the next big idea in church

The next big thing in church

The next big thing in church is Ash Wednesday.
Hooray for putting away all pretense,
for putting away all defenses,
for putting away all the glamour
and the dreams
And the hopes.

If for just a moment.

And to say honestly: Look,
I’m going to die. This body
is going to wear out.
Who knows what happens to the soul,
but the body, it’s clear.
At some point it will be a car without an engine.

The next big thing in church is Lent.
Hooray for the in between,
late winter, early spring,
for putting off the lethargy
and shaking ourselves into resurrection
and warming temps.

Pools will soon open.
Hope will soon come. But not yet,
not yet.

The next big thing in church is radical humanistic equality
with a god both out there and in here
cheering us on.
You belong, and you belong, and you belong!
in your best Oprah voice.

The next big thing in church is centering prayer
just making space for God to do what God does,
Deep in your bones, deep in your soul,
and shutting up long enough to give space
to your deepest truest self to shine,
shine, shine.