We are not alone

Last week i visited a man in the Palliative Care wing of the hospital. We'd never met before. A mutual friend had asked me to look in on him. When i introduced myself as the United Church Minister from Bobcaygeon, his wife said
"You could've fooled me."
i get that alot.

So, we talked about their life and how much we all loved living in the country. About the stars at night. About the mysteries of life. About what happens in our heads and what happens in our hearts when life pulls the rug out from under us.

Sunday morning, life gave me these words...

I don’t know who Jesus is.
I know that he talks to me.
Afterwards I try to remember how he looked and how he was.
How could I describe him to you?

So memorable
and yet so everyman, everywoman.
He is the best part of each of us.
We get glimpses of him here and there.

The most encouraging thing I’ve heard
in a long time
someone new to our church
- wasn’t sure at all about what she’d find here,
had been warned that we were a godless confused lot
- said she found Jesus here

We are not alone
What do you see when you look at the stars?
What do you recognize?
Who in you, what part of you
responds?

Unspeakable isn’t it?
so hard to put into words
So the Maker YHWH
in an act of compassion
or was it frustration
gave us – finally – an image of the GLRY that burns in us

Not an artist’s reproduction
not an interpretation of what’s inspired
but the essence
expressed from the HRT of hearts
a seed of SCRD semen
found a temporary home in human blood

And JSS spent a life among us
to remind us
We are not alone
and that in every drop of my blood
there is that same SCRD essence

that can heal
and respond to healing
that is captured in time
and timeless
that is pure and uncorruptable
and mercurial

to show us once and for all
how a perfect sacrifice
is more powerful
than any attempt at being saved

how perfect
every selfless act
how creative
every gift of time and courage
how HLY
every offering, every response, every cry of hope

that lives within
every drop of blood, sweat, and tears
and echoes YHWH’s earthbirthing song
“We are not alone”