Saturday Night Travelling Musician

the troubadour is in town, his skill
(beyond the average coffee house)
could carry him to Nashville ~
instead his guitar, scarred from the
church / camp / hospital / nursing home
circuit, bridges gaps between strangers


tomorrow, this sanctuary will fill
we'll sing old songs and ancient liturgies
adapted for here and now, helping us
make sense of today's world

tonight, though, sense is made as
we're transfixed and transformed by
virtuosic fingers on the guitar accompanying
ringing tenor vocals which fill the sanctuary


Sunday, this room will be filled
tonight, too, we are becoming church

pilgrim grace

ositnato refrain echoing
one voice to another
one voice from the other
one side and the other
back and forth
as we make our pilgrimage
one after another
to receive grace
to receive transformation from
life to death

throughout this (baptismal) journey
one side echoes the other
from across the aisle
until we meet one another,
pilgrims from far away
though the distance only spans
a simple sanctuary, simply
recalling so many pilgrims
of so many ages

when we meet in the aisle,
our voices - far apart a moment ago -
blend together nearer to our ear
as the sound still blends
above our heads, carrying
our prayer to G-d - and from heaven
our prayer echoes back
resounding through our midst
as we make pilgrimage
toward grace

divine grace

hotel lobby
transformed into
narthex

as ripples of
liturgical responses
overwhelm other conversations

and we turn to
confess, and to hear the
promise of forgiveness

transforming us,
lobby to narthex,
welcoming us into

divine grace

Union Station

echoing through the vast openness
the sound of travel
of waiting and arrival
of parting and reunion
recalls, nostalgically,
a day past,
when (our cultural memory,
having forgotten
greater and lesser depressions
and the tenuous bridge wrought of
handwritten letters
spanned great train-distances,
tells us)
things were great

union station, whatever city
has no equal
the vast expanse of
patterned floors and carved walls
of marble and limestone
belie much of the
deep-felt, yet often-shattered, hope
carried through the lobby,
heavier than the luggage

though, perhaps,
through the great sorrow
found in vast emptiness,
populated though it may be,
a gospel train still comes
to track us from death to new life

who do we worship?

the only god who makes sense
to my intellect
is distant
controlling
judgmental

the only god who makes sense
to my intellect
wants my success
wants to reward me
wants to grant me victory
~ but not until I've earned it

this is not my god

the living G-d,
who encounters my soul
(deeper and closer than intellect)
meets me in
divine weakness and poverty
in/with/under human suffering

the living G-d knows my soul,
opens my heart to the world
draws me out of my own pain
so I can fully meet my neighbor

the living G-d loves my soul
wounded
joyful
broken
mended, but scarred
entire
the living G-d loves my soul
deeply and completely

never ignoring part,
but embracing all of who I am

why church?

we've taken passion for the life-giving ruler of the universe
and transformed that passion,
through rules and mandates,
into tedium

we've made god into someone we're supposed to satisfy
instead of expecting to receive satisfaction
and salvation
from our living G-d

maybe we need to give up religion
its rules and laws
dead rituals and dying liturgies
in order that we can be in relationship
with the Messiah?

come and see

come and see what’s happening in the world
come and see what God is up to

this, I believe, is what young people long for
this is what they are searching for,
what they are wanting from their communities of faith

sometimes I wonder, though, what they see when they look
when they come into a congregation
do they see people for whom faith makes a palpable difference?
do they see people who are willing to share their faith
or, more than that, who cannot help but to share their faith
do they see people who are honest about their differences of opinion
and who talk about their differences of opinion with faithful respect
and then gather around the same table to eat together
fed, and made whole, by the body and blood of Christ?

whether or not we feel like sharing our faith with young people
we do ~ anytime anyond encounters us, even from across the room
we are sharing our faith,
whether we want to or not


and while they may appear to be mostly interested in
wearing baggy ripped jeans and listening to their ipods
I am always surprised by the questions they ask


a sample of some I heard recently from middle schoolers is:
* how should I read the bible?
* what is heaven like, and will I make it?
* is satan more powerful than God?
* if the world was created perfect, why is there poverty and inequality?

and these are not trivial questions
these are not purely academic questions
they are real, and they come from a place of real and heartfelt
questioning and exploring of their faith

so I wonder about the church,
do we want to let these questions
the questions young people are asking
do we want to let them just float out there
to be answered by a society that cares more about making money
than about making disciples?

or do we want to invite young people to come and see?
come and see, young people,
what a difference this faith thing makes for me
come and see my life, which is as broken and messed up as anyone’s
but come and see, because I know the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world

and then, do we dare to ask,
‘where, young people, do you see and experience God?’

are we willing to take the present and future faith of the church seriously enough
to ignore questionable clothing choices and a sullen attitude often born of insecurity
in order to engage these vital members of the body of Christ in real and meaningful ways?
these members of the body of Christ who are sinners just as we are
these members of the body of Christ, who are forgiven
by the immeasurable grace and love of God
just as we are

come and see