When Jesus came to General Assembly
When Jesus came to General Assembly
he moved around, quietly, on the edges
listening to the murmurs, the grumbles, the yawns.
A few times, he stood up to speak.
He told some stories, asked questions,
threw in a riddle or two.
“What is the most important thing?” he asked.
But nobody paid any attention
so he spelled it out, nice and slow.
When Jesus came to Assembly
he reasoned, he ranted, he raged,
he stood up on his seat,
threw his head back
and cried out
“Love!”
Then he curled up and wept
his body shuddering with grief.
When Jesus came to Assembly,
he sat beside people,
held them,
sang with them,
listened to their stories.
His shirt became soaked with tears.
At lunchtime, he mingled
kept asking all the hard questions
didn’t make many friends
but some people sat and listened,
mulled it over.
A few even got up.
Slowly, cautiously.
There was just something about him
made them want to get up out of their seats.
When Jesus came to Assembly
he left again.
Threw his voting papers on the floor
ripped up the neatly typed Minutes.
Walked down the aisle.
and through the doors.
In the foyer he gathered up the leftover lunches
put them all in a big plastic sack.
and then kept walking.
He was last seen
in a dodgy part of town
giving away free sandwiches.
There were tears glistening on his cheeks
but those who saw him said he looked hopeful.
“He was just getting on with it, ya know?
Like he was broken and hurting,
but every now and then, I could've sworn,
I saw him smile.”