Displaying 1 - 10 of 10

  • Is the fire going out? Not in your belly, for you are still alive, but in your soul, that place where dreams fuel commitment where longings shape action where meaning flames purpose where passion ignites and rekindles your life fire. If your soul smolders dream on till you flame like a chalice of...
    Poetry | By Stephen M. Shick | June 18, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Commitment, Courage, Despair, Hope, Meaning, Purpose
  • It is not old, Yet it comes through the wisdom of the ages. It is not young, Yet it comes through the passion of innocence. It is not revolutionary, Yet it comes proclaiming change. It is not solitary, Yet it travels alone, seeking the open heart. It is not lonely, Yet it seeks relationship....
    Poetry | By Stephen M. Shick | April 27, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Connections, God, Reverence, Sacred
  • It hurts to let go of intensity that zapped like electricity yesterday. It hurts to disconnect arcing power, watch it ground and vanish. What was it that surged through us to lighten gray, indifferent skies? What was it that connected our hearts to hope?...
    Poetry | By Stephen M. Shick | April 27, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Forgiveness, Letting Go, Pain, Power
  • We float on a sea hidden beneath dry surfaces covered by stones. Isn’t this why we drink and dive so deeply go down to the sea in ships risk drowning, again and again? Isn’t this why Moses parted the waters to begin his journey? Why Jesus crossed the waters to comfort and challenge us? We were...
    Poetry | By Stephen M. Shick | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Abundance, Awe, Nature, Reverence, Sacred
  • A good anger swallowed clots the blood to slime —Marge Piercy But what is to be done with it, this anger that dare not be swallowed? Should it be diluted with denial, cooled with indifference? Should it be sweetened with good intentions, softened with lies? Should it be spewed out red hot over...
    Poetry | By Stephen M. Shick | March 23, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Anger, Direct Experience, Salvation
  • Nature provides ready metaphors for peace and justice. Jesus' peaceful kingdom is described as a mustard seed that grows into a large bush, providing shelter to all. the Hebrew prophet Amos cried for justice to roll down like water, and we sing, "I've got peace like a river" and "strength like a...
    Reading | By Stephen M. Shick | March 17, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Justice, Nature, Peace, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Vision, Climate Justice
  • I understand history as possibility...that could also stop being a possibility. —Paulo Freire The winds of extinction sing a mournful song in the rustling grass, where the bobwhite drums and the meadowlark's melody is vanishing. The winds of extinction sing a mournful song in the dark forest...
    Poetry | By Stephen M. Shick | March 17, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Despair, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Interdependence, Nature, Unitarian Universalism, Climate Justice
  • Suppose you scrub your ethical skin until it shines, but inside there is no music, then what? —Kabir Suppose you cried a thousand years for a child who died when she drank bad water. Suppose you organized a great movement to clean the water. Suppose you carried the first filled glass to the...
    Poetry | By Stephen M. Shick | March 17, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Earth, Earth Day, Interdependence, International, Relationships, Service, Unitarian Universalism, Water Communion, Climate Justice
  • Into the dwelling place of togetherness, we come to collect remnants of hope.
    Responsive Reading | By Stephen M. Shick | March 12, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Hope, Justice, Peace, Solidarity, Strength, Unitarian Universalism, Vision
  • Here, I will be discovered and lost: Here, I will, perhaps, be stone and silence. —Pablo Neruda Someday, out there, on a day like this in a place I will never see, where the clearing winds always come after the storm, I will arrive nameless on a distant memory carrying with me all the best I gave...
    Poetry | By Stephen M. Shick | March 12, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Identity, Love, Meaning, Purpose, Truth