A tribute to pastors for Clergy Appreciation Month

Sharing love and giving hope.
That’s what we’re called to do.
We have a common mission. We’re a team.
The task of serving those we love
requires you and me.
And that from the beginning was God’s dream.

We share God’s love through what we do.
We’re conduits of grace.
There is no cause for jealousy. We’re one.
And giving hope is how we care.
It’s what our world most needs.
We’re pastors, chaplains, deacons, priests and nuns.

• this was written for the 7th annual clergy appreciation luncheon celebrated at Covenant Living at the Shores where the poet is the fulltime chaplain

Celebrating Sesame Street’s 50th birthday

There is Lombard Street and Wall Street.
There is Hollywood and Vine.
There’s 5th Avenue and Broadway.
There’s your favorite. There is mine.

Mine is where Big Bird is roosting.
Where a grouch lives in a can.
It’s where Bert and Ernie squabble.
One likes oatmeal. One likes bran.

It’s where monsters thrive on cookies
and Count Dracula loves math.
It’s a street where rubber duckies
help a puppet take a bath.

It’s a street that leads to memories
back to when my kids were small.
Sesame Street and all its muppets
outrank Lombard Street and Wall.

And this year this Street turns fifty.
What Jim Henson dreamed survives.
It’s a road that leads to learning
entertaining fours and fives.

Happy birthday, Mr. Hooper!
Snuffy, Elmo, Kermit, too.
Thanks for all you have accomplished
and for what you still will do.

How would the rabbi from Nazareth relate to Ellen DeGeneres?

Would Jesus sit with Ellen
at a Dallas Cowboys game?
I think the one I worship surely would.
He criticized his critics
who had judged his caring heart
while clarifying reasons why we should.

The Jesus in the Gospels
was a friend to everyone
except those hypocrites who loved to hate.
He risked his reputation
hanging with the rich and poor
(and likely with the closet gay and straight).

To be a friend does not demand
you compromise your truth.
It means that you embrace another’s worth.
It’s taking time to understand
what others hold as true
while humbly sharing values you assert.

How Amber Guyger was alerted to God’s grace

She didn’t throw the book at her.
The judge showed grace instead.
She gave Amber her Bible with a prayer
that she would make a brand new start
while grounded in God’s Word
discovering in prison that God cares.

The victim’s brother didn’t glare.
He offered grace instead.
He hugged the guilty cop with words of love.
That courtroom was a sacred place.
Forgiveness was displayed.
The hand of justice wore a velvet glove.

Against the backdrop of this crime,
God’s grace took center stage.
A judge and grieving brother stunned the crowd.
Acknowledging the loss of life,
both wept devoid of hate
and silenced those outside protesting loud.