Whyever did I think?

For Martin and me and you, heck, all of you.

Whyever did I think

There would come a time

When the participation in,

The organization of,

Prayer vigils

Would come to an end?

It remains

In the same category

As the final obtaining

Of some sort of licensure

From some body of people

So I could prove to them

Every two or three years

I was still worthy

To pile letters

After my name.

Whyever did I think

I would see this time,

This halcyon

Dreamed about,

Prayed about

Time;

This time when the lion

Would lie down

With the lamb;

When the licensed

Might see the unlicensed

As having something of worth

To offer?

Whyever did I think

I might pray such limits

Away;

We might walk

Nay

We might skip together

In newly mown fields

Like children,

Look up at the sun

And know,

Simply know,

All of us know

It is good.

Truth has that particular ring

I have a singing bowl my children gave me a few years ago.  It is a beautiful thing.  When I do it well, the ringing continues long after I have stopped circling the edge with the wooden mallet.  Today I think about Nathanael recognizing Jesus for who He is with such little evidence.  Today I also think about Martin Luther King, Jr., another singing bowl.  His reverberations continue as well, though I believe he would say he was echoing Jesus, as we are all called to do.

Like the singing bowl,

Truth has a particular ring,

Reverberations long after

The circles have stopped.

Nathanael heard truth

From Jesus;

The singing bowl

That was Jesus.

You are a man in whom there is no guile

Jesus said.

I saw you under the fig tree

He said.

Nathanael heard the truth.

It had nothing to do with figs.

It had everything to do

With Jesus.

Nathanael heard Jesus

Clearly.

Truth has that particular ring.

When we hear it

We are called to name it

For what it is.

We are called to be part

Of the reverberations

Long after

The circles have stopped.

Like Nathanael:

He heard

He spoke.

Truth has that particular ring.