Writings

Path of the Friend

Writings related to ‘Prayer’

An Invocation for the Beginning of a Gathering

April 4th, 2006

Invocation for the Beginning of a Gathering By the grace of countless beings we are here, thank you by the grace of this heavy planet, we are here, by the grace of sunlight warming everything, by the grace of mystery beyond all we can know, we are here, thank you. By the grace of a […]

Walking with Abraham

October 30th, 2005

HARRAN, TURKEY It feels like the middle of nowhere – a rainy night, a poor neighborhood of scattered mud-brick and cement-block houses, puddles forming in the unpaved streets – but it was here in Harran, in what is now southeastern Turkey, that the religions of half of humanity had their beginning. In this place some […]

In the Fourth World

January 6th, 2004

MAE LAN KHAM COMMUNITY FOREST, SAMOENG, THAILAND Pati Daiya, the village headman, held the chicken gently next to the Water Spirit’s bamboo shrine, her wings folded against her body. He prayed, and while he prayed he reached behind his back to the sheath containing his square-ended machete. Without hesitation he thwacked the chicken hard on […]

The Believer’s Candle

November 24th, 2003

DAMASCUS, SYRIA Our pilgrimage to Syria left many traces on our hearts of realities deeper than headlines. In this letter I would like to describe three images that particularly touched me during the journey. These are images of people praying. I have always been drawn to the company of people at prayer – Hindu or […]

Being Alone

September 2nd, 2003

HELL ROARING CANYON, UTAH At the moment Rabia and I are waiting in the silence near a remote canyon in the Great Basin Desert of southeastern Utah. We are waiting for a small group of people we have guided out here to return from their three days of solitude and fasting. This is day two. […]

A Gesture

April 11th, 2003

COLORADO The feelings generated in us by this war are not easy to hold. For months so many of us worked to stop the war from happening, feeling a great communal determination and newfound solidarity, at the same time feeling dread of the imminent violence, and anxiety for the long-term hatreds it will feed. And […]

Shock and Awe

February 24th, 2003

AMMAN, JORDAN Last week my Iraqi friend Fais told me how he used to take his son fishing. “I liked to sit there doing nothing, I liked just to watch the river go by. But we don’t go anymore. No one relaxes now. We’re only nervous about the war coming.” Yesterday morning Fais and I […]

If Only I Had Wings to Fly

February 9th, 2003

BAGHDAD, IRAQ I woke up at 5:30 this morning to go out to the U.N. headquarters on the outskirts of Baghdad with my friend Mohamed, an Iraqi driver and helper-with-all-things. He and I spent the last few days preparing an encampment for the Iraq Peace Team across the road from the U.N. We were expecting […]

Back to Baghdad

January 30th, 2003

AMMAN, JORDAN Today we write from a small hotel in Amman, Jordan, waiting for our visas which will enable us to return to Iraq. The newspapers we have just finished reading announce “America Targets Iraq!” and recount the number of soldiers and tonnage of munitions destined for the country across the border. So why then […]

Prayer for September 11, 2001

September 20th, 2001

PRAYER FOR SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 Oh God pray for us, God beyond the God we don’t believe in, oh God who beats our hearts, who blinks our eyes, the One who flames the billion billion stars and cries our tears, oh God of infinite mercy pray for us as we die, we who are caught […]