i rec'd this in the mail today, and just wanted to share it...it "moved" me, and i hope it does the same for others. for me, it speaks to letting go of unpleasant past, and starting anew...

THE ONLY SERMON (A poem copied from Sojourners Magazine)

If we dig a huge grave miles wide, miles deep
and buried every rifle, pistol, knife, bullet, bomb, bayonet
if we jumped upon fleets of tanks and fighter jets
with tool boxes, torches
unwelded them dismantled them turned them into scrap metal

if every light skinned man in a silk tie said
to every dark skinned man in a turban
i vow not to kill your children
and heard the same vow in return

if every elected leader agreed to stop lying
if every child was fed as well as racehorses bred to win derbies
if every person with a second home gave it to a person with no home
if every mother buried her parents not her sons and daughters

if every person who has enough said out loud i have enough
if every person violent in the name of God were to find God
we would grow silent, still for a moment, a lifetime
we would hears infants nursing at the breast
hummingbirds hovering in flight
we would touch a canyon wall and feel the earth vibrate
we would hear to lovers sigh across the ocean
we would watch old wounds grow new flesh and jagged scars disappear
as time was layered upon time we would slowly be ready to begin
(It is true the The Only Sermon appropriate to Christmas is P E A C E,
especially to this Christmas.)

-written by Andrea Ayvasian