it’s a collapse of child and mother, the after-supper kind of collapse. we haven’t seen each other all weekend because i’ve been away and we have joey and jin here too.
and sometimes this having other people in our home feels a bit like the curtains are pulled wide on a sacred ceremony. until i look into their eyes, the eyes of our godchildren, and realize that i love them as though they were my own. but it takes stopping, and looking, in order to see them.
we’re all family in this world of orphans and what good is it to speak theology to someone who is starving?
so we collapse together, at bath-time, them crying into the bubbles. Joey wants his mommy and Aiden wants his and Kasher and Jin are staring at their older brothers, and so i start to sing. Amazing Grace. i sing while i shampoo their hair and they cry in unison. i sing while i rinse them. and i sing while i wrap them in fluffy towels and zip up their onesies and put on a show for them.
later that night, joey says, “i want to stay young forever and ever.” and i want him to, also.
and i pray that he will. that i will. and i remember the wild goose festival, where there were speakers and bands and poignant messages but the most powerful part for me, was the Beer and Hymns at 4 pm on saturday. where we gathered together under a tent with cups of frothy lager and sang in acapella the songs of the church. all of us like children.
i’ve never sung with such abandon. it was communion, with beer and scruffy hippies who hadn’t showered in days, all fumbling around with grace and God and goodness.
and this is what i feel we have here. at imperfect prose. we’re a bunch of scruffy hippies just trying to figure Jesus out. together. with cups of lager in our hands, and a song on our lips. (i’ve missed you)
every wednesday and thursday, we gather together to celebrate redemption. here are the details:
1. link up a post (old or new) that you feel is ‘broken’ or ‘imperfect’ or somehow redemptive
2. put the ‘imperfect prose’ button at the bottom of your post, so others can find their way back here (see button code in right-hand column of my blog)
3. read other’s prose, and encourage them!
won’t you join us, here? in which we “walk each other home”? (ram dass)
Learn more about imperfect prose here.
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*linking this with Ed Cyzewski’s synchroblog celebrating the launch of his new book, Hazardous: Committing to the Cost of Following Jesus, with Derek Cooper. preview the book here… and link up your own story (and read more) here.