Years ago, I found myself at a church I had never been to before. We were attending an Easter Service with family, and due to interesting circumstances, we were all guests at this church. This allowed me to observe the experience as an outsider. I watched all the families pour in through the door dressed in their finest. Many beautiful people looking their best, relaxed, happy, and eager to celebrate the celebration of Christ’s resurrection in a familiar community of friends.
At the time, my oldest son, was either about to turn, or was a freshly turned four year old. He was a bright eyed, curious preschooler who became a bit antsy about half way through the service. We decided to take a break out in the fresh air so that he could walk around for a bit. When we stepped just outside the door, we found ourselves in a completely different environment. The church must have served as station for an Emergency Shelter Program because the sidewalk was filled with people sitting on the curb waiting for a bus to pick them up to transport them to their next destination.
I found myself quickly engrossed in conversation, on a soul level, with the individuals outside of the church. We ended up staying outside for almost the rest of the service, talking about everything from government policies to family relationships. I felt at home with the people on the outside of the church. Later, I told my son that although the church was filled with kind people, beautiful decorations, and excellent music, I think that that right outside the church is where Christ would have been.
This powerful experience inspired a short song that I wrote, in the style of a hymn. It is not to be taken as a literal reflection of the good people inside or outside this church, or any church for that matter, but is instead a critique of that which we has been lost in the current structures that society utilizes to compartmentalize spirituality.
Baptize yourself in the people
Dip your soul in the waters of the commoner’s hole
Fill your thirst for the knowledge
On the words from the college on the block with the corner store
Fill your ears with the tears from the teacher of the root
Not just the preacher on the pulpit with the shiny suit
Give your dollars to love’s scholars
Not the ones who crave power
For they are the cowards who hide from truth
