A community

After II Corinthians 2:5-11

What is this body, this

community, this group, we

collectively call

the church, the meeting,

the collective, the way.

It is a oneness from many,

assembled expectantly

and unexpectantly but

together as a oneness.

I consider the person in the pew

to my side, the person in front

of me, the person behind me, as

they consider me, and I tell myself

this is with whom I will spend

eternity.

Photograph by Judson Hintze via Unsplash. Used with permission.

A hard thing

After II Corinthians 2:5-11

A hard thing, to pour

yourself, and fill, then

to see the pouring

emptied on to the ground,

to pour one’s self and

receive, in turn, pain

and disdain, pain

and rejection pain

and isolation, and then

to understand that

the grief is not one’s own

but a collective grief,

a collective sorrow.

It is this sorrow, this grief,

that is forgiven, and once

forgiven, then forgotten.

Photograph by Jakob Owen via Unsplash. Used with permission.