Sunday, August 18, 2013

twentieth sunday in ordinary time

standing on the corner with the sign is physically draining, even if you haven't spent the day previous doing a twelve hour adventure race.

at about twenty minutes to nine, a woman came up and introduced herself. she asked if she might lay hands on me and pray, to which i consented because there was a time in my life when i had such a vibrant and joyful faith that the first thoughts i had in the morning were prayers and the last thought before i went to bed at night were prayer and  a great deal of the in between were prayers, too.

i miss that feeling.

but then she talked with me a bit and she offered to take me to her church, a church that will not blame victims or throw people out.

i'm not so sure about that. before it happened to me, i would have bet my life that the williston federated church would not have done any such a thing, either.

i told her that for all of the foreseeable future, i have work to do here, on this street corner.

she asked God to bless me again and gave me a hug and she went on her way.

at about ten to nine, a man driving by stopped his car and said "i never liked that church anyway!" and he waved and went on.

a couple of people raised their coffee cups to me as they passed.

at about a quarter to ten, a woman stopped and offered to take me to her church, right NOW. "i'm going now, she said. you can hop in."

i thanked her and i said that while i still have work to do on this streetcorner, i have an obligation to stay.

i do not know when this work will be finished. i expect it will take a long time, maybe years.

but i am steadfast and i am strong.

and this is the right thing to do.

i'll see you out on the corner.

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