In the half hour just before church begins, signs are turned around and banners hung. I pick up the high-class litter on the sidewalk outside the gallery empty of art. I order a hot mocha latte to go. A happy family of three walks away to the east. To the west, three police cars, their lights flashing, are evidence of a woman attacked by a man she trusted. In the graveyard bushes, homeless house sparrows find shelter and homeless men stash their possessions. The church has served breakfast to these vagabonds. A few still linger outside, free as birds with no particular place to go. We chat as if we were peers. Snowflakes fall, just enough.
PHOTO PRAYER 2026-03
COMMENTS
Jeannie B.F. wrote:
Your message about your presence outside church before big Church begins was heartwarming and inviting, as so much of your writing is. I wish I could join you there but am currently benched with a healing bone and am keeping close to home down in Dagsboro [Delaware]. Your message reminds me that so much encounter and experience is prayer and when we enter the church building we are able to continue what has already begun.
Seonaid F., brother and sister in Christ, Suffolk, England wrote:
Reminds me of us, often first at chapel except for music leaders practising the worship songs. ‘…I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness…’ Psalm 84:10 (verse 3 makes reference to the sparrows).
Click here to read the short essay on which this prayer is based.