a flock. ๐
Amen to that!
THAT is the Spirit of my God
whom no man can house
Take the word “religion”
from any definition of God, and
you have what you just wrote
As I suspected, we are not so far apart. I like “whom no man can house.”
… yes, it is.
I think once you put your creation out there (and by “you” I mean “me”), it’s best to let everyone else define it as they will. ๐
Love ๐
Love your response. ๐
Amen and Hallelujah! (You’re preaching to the choir, but I’ll never get tired of hearing that. Thank you for saying it so beautifully! <3)
You’re welcome. Thank you back!
Silent and still from these words. I will sit at foot of your pulpit any day. From one bad-ass, dancing hippie to another…..Amen Sister!
“From one bad-ass, dancing hippie to anotherโฆ..Amen Sister!” <– THIS made my day. xoxo
“We sing and dance to reach what is
divine in all of us.” FANTASTIC.
But it is stuff like this that people read and want to follow then the next thing you know, you have a “church”/followers. ๐
Ha! Maybe they’ll just follow the love project. ๐
well maybe that church would be like the original beautiful one and not what man has made it to be…โค๏ธ๐
Amen. ๐
“broken from the weight of too many endings”, I’ve been struggling with redefining religion. Your poem is the exact thing I needed to read. Thank you!
You’re welcome. I was actually answering, in hindsight, questions posed to me about “my religion,” the assumption being that I had one. It was a very empowering, beautiful exercise to define it for myself.
J I do love your way of thinking..
What if our religion was
each other ~
If our practice was our life ~
If prayer our words ~
What if the temple was the Earth
~ If forests were our church ~
If holy water – the rivers, lakes and
ocean ~
What if meditation was our
relationships ~
If the teacher was life
~ If wisdom was self knowledge ~
If love was the centre of our being” ..
.
Ganga White
found this a few months ago and it resonates with my soul
Don’t know if it’s PC to respond before our hostess has had a say, but I have to say I just LOVE that luna! It resonates with my soul so much it’s now being copied and tacked to my board, along with yours too j :). Thank you both :).
It is perfectly PC. And that is beautiful, June. What I’d have said, maybe, if I were a poet. Thank you!
Amen to this, sisters and brothers, amen to this.
Thank you, Pru.
beautiful
made my morning
Then my work here is done. ๐
Amen! <3
Thank you, Jordan!
This was lovely j. I’ve never seen your poetry before.
*holds up hand as an audience member who’d like to see more…*
I never ever think of anything I write as poetry. It’s just that sometimes what I want to say works better if I format it unconventionally. But thank you. xox
Beautiful … simply and profoundly beautiful.
Thank you so much. BIG smile.
Your monikers are adding up. “justplainj”, Super-j”, and now “j, Poet-High Priestess of Love”. I’d sing hallelujah in your choir, just to be clear.
P.S. Whatever you’ve said before about not being a poet, all the denials and obfuscations, just went down the toilet. Go ahead, tell me how this one isn’t poetry. I’ll just stand here and shake my head while you do it. ๐
Well, I would argue with you on this, but I’d rather imagine you singing hallelujah in my choir. That’s the Leonard Cohen version, right? ๐
Duh… ๐
Simply. Beautiful.
I’ve been away for a while and this is nice to come back to.
It is SO nice to see you again, Marsha. Thank you.
Not poetry? Hmmm? It doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s beauty, it’s truth, it’s pure goodness. It’s rocking my world today.
Thank you for you, my friend,
Julia
I love that definition. Let’s use that. <3
*LIKE*……big! I’ve always known that you’re amazing….no really…..always.
Ha! That’s what sustained me in my time of trouble. (Do you love me even when I’m quoting Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy?)
This:
and everyone who,
broken from the weight of too many endings,
gets back up to love again.
And this:
My religion
isnโt big on words like sin and wrong and perfect;
itโs big on honesty, vulnerability, messinessโฆ awe.
And, well, the whole thing. Amen.
Behind the scenes: I struggled with the “weight of too many endings” line. I couldn’t find the right words, and then I did. As soon as I wrote it, I knew, good or bad, it was just exactly what I meant to say.
Thank you, t.
I like your religion, J. Maybe cuz I know it’s borne in a heart as wonderful as yours. And of course, you make me think of my own religion, about how our religions mesh, about how much more mine is (or should be) than pulpit and buildings and stuph…
I think it is more… No, I know it is, and my quest is to demonstrate that to others… To me… I hope I am.
Anyway, thank you for your hearrt, your spirit, your life.. for you.
Our religions might not quite match up, but our hearts do. Thank you right back, TPM.
Love it!
I know my greatest feelings of wonder and awe (and joy) come over me when I’m outside (and paying attention,) or when I’m connecting with a person who reminds me how we are all secretly magical. (Ok, mark me down as a dancing hippie!) <3
You are so marked. I always suspected that’s exactly what you were. <3
Wow – this knocked my slippers off! This is now filed under “One of my all-time favorite poems EVER” right up there with Hafiz and Rumi. Everything I have ever wanted to say about my feelings regarding religion you captured – thank you!
Love, love, love this โฅโฅ
Wow, I’m in elite company in your poetic heart. I’m so glad it resonated for you. We are, once again, soul-aligned. xo
A powerful poem, both in sound and meaning. Even though my religion involves churches, ministers, and pulpits, and scriptures can make me sing and dance inside as much as blue sky and all kinds of trees, I have no complaint with your message or your joy. Love is salvation. Thanks.
It’s really not a poem, but thank you, Lucy. And I have no problem with your scriptures either. We can still dance happily together. ๐
Perfect thing for a bad-ass hippy that skipped church today to read. Thanks .
Happy to help! That describes me every Sunday…. unless we count a hiking trail as church. And, come to think of it…
Hi J: My daughter & I found your blog by way of mutual friend P. Ross. Love the Poem, love the concept! Growing up a Baptist Ministers daughter, you would think it strange. But my father taught me early on that religion restricts & church should be held before God’s creation. Working out my own path as I got older, I have to say, I love your spirituality. And to quote someone who felt the same: “When I was five, my mother told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down happy. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. Evolution & all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness & open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.” John Lennon
I love that quote. I’ve never heard it before. And how cool (and rare, I think) that your Baptist Minister father encouraged you to see beyond the constructs of a man-made religion. I’m really touched by that.
I’m glad you found me. Patrick is a great writer.
Surprised that I didn’t see this one before now. Love it, j. <3
High praise coming from one of my favorite poets. Thanks, Annie. xo
If you don’t consider this writing a poem, what is it you would call it?
I call it deeply wonderful. Deeply touching.
And Truth.
<3