brian shivers

If the book you hold sacred leads you to hate, brings you to love some more than others, calls you to privilege the strong at the expense of the weak, allows you to hoard while others have nothing, rewards small mindedness and names it piety, makes you fear change and calls it evil, dismiss those who tell you how to read it in such a way. Listen deeper. The Divine is love, tenderness, diversity, equity, inclusion, acceptance, kindness, mercy, justice, compassion, grace, hope. Seek these things. -bshivers

I want to be clear. I love the Bible. I have been and continue to strive to be a student of this text. I am challenged by it. I am encouraged by it. I am confronted by it. I am angered by it. I often find myself in its pages and its often conflicting and complex words. I discover the divine through the stories of the people whose lives, journeys, and mistakes are recorded there. I feel the echoes of the cries of the oppressed, imprisoned, marginalized, hungry, and needy in the poetry and songs. I meet the Christ who calls us toward one another, the outcast, the left behind, the wounded, the weak in its pages. I feel the Spirit of God move in, move out of, move within, and move through these pages. But I also want to be clear on this: This text is not a toy! This text is not a prop! This text is not vehicle to garner popular support! This text is not to be used to proof text a point! This text is not to be used as a hammer! This text is not to be used as a tool of division and hatred! T...

The most sacred of all texts is the life of the one standing in front of you, sitting beside you, lying next to you, and looking into the mirror and staring back at you. The most sacred of all texts is the life of the one stranded at the border, sleeping on the sidewalk, living in fear of the next bombing, and worshiping quietly in a synagogue or temple or mosque. The most sacred of all texts is the life of neighbor, friend, foe, and stranger. May we honor their beauty and seek the presence of the divine in their presence.

Do not insult the land. Out of that dirt people are formed. Back to the dust they shall return. The ground one calls excrement is sacred. Upon it divine image bearers trod clothed  in beautiful hues, a heavenly art. Children are nourished from the fruit of its soil. Love blossoms on its streets. Eternity dances within each heart. No matter how vile, words spoken from hateful temporal lips can never change the truth of the land’s enduring presence and her people’s everlasting abundance.   — bshivers 

(a poem) I don't need      to understand the science           the hows and the whats. I don't need      to believe in the God           you name and you praise. I need to care. I need to know      that my children      your children      and our children's           children's           children      around the world will breathe      the air           we now share will inherit      the earth           we leave behind for better      for worse. May we live      passionately      fully with them      in our mind,      in our heart,      in the manner           in which we care ...

Water is cleansing. Water sustains every life. Water is sacred.