and so many people collected together, that after a while there was no room for them even around the door; and he began to tell them his message.
a full doorway
piques our curiosity
some basic need is being fulfilled
some political meme reached a tipping point
some new trinket is capturing imaginationswithout knowing quite how
certainty arises
it is imperative we enter
laws will be broken if need be
a quick rabbit punch a strategic tug
a wriggle a push a bribe a pulling-rankvoilà
we’re in
in time to hear sadness
we’re in this together
there has always been enough
stake your life on ita dove calls
a wilderness awaits
I am bottled up by neighbors
I trip over my own feet and obligations
all my internal conflicts rise at once
I want to learn more here not on my owna full doorway
blocks a freedom journey
advantage and privilege conflict a community
setting us at odds with self and tradition
constraining a gravitational law of compassion
dramatizing our wild-eyed stuckness
There is a gravitational field around Jesus that packs folks ever closer. This begins a backup of people filling every nook and cranny. It is the way planets are formed. Pack and pack until there is no room and the pressure begins to transform element to element.
This also helps us understand the need to periodically retreat. There needs to be an inhale after every breath and word is squeezed out.
Do note that the attraction here is not wonder-working but speaking, just plain speaking. This is not preaching as we have come to know it, just simple witnessing.
Neighborly talk in a typical home of the day is basic evangelism in every age. Anything more coercive or corrosive/divisive/sectarian will eventually be heard for how it has given into a temptation for power and people will begin to scatter.
in time to hear sadness
we’re in this together
there has always been enough
Ya, if the hope was for the message to be, “Don’t worry! You are the most important and I will personally make sure that you get everything you ever wanted,” then, “We’re in this together; there has always been enough,” is pretty depressing. Weird that the good news can be such a bummer from a certain perspective.