Our Prayer of the Day

       I very much appreciate the wise counsel of Bishop Steven 

Charleston this morning: "Beware of any generation that 


seems


 lost without a leader. That search may become a dangerous 


thing to do. A society that is fearful, money worried, anxious 


for


 order, hungry for law, a nation of wall builders, accustomed 


to war, watching enemies without and enemies within, afraid


 its glory will fade. Longing for the strong man grows, ever so


 quietly, while people look the other way.




       Help us, O God, not to flirt with forces so ancient and so 


evil, but rather to put our trust in you, that justice never 


bends to fear nor freedom to the false gods of power."




Thanks to Louie Crew for this tidbit

a poem from wandering the Organ Mountains...

Violent Night

Stars shout in the stillness,

Of a cold mountain night

A soft breeze stumbles down

the erratic, rocky gorge

and ruffles the browning grass

at my feet

Just above the jagged crest

the harvest moon pushes aside

the glowering black and bursts

the air with creamy light

                                                                                                                                                        Jim Macey


Photo Credit: Michelle Stump is the artist who created the accompanying photograph, entitled:
Mountain Night - Purple Wind.  See more of her spiritual works at www.harpofthespirit.com

The Psalm of New Mexico

Behold the mountains of the Lord,

Gaze upon the majesty of His hills;

Look down at the verdant river valley,

See the dwelling place of our greenery.

View the Jornada and its sere sands,

The eye hears a symphony of tan and brown.

Tread quietly amid the Mesilla pecans,

Walk softly in their cathedral of shade.

This is the land the Lord has given us,

The varied earth He has bestowed on us.

This is the land He gave us to care for,

The earth for us to nurture.

by  Jim Macey,  Los Lunas, NM    

A psalm is a special form of poetry, rarely found outside of the religious setting, and its rhythms are due to calculated repititions of the poetic thought.  It's a difficult format to work with for the poet, forcing you to think and rethink your utterances.  I find the psalm lending itself to nature poetry by bringing the cadences of the worship service to the mundane viewing of a landscape.


For further reading:  Really good poetry can be found in any work by Billy Collins, our former Poet Laureate.
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