Radically Happy

Maybe / 
I’m not here for a What / 
But a Who…

I feel a twinge of fear / Who else is down here? / What is this place under the city? / Why did Jesus let me fall into it?

Stepping off the rock / Into empty space / Takes a whole different courage…

I feel a pang / 
That we are not with Him / 
But I remember / 
That He is with us…

I no longer need to beat my tambourine / Perhaps I no longer can / My old fingers too slow to catch / The subtle rhythms / The youth are playing / To align the singing / With the Song of Christ…

We were drawn here by Jesus / By His Song // But we got here / By clinging to others / Who sang the same note…

I weep / As I discover / The notes I thought most discordant / Turn out to be the fundamentals / Of a new chord…

I can see it happening again / The same divisiveness that destroyed the city / People fighting over which verse to sing / Or which key to sing it in // Because they are obsessed over the Song / Not the Singer // Then I realize / So am I…

I am… in a broken city of broken people / Who are nevertheless the Jesus I need // How can I let them help me / When they won’t let me help them / And they have no clue what we need // Do I?

The city deserved to fall / Because it was built on lies / Oppression / Division / Hypocrisy // Yet it was beautiful / (If you didn’t look too closely)

The Gardens are meant / 
To equip us / 
To remind us / 
To heal us / 
So that we dare Cross Over…

Jesus yanks the line / So hard and fast / He rips the core of the Apple / Right out of its body // We go sailing over the shoreline / In a beautiful wide arc / Scattering seeds / Thirty / Sixty / A hundredfold…

He flicks me out of the water / 
From the shore filled with huddled masses / 
Yearning to be free / 
Though they mask it with incessant bickering…

Then I realize / He isn’t floating / Or treading water / Or sinking // But hovering / Just below / (rather than above) / The surface // Why does that feel more unnatural than merely flying?

Our destiny / It may be the people we need to serve / Or the hope of our own salvation / Probably both / But it only works if we all cross over together…

I look TO Jesus. / “Why aren’t they laying them at **Your** feet?” / He winks / “They can’t see me. They only hear me. But they can see you…”