During a season when our Adult faith Bible classes were going through a study using Hunting Magic Eels, I wrote a poem for my class entitled, very creatively (!), "Bible class." You'll see some of my attempt in the poem at (re)connecting enchantment to going to church and a Bible class. Everything can be full of enchantment if we open our eyes to see.
“Bible Class”
Here, now, see
in front of you,
inside, above, below, behind you.
Beauty. Grace.
Light and Love
shining through
your transparent self,
and dancing off the water
of sight, sound, and perception.
Hush your anxious mind
and listen to
the Heartbeat
behind your own.
You have what you need.
Our faith
and its worn, trusted paths.
Sermon, sacrament, and song.
And us,
friends and fellow pilgrims
sharing our broken, honest care.
Windows.
Each a telescope and scrying glass
to reveal the fine, imperceptible threads,
the ligaments of sacred light,
holding the whole of our joy and grief,
and the far hope
of reconciliation and reunion.
Here you are
or at least find yourself.
Look at the world.
Behold again.
Behold anew.
The miracle is close,
intimate as breath,
gentle in the breeze,
playing
in sunlight and trees.
In the late ‘90s Jack and I attended a retreat at Laity Lodge, an ecumenical Texas Hill Country Retreat Center. It was sponsored by Church of Christ members. The requirement was to have two speakers of different traditions. A Southern Baptist Church professor from Baylor spoke. While I do not remember the topic shared, it was the first time I’d not heard opposing views (a debate or critique of the other). The CofC leader prepared us as we began by looking to his side through an open window and saying, “There is a fresh, new breeze blowing on us through this window”. Amen.