Come to the party!

a poem by Hafez

As a mystic, I have a deep and abiding love for mystics of any faith. As a cradle Episcopalian, I first encountered Christian mysticism. It was in reading the works of Christian mystics that I learned of this golden thread that is woven through the tapestry of all religions. A particular favorite is Hafez, a Sufi mystic and ecstatic from the 14th century. Today I needed some balm for a bruised heart—as I described last week in What is your wish?—and so I sought out Hafez. He describes so effectively his longing for union with Divinity, and in describing this longing of his, he describes also the longing of the Divine One for us. When we can enter into this dance, then we are bathed in the light and love of all that is sacred.

If God invited you to a party

If God
Invited you to a party
and said,

'Everyone 
In the ballroom tonight
will be my special
Guest...'

Are you coming? Are you coming to the party? I mean, when Divinity holds a party, it is always An Event. The Event of the Season. The feasting, the drinking, the music, the dancing—it is the most beautiful, the most exquisite. You can rest in the beauty and just soak it in, or you can whirl around the floor with the other Special Guests. Either can be a path to joy, when you’re invited to God’s party.

How would you then treat them
When you
Arrived?

I have frequently used the statement that God has perfectly terrible taste in people. That is, the Divine One loves every single one of us more fully, more powerfully than we can know. You are Divinity’s favorite! And so am I! And so is everyone else we know! Isn’t that wonderful?

Photo by Jinhan Moon on Unsplash

I have often used a prayer when someone particularly vile has died, especially an abuser of power and authority who has damaged vulnerable people, and especially someone who has a platform with a long reach. The prayer goes like this: I hope they are welcomed into heaven. And I hope they are completely surprised by who else is there. Because guess what! You are Divinity’s favorite! And so is everybody else who has lived before, who lives now, and who will live in the future! Gay people, straight people, white people, brown people, black people, neurodiverse people, neurotypical people, rich people, poor people, thin people, fat people, migrants and refugees, weird people, creepy people, sweet and beautiful people: every kind of people who can possibly exist. And so it is the deepest prayer of my heart that one day I will be welcomed into heaven, and I will be utterly surprised to see who all is there. And I will know to the very core of my being that this is where I belong. Hafez knows.

Indeed, indeed!

And I know
There is no one in this world

Who
Is not upon
His Jeweled Dance
Floor

poem by Hafez from All Poetry, translation credit not given

See? Hafez knows. We are all there at Divinity’s party, together. We don’t need sewing mice or fairy godparents or glass slippers: we are all invited to the ball.

So here is the thing for you today, and I hope you can hear it. If you can’t right now, that’s fine, too; maybe someday you will be able to.

Photo by Darius Bashar on Unsplash

You are the best beloved of God. You are beautiful and you are worthy. You are deserving of love and light and vitality. You are sacred. You are the only you who will ever live, and that you is a gift to the world, to everyone around you.

I hope to see you on the Jeweled Dance Floor, my friend. It will be The Event of the Season!