Stopping to smell...

I had the day off today. Random weekdays off are truly a blessing. Weekends are nice, but they are planned…and there’s shows to go to, bars to hop, friends to see. Saturday and Sunday become as jammed or more jammed than even our stress-filled workdays.

But today was just a lazy, no-name, indifferent, Wednesday. I awoke at 10 with no plans and nothing pressing on my docket. It was as relaxed as I have been in a while. I inhaled the first breath of morning and eventually slid off the mattress in no real hurry. After sitting around for a while, the initial order of business was a roommate bike ride to the post office. It was a simple and organic venture: old transportation taking us to an increasingly archaic medium for exchanging ideas.

There is something about walking or biking through a cityscape. It is more real, everything is more defined. You are on the ground floor. You see things at eye level. You are immediately more involved with everything around you.

Whisking around corners, we nodded or smiled at everyone in our vicinity…had we been driving, not so much as eye contact would have been made. Also, on a whim, we stopped at the coffee shoppe and saw a friend who just happened to be working. In a car, I would have driven by, not wanting to find a parking spot, turn off the car and all that.

We then helped a man push his car out of an intersection so he could get a jump. I felt the compulsion to help because I was in the city. I was on the same playing field as this guy, who was clearly in a bind. Had I been in a car, I may have felt bad, but hey whatta my gonna do? Green light: time to move on. With the soles of my shoe wet with the leftovernight’s rain and the sticky sweat on my back, I was in this situation with him. There was nothing else to do but offer a simple push.

Then, at 11:40, Robert suggested we go to mid-day prayer at church. This is something I had wanted to do for a while, but of course, I’m never off on Wednesdays. So we hopped on our bikes and headed home to trade in two wheels for four, since highway travel was imminent.

The sanctuary was virtually deserted, but we were early, and by 12:15 maybe about 12 people were spread out among the first 4 rows. There was no band, no pomp and circumstance, just a dozen bodies there to think about our Creator. It was so intimate and so real. There were no motives for anyone to be there other than meditation and prayer. No cool clothes to impress that girl in row seven, no plans to see who is eating where after the service…just people there because it is refreshing to take a respite and be still amidst our hectic lives.

The service was so quiet and beautiful. Only a few scriptures were read and a brief homily was given. My favorite parts were silent confession and then a sharing of the peace. And for once, I was not nervous or afraid to turn around and shake hands and say “peace be with you, brother/sister.”

Now, I am typically an outgoing person, and I like meeting people. But for some reason the sharing of the peace always makes me nervous. I don’t know why, maybe I feel I have to strike up a conversation or I’m nervous about getting the “dead fish” handshake. But today was something different entirely. We had all just confessed our unholiness through prayer silently and then in unison. And, in the light of the forgiveness already bestowed on us, we shared the good news of peace with one another. It was a lovely, holy time between just a small number of people. But we all knew why we were there. I sensed a feeling of unity in that moment that is lost in big groups. It was pure and it was safe.

It gave me the feeling that we were in an ancient monastery and were all family and had been family for ages. That we all knew and loved one another fully. Each embrace and handshake was warm and fulfilling. I could almost smell the spirit of God in that place.

I would love to take that 30 minutes every Wednesday, or every day for that matter, and share that time with other Lovers. It was an oasis. Alas, life is sure to get in the way…probably in the form of my boss never giving me another Wednesday off.

But I had a taste of simplicity and a feeling of home that I haven’t felt in a long time.

It makes me long for my original home.

come quickly.