An amazing sight!
Aug. 25th, 2003 01:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
klsiegel320I saw an amazing thing yesterday. I saw God out walking the streets of Atlanta.
No, I'm serious. I came around the corner of Peachtree and North Ave., and there was God - alive and active and walking around outside All Saints' Episcopal Church.
Well, okay, you caught me...in the form of the representatives of all the various ministries and groups that operate within the parish, I saw...
Actually, what I first saw was not really what was happening. When I came around that corner, what I first saw was a protest. I saw a bunch of people milling around in front of the church, carrying signs (I couldn't read them yet), and I saw a police officer talking with them, and I thought, "Oh, no! Omigod, it's really happening - they're picketing the church because of the decision at General Convention! Oh, no!"
And then I got closer. And I saw that on the signs it said "Altar Guild" or "Reception Committee" or "Junior Handbell Choir." And AIDS Outreach, and Befrienders, and Women of the Church, and what seemed like a thousand other ministries. I saw a mob of people who don't have time for trivial infighting, because they have gotten back to the fundamentals: they go out into the world feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick and imprisoned. I saw God, alive and active and walking around in downtown Atlanta.
Surely that's newsworthy? Surely that's something to celebrate, to report to the world? That in these dark times, in these difficult times, distressed as we are by contention and controversy, there are still faithful, loving people who are living out their commitment to Christ, and they're not afraid to be seen doing it. Surely that merits some attention along with the daily dose of horror and war and bombing and killing and hate?
Apparently not. According to the rector, a TV news crew actually had stopped when they saw the signs and the crowd. From a distance, they saw the same thing I saw, at first.
But when it was revealed to them what they really saw, they were disappointed. They didn't see what they had thought, and they were disappointed, and they went away. They had ears but heard not, eyes but saw not; they were only able to comprehend their initial perception. They were unable to see what was really right in front of them.
No, I'm serious. I came around the corner of Peachtree and North Ave., and there was God - alive and active and walking around outside All Saints' Episcopal Church.
Well, okay, you caught me...in the form of the representatives of all the various ministries and groups that operate within the parish, I saw...
Actually, what I first saw was not really what was happening. When I came around that corner, what I first saw was a protest. I saw a bunch of people milling around in front of the church, carrying signs (I couldn't read them yet), and I saw a police officer talking with them, and I thought, "Oh, no! Omigod, it's really happening - they're picketing the church because of the decision at General Convention! Oh, no!"
And then I got closer. And I saw that on the signs it said "Altar Guild" or "Reception Committee" or "Junior Handbell Choir." And AIDS Outreach, and Befrienders, and Women of the Church, and what seemed like a thousand other ministries. I saw a mob of people who don't have time for trivial infighting, because they have gotten back to the fundamentals: they go out into the world feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick and imprisoned. I saw God, alive and active and walking around in downtown Atlanta.
Surely that's newsworthy? Surely that's something to celebrate, to report to the world? That in these dark times, in these difficult times, distressed as we are by contention and controversy, there are still faithful, loving people who are living out their commitment to Christ, and they're not afraid to be seen doing it. Surely that merits some attention along with the daily dose of horror and war and bombing and killing and hate?
Apparently not. According to the rector, a TV news crew actually had stopped when they saw the signs and the crowd. From a distance, they saw the same thing I saw, at first.
But when it was revealed to them what they really saw, they were disappointed. They didn't see what they had thought, and they were disappointed, and they went away. They had ears but heard not, eyes but saw not; they were only able to comprehend their initial perception. They were unable to see what was really right in front of them.
