Thursday, August 24, 2006

GB '06


A wonderful prayer written by a wonderful man for wonderful humans at the most wonderful of festivals...

Help us remember that the idiot who cut us up in traffic
is a single Mother who has worked nine hours that day
and is rushing to Greenbelt to cook a meal and settle the kids down so they can have a good first day at the festival
and spend a few precious moments with her friends
who have saved hard to get to Greenbelt.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man
who can't handle his change correctly is a worried YMCA Hostel resident who is behind in his rent and cannot afford the cheapest hotdog on site.
At the same time balancing his apprehension over his fear
of not getting on well with the group he came with.

Remind us Lord, that the scary looking young woman
rolling her eyes and cannot stop moving her body,
is a recovering slave to addictions
that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.

Remind us that the scars of the self harming woman,
scarred for life,
is just like me with my scars
that and hinder and equip at the same time.
And remember that we, maybe,
can just hide ours better.

Help us to remember that the old couple
walking annoyingly slow through the festival site
and blocking our process
are savouring this moment,
knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week,
this will be the last year that they will be at Greenbelt together.

Creator God, remind us each day that, of all the gifts you give us,
the greatest gift is love.
That it is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear.
But those for who,
on first impressions,
make us shudder, or sigh or grunt with irritability.

Open our soul and press your finger tip right on that part,
the part to raise your love to the surface.
So it touches the practical.
The proactive.
The love department

© Pip Wilson

5 comments:

Katie Hagley said...

Take me there...take me to the church that is GB...take me home.

LittleBird said...

i was gonna post that myself. made me weep.

beautiful.

see ya on site man.

back to packing...

LB, x.

Suzanna said...

Somebody pressed my soul
I'm going to pray this prayer
Thanks for passing it along

mister tumnus said...

this made me think of something else that i got in the post on my return home. check it on my my blog if you like.

very sorry to have missed meeting you!

The Harbour of Ourselves said...

Kh, twas good to catch up, strange how we kept bumping into each other in the organic beer tent! - that holy sanctuary...hope the next 4 months pass quickly

cary, only sad we found so little time to L5 - and really pissed off i missed Ikon!! very interesting response from so many - provocative, uncomfortable....sounds like god just might have shown up to me, but hey, what do i know? always good to spend time...always soul sister

Suzanna, it's a wonderful prayer that encourages us to see with more than our eyes from a man who has been doing it for years and years...pass it on and on and on

Shirley, sorry i missed you too - will remedy that when next in your fair city...