Sounding Gong

I don’t remember how
and I don’t
remember when

But the
beautiful and intense
presence
of the Holy Spirit
like a rushing
wind swept through
our congregation

Beyond
that wind
was something
much more
special

We were
blessed
with the
sweet sweet
revelation
of a gentle whisper

The voice
spoke deeply
and profoundly

Saying
‘What are you doing
for the least of these?’

Broken hearted
with the broken
we emptied our hearts
on the streets

Very soon
our friends
and later
our congregation
became
drunks, alcoholics
homeless
prostitutes, boy prostitutes
transvestites
and heroin addicts

We felt like David’s
motley crew
living in caves
working in
the hours of darkness
sowing with tears
the light of Christ

Our pastor’s wife
had a dream
a dreadful dream
she saw Richard
our leader
leaving a brothel

Sunday morning church
she confronted him
and he ran
we never saw
him again

You see
Richard
traded in
the fruits of the Spirit
for the
fruit of his loins

He fell
in the
darkness
into the
darkness
leaving a wake
of faith-shattering
destruction

We all
suffered
cried and screamed

But
no one
suffered more
than his
soon to be
divorced
and
AIDS-tested
beautiful
wife

The gentle whisper
has never left us
but now
it is a
sounding gong
warning us
of the
temptation
and the price
of selling-out.
———————–
Thank you so much for reading ‘out for lunch’. If you would like to contribute, please do. Thanks Kel.

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