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Consecration
Worship is free.
Always has been.
Always will be.
So its no wonder
That Jesus flipped tables
Over the idea that
Heaven is a club with a cover charge
And he is to be the bouncer.
I mean, I imagine
that was the last straw.
Who needs a bouncer for a club
Everyone is invited to?
Sounds like another one of Peter’s ideas.
Jesus strikes me as the kind of guy
who’d rather get down
With a good beat drop
And lose himself
In the thump of bass notes
That hit the soul
Like a good mountain sermon.
But no,
He’s here, flipping tables.
Turning upside down
The idea that God only blesses people
Who can already buy miracles.
This place needs a deep spring clean.
Throw open the birdcages.
Doves, Be free.
Throw open the pens
For the goats, the sheep.
Be free.
Turn out pockets and
Loosen purse strings.
Be free.
Where did the idea
even come from that
Two birds
Or a tax deductible
ten percent
buys the park hopper pass
To the pearly gates?
Probably not from the guy
Who does the miracle thing
For anyone.
For free.
Gross, Net
Root, Evil
Eye, Needle, Camel
Pearls, Swine
Without Great Price,
Poor Widow Mite,
People didn’t like Jesus who said
Bring your hunger and I’ll bring the bread
Because how do you make
A profit off of promises like
Thirst no more?
That’s turning table talk.
Because if the kingdom of heaven
Is already here,
What on earth
Is your tithing paying for?
The good news is
that Jesus does have a nightclub
With star-studded ceilings
And an all-you-can-eat buffet
For five thousand.
God is the DJ
Crossfading paradox
Like a master of synth
Working with verse and chorus
Made of revolution.
The secret to the club’s success
Is its open-door policy.
Seek, find.
Knock, open.
Nicodemus takes
Canned food donations
Upon entry.
Mary is the manager and
Thecla her assistant.
Martha serves soup in the kitchen in the back;
She was never one for dancing anyway.
The apostles do the dishes and
Paul stays busy cleaning the bathrooms
Until he learns to share
On open mic night.
And then there is Jesus
Teaching line dances to Lazarus
And singing his favorite songs
At the top of his lungs:
Salt of the earth
Last first, first last
Love one another
When the dancers are tired,
There are warm beds and showers next door
For anyone who needs one
At the Good Samaritan Hotel.
The Nightclub is named Consecration
And you can find it
Where the old temple used to be.
...
Family Promise of Salt Lake, an non-profit organization that provides shelter, case management and housing services to children and families experiencing homelessness, reports the following statistics:
Families make up 35% of the people in Utah experiencing homelessness.
More than two-thirds of Utah’s homeless population is in Salt Lake County.
As of this 2017 study, 240 of the people experiencing homelessness in Utah were veterans. Throughout the country, veterans are more likely to experience homelessness than non-veterans.
Victims of domestic violence and people with mental illness make up the largest subsets of Utah’s homeless population.
As you gather around your Easter table this Sunday, please consider supporting your unhoused community with a donation to The Road Home, an organization which provides emergency shelter, supportive services, and housing assistance to help individuals and families step out of homelessness, or to the Fourth Street Clinic, which helps Utahns experiencing homelessness improve their health and quality of life by providing high-quality health care and support services.
